Fort Ward History--Who was Charles W. Hendryx and why is there a memorial in his honor in Fort Ward Park?

Fort Ward History--Who was Charles W. Hendryx and why is there a memorial in his honor in Fort Ward Park?

In April 2011 various city managers and staff were contacted by the Fort Ward Observer and asked about Charles W. Hendryx, former City of Alexandria, VA. Arborist.  Research done by the Fort Ward History Workgroup indicated that he was employed by the City of Alexandria Recreation Department and involved in Fort Ward Park's early development. Those contacted were asked to help by providing any or all information, including his work with the park, whether or not he is still living.  The following are the responses that were received.

+ I have a request out to staff. However, no person has returned any contact or other information as yet. James B. Spengler, Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities 

+ I can't tell him much for I never knew Mr. Hendryx, I heard good things about him from my tree foreman (now dead) when I first became arborist.  There was a stone with his name on it at Fort Ward Park, I don't know if it's still there.  Lois Hunt might remember Mr. Hendryx, I can't think of anyone else with a long enough corporate memory.  Jennifer Hollings, Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities 

• Was the memorial created to honor Hendryx? Jackie Cohan,  Archives & Records Center.

• Mr. Hendryx  was the City Arborist when Fort Ward first opened.  He planned all of the azalea beds, obtained the different types from cuttings from the National Arboretum, the Azalea Gardens in Norfolk (I believe), and prepared an inventory of all of the plantings.  I typed it for him, and he had a booklet that was available for handout.  There are some slides at Fort Ward of these early beds being installed.   He also planned to create other azalea beds throughout the City, and had cuttings propagated for replacements.  The one-year old cuttings were then moved to beds in the Nursery (what became the infamous maintenance yard.).   Under his direction Fort Ward became an azalea showplace in the spring.  Unfortunately he died suddenly and it was decided to create the memorial area in recognition of his work at Fort Ward.  It was a beautiful area when it was completed.  Several weddings were even held there.  The Memorial Area, like many of the memorial trees planted in the park, were neglected and you can see the results today.  I don't know if a copy of the inventory of the beds still exists or not.  Wanda Dowell, former employee of the City of Alexandria and Fort Ward Museum.

• We don't have any other specific information on Chrles Hendryx, and I am also unsure about a "memorial" to him in the park.  As Wally [Owen] suggested, maybe a tree was dedicated to him (or a memorial exists somewhere else in the City to him?), but we don't have a record of where that was.  RPCA keeps a list of memorial trees, although I don't know how far back that record goes.  I would ask John Noelle about this.  Susan Cumbey, Fort Ward Museum and Historic Site, Office of Historic Alexandria.

• Hi. He was before my time as far as I know. His memorial is on Shorts Homestead land I think. Recreation staff would be only lead. Ask to speak to longest employees or retired people. Also landscape architects in recreation department or city arborist John Noelle.  Pam Cressey, Office of HIstoric Alexandria. 

• You have already seen any of the early documents that we have on the park development and we don't have anything else.  I wish we did.  Mrs. Dowell might have some information.  I have never  heard of a memorial to Mr. Hendryx but if it was done by recreation in the early days it might not have been brought to our attention.  Was it a tree planted in his memory?  I think Recreation would have a list of memorial trees if that was the case.  Wally Owen, Fort Ward Museum and Historic Site.

• A  1959 letter was found between Mr. Charles W. Hendryx of the City of Alexandria and Mrs. R.F.S. Starr regarding Fort Ward Park.   Evidently Mr. Hendryx, who was the City's Arborist, was asked by Mrs. Starr to provide information relative to the development of Fort Ward Park.  This vision was used to developed the City's original plan for Fort Ward Park in 1962.  Mrs. Starr, as many know, was one of the community leaders who advocated for the protection and development of the historical park.  Mr. Hendryx's contribution to Alexandria was recognized by the City Beautification Committee and a memorial was created in the park adjacent to the Oakland Baptist Church Cemetery. 

Memories of the Preparation of a Master Plan for Fort Ward Park in the Summer of 1979

Memories of the Preparation of a Master Plan for Fort Ward Park in the Summer of 1979

By Kathleen Kust

James Chasnowitz, the City Landscape Architect, hired me as a summer intern for the City of Alexandria. I was to produce an overarching plan that would be used as the basis for the five-year plan for improvements to Fort Ward Park. The task was most of all to protect the historic earthworks while enabling visitors to continue have the intimate experience of walking the fort walls that they had come to expect. 

We walked the park as Jim related the history of the fort, and the most recent history of the park. Only part of the original earthen fort walls still existed. During the Civil War there had been a lookout tower* in the still-standing bastion at this highest vantage point, and Jim talked about building a representation of it for park users. I was given a map that showed the original footprint of the fort. The five-pointed star fort extended over what was now the paved park road and Braddock Road.

First of all, I had to consider the fact that people walked on the top of the walls, tracing the outline of the fort, and walked and ran up and down the exposed earthen sides of the walls. The sun soaked high bastion slopes were planted in grass, but the rest of the earthworks were shaded by trees, and the soil exposed. Children loved to play on the walls, rolling down the neatly mowed slopes. There were eroded or cut-through breaks in the walls that would continue to erode naturally or by foot traffic. We had to find a way to gently and naturally direct foot traffic onto surfaced paths. We needed to decide where new footbridges would span damaged parts of the fort walls. The plan would incorporate stormwater drainage and erosion control. 

Jim provided me with a list of elements to incorporate into the plan, and design guidance from his experience and input from stakeholders. These included an auxiliary parking lot, a picnic area, signage, and an enhancement and maintenance plan for the azalea collection throughout the park. He told me to consider whether we should continue to allow foot traffic on the top of the fort walls, or to make a path below the walls and prohibit walking on the earthworks. He made it plain that we wanted to allow access to the walls, if we could just prevent their quick destruction through trampling. 

It seemed impossible to prevent people from walking wherever they wanted without fencing them away from the earthworks, so we decided to protect the walls by designating a path where people wanted it to be, bridging gaps in the walls, focusing on drainage, shaded area groundcover planting, and using low-impact equipment to mow the existing grass. 

I had to decide whether we needed to remove some trees growing from the walls, which were obviously not there during the Civil War, but were helping to stem erosion now. I can't remember what sort of path surfacing I recommended, but in the end, a path was retained on top of the walls, and some trees directly in this path were marked to be removed.

We decided that the option of removing all of the trees from the fort walls in order to protect the walls by growing grass on them would probably be too destructive. Not mowing the grass would blur the profile of that point of the fort. I suggested planting groundcover on the grass-covered slopes as well as the shaded slopes, because this would deter playing and walking on them, and prevent the compaction and erosion that comes from regular mowing. The mowed grass was seen as better at preventing erosion than groundcover, and it allowed the outline of the fort to be clearly seen, so it remained. I did not know that most groundcovers in use at that time were invasive plants. I settled on Euonymus fortunei for the shady areas, because it does not have the distracting flowers of  Periwinkle and spreads faster, and it has a finer texture than English Ivy. Today, I would grow native no-mow Red Fescues and Sedges featuring a low profile and a non-distracting texture.

To attract children to something more fun to play on than the fort walls, I designed a five-point star fort playground, mimicking the shape of Fort Ward. It had climbing walls and a swinging gate. I think there was a play-cannon to climb on.

I wanted to have as much of the full outline of the fort as possible evident throughout the park - painting it on the  park road, and designating it with other materials elsewhere.  

I think I remember writing an accompanying design report (or there was enough description on the plans and from our discussions), and then Jim used elements from this Master Plan to develop the five-year plan for the park. 

January 31, 2011

* This is what I remember - there might not have been a lookout

tower here during the war.

Fort Ward Observer Information Network.

Fort Ward Observer Information Network. 

Fort Ward Observer Information Network

October 3, 2013

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Letter to City of Alexandria regarding Draft Report of the Fort Ward Community

J. Lance Mallamo, Director

Office of Historic Alexandria

Lloyd House

220 N. Washington Street

Alexandria, VA. 22314

                                                                           November 9, 2013

Dear Mr. Mallamo/ Lance,

This is In response to your unexpected and troubling announcement of October 31, 2013 that there will be a public presentation on November 16, 2013 of a “draft report” on the history of the African American community and the descendants of the Ft. Ward “The Fort”.   We, those descendants, are asking that this premature news conference be postponed and the inappropriate venue of Lloyd House, which once housed enslaved people, be changed until the leadership of the African American Descendants Society and the Seminary Civic Association are properly briefed and given an opportunity to review the unauthorized document before it is released to the press and the general public, in accordance with past agreements and practices between these primary stakeholders and the City of Alexandria, primarily the Office of Historic Alexandria.

Here is another example of how bad things continue to be done “to us” and not “with us” or “for us” for more than a half century at “The Fort.” The city confiscated our land; the city refuses to locate ALL of the lost graves in the park as it proceeds with a future management plan; the city fails to stop the storm water runoff that continues to compromise our ancestors’ church cemetery, and the final insult comes as the city has broken its verbal and written covenant to work in partnership with Fort Ward descendants to “tell our story,” not theirs.

In March 2009, you said to the audience, which included many of the descendant family members, at TC Williams H.S., “History is about people. This is your story.” You made similar comments during the “We’re Still Here” program the descendants held in the park in 2012. Apparently, you either misspoke or misrepresented yourself. With the surprise release of this so-called “draft report” about Ft. Ward’s African American history, we have lost this opportunity to set the record straight through no fault of our own. By the way, we question the used of the term “draft” because generally drafts are not released to the public. Once this “draft” gets out, how does it get amended? Will there be a subsequent amendment or legitimate “final” report? We have not been advised of this process either regarding “our history.”

It is our understanding that no one will be allowed to view the report before it is released; also, that we have to reserve a seat 24 hours in advance to be able to attend the presentation about “our story.” We feel this is the ultimate dismissal and disrespect of our community and of all the work that we have voluntarily provided to the city about our community which is now been turned over to outside consultants to do with what they will. This is unethical and unfair.

We should have front row reserved seats at the presentation of a “final” report about our community, as any other community would have been treated. However, we were not given the common courtesy of either appropriate notice or right of review about this document that we were unaware was being written and, worse, which we have had no input or review opportunities. Not a single representative of the descendants or Seminary community was contacted during or after the “authorship” of what is an unauthorized report which must contain information we, its subjects, have volunteered to the city without due credit or compensation.

As a matter of fact, your office had also disregarded and apparently dismissed  academic papers produced by Fort Ward descendant Adrienne Terrell Washington and University of Maryland graduate student Mary Furlong regarding the historical and archeological findings about our history which were publicly presented in England and in the District of Columbia noted here with similar title and content prior to the “draft report” that is being presented this month and there may be issues of duplication and “authorship” that need to be addressed to prevent plagiarism.

Those reports are as follows:  First, is the article we wrote for the SfAA newsletter and the DC Historical Studies Conference 2012. It was called Coming together to Uncover The Fort.  http://sfaanews.sfaa.net/2012/02/01/coming-together-to-uncover-the-fort-in-alexandria-virginia/.

Second, is the paper we wrote for the SHA in Leicester, England. It was called Answering the Question, “Where Did We Come From?” Through the Collaborative Efforts of the Fort Ward/Seminary African American Descendant Society and Archaeologists in Alexandria, Virginia. https://www.conftool.com/sha2013/index.php?page=browseSessions&search=furlong. 

There is not a single mention of the descendants or the Fort Ward History Work Group’s initial and critical input for more than four years in the press release language which reads: “The recently completed draft report was prepared in support of the Fort Ward Park Management Plan, now being developed by Lardner Klein Associates and the Fort Ward Park and Museum Area Stakeholders Advisory Group. Authored by University of Mary Washington Professor Krystyn Moon, Finding The Fort: A History of an African American Neighborhood in Northern Virginia, 1860s - 1960s, the research project narrative discusses the early history of the area in and around Fort Ward Park, but focuses primarily on the heritage of African Americans in the Seminary area of Alexandria, from the Civil War period through the founding of the park.” 

Ms. Moon’s research, and the way she has conducted it, ignores discussions we had with her at one of the Fort Ward History Work Group Meetings.  On June 25, 2010 at a meeting I attended with Pam Cressey, Tom Bodor, Audrey Davis,  Louis Hicks,  Jim Walpole, Elizabeth Drembus, Frances Terrell,  Kristin Moon, as well as others, I specifically said,  “We want to document our story.  We don’t want others telling us what our story is”.  We want to see what records there are and what is accurate.  We want a working collaboration with the city”.  No one at that meeting disagreed with that idea.  In fact, during future meetings the then-Chairman of the Fort Ward Park & Museum Advisory Group said to me and other attendees, “It is your story”.  

Ms. Moon has not contacted the descendant family members to discuss this report, if nothing more, to confirm the information, some of which we provided, as a matter of course and academic practice. This is an unconscionable and unacceptable blatant disregard of our contributions and the role that you agreed we would play in this aspect of Fort Ward’s research and planning.

More importantly, is the issue of the spirit of partnership and trust which we feel has been broken without cause, without knowledge and with an unacceptable sense of paternalism which is intolerable and which we have tried to fight and avoid all these years we have been working in concert with the city to “tell our story.” We have repeatedly said publicly that we did not want anyone outside the community telling our story to us; we were adamant about telling our own. We have said in the past, that “the city took our land, we will not allow them to take our history” and create the narrative that suits its purposes; not ours. 

For example, as recently as two weeks ago, following a status report on the management plan presented by the consultants to the Ad Hoc Advisory group, descendant Frances Colbert Terrell sent a communication to Laura Dunham asking when the consultants would be contacting us.  She once again reiterated that “Adrienne and I would, of course, want to tell our own story.”  To date, she has not received an answer.

Therefore, we again strongly request that this disrespectful error in the making be postponed and the venue changed as soon as possible until you are able to honor your words, your agreement  and the partnership we thought we had by allowing us to review this “draft” before it is released to everyone else who is not directly affected. 

Sincerely,

Adrienne

Adrienne Terrell Washington, President 

Fort Ward & Seminary African American Descendants Society, Inc.

Opportunities for public involvement in the review and approval of the management plan for Fort Ward Park and Museum

Dear Linda and Chuck,

I hope this note finds you well.

This letter follows the comments I made at your Fort Ward Park and Museum Advisory Group Meeting about opportunities for public involvement in the review and approval of the management plan for Fort Ward Park and Museum.  I was disappointed that your meeting tonight to discuss this subject was cancelled.  However, I well understand the importance of taking a break from your volunteer work and enjoying the holidays.  All of you have worked long and hard and you deserve a break.

As I mentioned on November 13, 2013 the published schedule for the completion of the Fort Ward Park  & Museum Management Plan indicates that there will be one public meeting held before the draft plan winds its way through the formal City of Alexandria review and approval process.  Ms. Durham indicated that this proposed meeting would be some type of “informal public meeting”.   In the past Ms. Durham and you, Ms. Ries, have indicated that there would be opportunities for public involvement. Given these assurances I found the statements which were made on the 13th to be surprising given the history of decision-making for the Fort and the city’s recent Civic Engagement initiative. 

When the City Council resolution was crafted to direct and fund the development of the Fort Ward and Museum Management Plan there were three “charges” for the Advisory Group.  Items 2. and 3. relate to public involvement in the process of developing a Fort Ward Park & Museum Management Plan.  This provision was inserted to help insure that the plan for the park and museum would be developed with the community rather than developed for it.  As you are well aware Fort Ward has suffered from closed and inaccessible decision-making in the past.  As much as I’d like to believe that the soon-to-be-shared new plan will be a good one, the process so far has bee one that hasn’t embraced these two charges.

For example, Mr. Mallamo recent effort to prepare a hefty report on the families of the Fort Ward community was done with no input from those who lived in the community or their descendant family members.  The notion that an outside consultant can come up with a work product without input from citizens is paternal, unprofessional and a bad reflection on the city.  That effort was an opportunity to “bring community values, knowledge, ideas and advice into the process to develop the management plan”.  Although the African American community is now being given an opportunity to review the document to make sure the research is accurate, Mr. Mallamo’s actions--which are part of the management plan process, are a definite departure from the intent of City Council and the spirit of the 2011 charge.

It is unclear how the various pieces of the park and museum management plan will come together to avoid single-purpose perspectives of different departments.  I understand from what I learned at your meeting that the city’s consultant is scheduled to provide the advisory group a draft management plan on January 8, 2014.   Given that the  above-noted history report is still under community review and comment, and  promised city/ consultant outreach to adjacent homeowners regarding the Storm Water Plan has not been completed,  it seems as if a consultant presentation of the draft plan  is premature.  As you well know the topics of storm water and African American history and culture were two of the major issues that sparked public concern after the development of the 2008 Fort Ward Facilities Plan by the City’s Recreation Department.

Hopefully all these different elements of the park and museum management plan will come together in an integrated and timely way.

My hope is that as the advisory group discusses public involvement you will depart from the approach you have been using during this phase of the effort.  Offering public comments at your meetings is important but it does not respond to City Council charge to your group.  By providing the public with a number of well-designed opportunities to review and comment on the draft plan you help help insure that the document will be accurate and well-received by the communities of the city that you serve, before it is put on review by others.    Meeting your charge now with appropriate public involvement will make the process go smoother.  A failure to embrace your charge will become an issue especially if there is community dis-satisfaction to the proposed plan.  

My involvement with Fort Ward started unexpectedly in 2006.  My request then, as it is now, was to have appointed and elected city officials make decisions with us, not for us, or to us.  It takes a good process to come up with a good plan.  Hopefully you will help give us both so we can get behind the proposal.

Thanks again for your time and effort on the Advisory Group.  You are providing and important service to the city and your neighbors.

May your holidays be joyous and safe.

Sincerely,

Glenn

J. Glenn Eugster

12-11-2013

July 1, 2008 Meeting between Marlboro Estates Landowners & Alexandria Parks & Recreation Department

From: "glenn eugster" <glenn_eugster@comcast.net>

Sent: Thursday, July 10, 2008 2:13:27 PM

Subject: Final Notes from Fort Ward Park-Marlboro Estates Meeting

Dear Neighbors,

Attached are the revised notes from our meeting with the City about Fort Ward Park.  Should you have questions or concerns about the notes please let me know.

Thanks.

Glenn Eugster

July 1, 2008 Meeting between Marlboro Estates Landowners & Alexandria Parks & Recreation Department

Attendees:  Roger Blakeley, Steve Tompkins, John Walsh, and Walter Powell from the City of Alexandria, VA; Jeff Lane, Mary Beth Buchholz, Dennis Carroll, Glenn Eugster, Thad Dilley, Nancy Jennings, and  Tom Fulton from Marlboro Estates.

The purpose of the meeting was to:

1.   Go over the changes that we requested the City make to the garbage disposal area and maintenance yard in Fort Ward Park.

2.   Learn of the City's plans for new picnic shelters in the park.

3.  Discuss other issues of neighborhood interest or concern including excessive noise which comes from the picnic areas. 

The group met near the gate to the Fort Ward Park maintenance yard at 10:30 am.  Roger Blakeley opened the meeting by discussing many of the changes that the City Parks & Recreation Department made to the maintenance yard since the last meeting on April 21, 2008.  Roger and the other City managers led the landowners on a brief tour through the maintenance yard and into the newly created buffer area adjacent to some of the homes on Ellicott Street.  Following Roger’s opening remarks several landowners thanked the City managers for their time and the effort they have made to respond to the Marlboro Estates health and safety concerns.

The group began discussion on the following items while standing in the buffer area and outside the maintenance yard.

1. John Walsh indicated that the City would add three more Evergreen trees to the buffer and additional plantings to the other section of the buffer adjacent to where the maintenance vehicles are kept.

2. Tom Fulton asked the City to help remove poison ivy vines which has grown along the fence adjacent to his property.

3. Roger Blakeley said that Walter Powell has begun to manage the cars that are using the park as a way to drop-off and pick-up children using St. Stephens and St. Agnes School. He noted the new signs and speed bumps that have been installed in the park. 

4. Walter noted that two new picnic pavilions are beingplanned and the City is getting a lot of pressure for more use of these areas. The new picnic pavilions are to be located just beyond the park’s new entrance booth, in the area to the right of the road that is posted as “Closed for Renovation”.  Another picnic pavilion that will be upgraded is the shelter to the right side of the park entrance between Braddock Road and the plant nursery.

5. Roger added that the City was trying to improve the current permit process to insure that the park facilities are not over-used. He added that the City is trying to limit parking and that in the past the permit office was giving permits without consideration of the amount of parking available.  He said that they are considering 4 hour blocks of time for picnic rentals for next year.

6.  Residents noted the ongoing noise problems that many residents have complained about recently.  Walter said that residents should call Alexandria City Police when they have concerns about noise levels.  Glenn Eugster indicated that the current park noise permit does not address noise levels nor does it reference the need to adhere to the City’s existing noise ordinance.    Roger noted that maybe the City could revise their noise permit to make it more effective.  The City representatives indicated that current permitted noise levels were somewhere between 80 and 120 decibels. & amp; lt; /FONT>

7. Dennis Carroll said that the City was 100% responsive to our earlier concerns about the dumpsters in the maintenance yard and that he and others appreciated the efforts.  He expressed concern about the future use of the maintenance yard--in response to the news that the City is planning to move the plant nursery.  He also expressed serious concern about the addition of new picnic pavilions in the park.  Dennis said that new pavilions close to our neighborhood will diminish property values as well as the quality of daily life in Marlboro Estates. 

Roger said that the option of moving the plant nursery is being considered by the City.  If the plant nursery leaves the City is considering placing a picnic pavilion in that part of the park.  Thad Dilley said that he feels that the plant nursery operation is a good neighbor and hopes that it doesn’t move.  Other residents expressed serious concern about a new picnic pavilion being located close to the homes on Ellicott Street.

8. Glenn asked Roger about the status of the park’s

management/ master plan.  The park does not currently have a plan for management or future park improvements.  Roger said that there will be a management plan and an opportunity for public input.  Roger continued and said that by mid-month a Fort Ward Cost Center estimate will be developed(see the City Parks & Recreation website) which will then be followed by a park master plan.  Roger said the master plan will be done soon and there will be a public meeting.  Roger said that the schedule for the park master plan will depend on the City’s overall workload which is considerable.  It may be months or years before the City gets to this task.  Walter added that the park is being looked at to help raise revenue for the City.

9. Nancy Jennings asked about the dog park portion of Fort

Ward Park and said that she thought it was hardly ever used.  Roger and Walter explained that the Fort Ward Park is used and it is part of the City’s Dog Park Master Plan.

10.  Discussion continued about possible future uses of the

maintenance yard and plant nursery if those areas are moved.  A number of residents reiterated that the nursery is a good neighbor and that a picnic area adjacent to the homes along Ellicott Street would be unacceptable to our residents. Dennis recognized that the City has a challenging job managing the park given the three distinct use areas—the historic core and museum, the picnic area, and the residential buffer/ plant nursery area.  He said he hoped that we could maintain a buffer between o ur homes and existing and future park activity areas.

Next Steps

• Roger said that the City would like to continue discussions with the group about existing and future park management and use.  He stressed that it was important for us to communicate our concerns and interests with him so that he can share those interests and ideas with the other managers.
• He said he hoped that the residents would provide input into the master/ management plan once the effort is underway. He added that he would like the input of our landowners as they begin to develop a plan for the park. 
• Roger suggested that the group meet in six months [December 2008] to talk again.
• He also said the City would review the picnic area reservation permit system and see if it could be improved. 

Prepared by Glenn Eugster July 10, 2008

The Long Talk Moves Toward Decisions for Fort Ward

The Long Talk Moves Toward Decisions for Fort Ward

More than four years after City of Alexandria officials agreed publicly to work with community leaders to solve problems at Fort Ward Park a city-appointed advisory group of 14 members seems to be poised to make decisions about the protection, use, interpretation and enjoyment of Alexandria’s oldest and largest park.  The Fort Ward Park and Museum Advisory Group, created in 2009 through a City Council resolution, has been working with four city departments and two consultants to develop a management plan for the park.  The advisory group, as well as a support group called the Fort Ward History Work Group, has held dozens and dozens of meetings to gather information for decision-making on park use, storm water management, historic and cultural preservation and interpretation, park management, future development, and other topics which have been identified by the public through a series of meetings held in 2009 by city leaders.

The decision to develop a new management plan for Fort Ward was the result of citizen interest and concern about past and current activities in the park.  Citizens and community leaders came together to express concern about over excessive use of the park; illegal city activities within the park; the destruction of family graves; storm water and erosion damage to the Oakland Baptist Church Cemetery; and proposals to divert historic portions of the park for revenue-generating activities inconsistent with the original purpose of the historic park.

As the advisory group and city-hired consultants inch nearer to producing a draft management plan for Fort Ward Park and Museum community leaders are again looking and listening closely to what information will be shared.  According to city sources the Recreation Department and the advisory group will be announcing a series of public meetings to share information with the public and various city commissions about the recommendations of the plan.  Surprisingly, according to Department of Recreation staff, there will be only one “informal public meeting” to get feedback on the plan’s draft recommendations.

The advisory group and consultants, as well as the four city-departments assisting this effort, have generated volumes of studies and reports that are being used to shape the plan.  Some of the keystone issues that are likely to influence many, if not most, of the recommendations in the plan include:

1. How will the city find the remaining lost grave’s of Fort Ward Park?;
2. How will the city manage water runoff, or as the engineers call it--stormwater, inside and outside the park?; and,
3. What alternatives are the City Council, Park and Recreation Commission and advisory group considering for the future management of the park by another entity?

It is important  for everyone with an interest in Fort Ward Park to read and fully understand how the recommendations of the draft management plan will answer these and other questions.  

As a way to assist citizens in their review of the draft management plan the Fort Ward Observer will cover each of these questions in follow-up newsletters this month.  As the long talk begins to wind its way toward a conclusion about the past, current and future uses, protection and enjoyment of Fort Ward Park, it will be important for people to stay engaged and use whatever opportunity that the City of Alexandria will offer to provide city officials with your views on the draft recommendations.   Fort Ward was saved, and the park created, by community action over 50 years ago.  The vision for the next 50 years will be shaped during the next three to six months.   As Char Bah, a 2014 City of Alexandria, Virginia “Living Legend”, once said, “If you let this time get away from you there might not be another time”.

J. Glenn Eugster

Fort Ward Observer

January 7, 2014