Fort Ward Maintenance Yard Clean-up: Jim Spengler

Fort Ward Maintenance Yard Clean-up

“I gave the directive for the horticultural staff to remove any remaining equipment, supplies, buildings and trash from the old maintenance yard. This clean up should be done by the end of the month. At that time we will not have any presence in this area of the park for any of our operation. Our intent, over time, is to let these areas grow naturally”. 

Message from Jim Spengler, Director, Recreation, Parks, and Cultural Activities, City of Alexandria to J. Glenn Eugster, Fort Ward Observer.  December 3, 2009

Ft. Ward and Seminary African American Descendants Society Testimony for Alexandria City Council Public Hearing on Ft. Ward Management Plan (Jan. 24, 2015)

Ft. Ward and Seminary African American Descendants Society

Testimony for Alexandria City Council Public Hearing on Ft. Ward Management Plan (Jan. 24, 2015)

Good Morning; thank you for this opportunity and for taking the time on this matter. I am Adrienne Terrell Washington, director of the Ft. Ward and Seminary African American Descendants Society (FWSAADS), and I will be giving an overview of our concerns that will be addressed individually by the speakers that follow. I speak on behalf of those descendants, some of whom you see today, who are the offspring a religious people who created a self-sufficient community that prospered for more than one hundred years on acres of land that was confiscated by developers and the City of Alexandria for what is now known as the historic Ft. Ward Park. Some of these Ft. Ward descendants were relocated down the hill to the Seminary Community where land was also confiscated for TC Williams High School which bears the same address as my grandparents’ home at 3330 King Street. We still live there today in a community which continues to face the threat of encroaching development issues -- the latest involving the implementation of lights on the school property which our forbearers were promised would never be erected.

To some, Ft. Ward is a place to stroll, or picnic, or walk a dog; or recollect Civil War battles; but to us, Ft. Ward is a place where Aunt Clara nursed Sunday School children; were Grandma Jesse tended her geranium garden; were Uncle Johnny tended his pigs, were the women, including Jennie Wanzer Ashby, brought out their fine china to host tea parties. To us, Ft. Ward is where we go to honor our dead at their known and unknown gravesites, where George Craven noted, “we were poor, so we buried our people in the yard.”

To us, the vast majority of Ft. Ward is sacred; it is has been, is, and will be “hallowed ground.” That is why it has been so important to us, to make sure that you, this 21^st Century Alexandria City Council, get it right this time to ensure that our ancestors’ graves, memories and contributions to this special spot, now a public park, will be honored going forward as it has not been in the past. Surely, the park’s history could be preserved, and enjoyed by park lovers, just like one of the “Hallowed Ground” projects of the National Park Service. Ours is a prime example of the civil war to civil rights story well-suited to the African American Heritage Trail enhancing Alexandria’s tourist attractions. 

However, what you have before you as the voluminous Ft. Ward Management Plan, which was voted on by the Ft. Ward Stakeholders Group, of which we were 3 members, albeit often disregarded and disrespected members, does not adequately address the three major concerns we had going into the project and still have several years later: finding graves, eliminating storm water runoff, and generating an accurate historic preservation plan. This is why we voted against this staff-driven plan being forwarded to this body. The flawed documentation and technological “concepts” on which the management plan is based, particularly the fundamental ground penetrating map, led to a laundry list of recommendations (which staff continue to change). We feel that there must be more strongly worded language in the plan, particularly with the ground disturbance memorandum, that will protect the African American graves, cemeteries and other historic physical structures in the park, with adequate and direct consultation and notification to the descendants going forward, as we stated in our attached “Minority Report.” As staff unknowingly responded to our minority report, we may still offer a separate clarification to correct the inaccurate statements it contains. 

Due to these continuing problems mentioned, we are now asking that you do not act on the Ft. Ward management plan as currently written until we can develop a more trustworthy and collaborative path going forward to remedy our concerns, or to go forward with stringent conditions, including a committee, headed by a council member, which will more equitably address our concerns before the staff is allowed to implement the management plan without additional council and community input and oversight.   

Our priorities are still about the undirected storm water flow that continues to erode the graves in the OBC cemetery and adjacent graveyard; locating as many unmarked graves as possible and honoring those with a memorial; and further researching and preserving the African American experience and physical structures built by our ancestors with a visible interpretive plan in the Ft. Ward Museum and in the park.  

Given the political climate of the late 1950s and early 1960s, many of our ancestors at Ft. Ward were misled and mistakes were made in taking their land that we, today, would have been working hard to avoid repeating today. That is why the representatives of the descendants society, the Seminary Civic Association and the Oakland Baptist Church have being volunteering countless hours to collaborate in good faith with city staff and other stakeholders to come up with a better management plan for Ft. Ward that would honor the historic mission of the park at the same time provide for passive recreation in the park that would maintain its serene nature given that our ancestors are still buried in this “hallowed ground.”

Fort Ward Park Management Plan: Mayor William Euille

From: William Euille <William.Euille@alexandriava.gov>

Date: January 19, 2015, 9:21:37 PM EST

To: Mark Jinks <Mark.Jinks@alexandriava.gov>, James Spengler <James.Spengler@alexandriava.gov>, Lance Mallamo <Lance.Mallamo@alexandriava.gov>, City Council <CityCouncil@alexandriava.gov>, Yon Lambert <Yon.Lambert@alexandriava.gov>

Subject: Fort Ward Park Management Plan

Mark,

In advance of the public hearing on this Saturday, I would appreciate staff giving thought/consideration to the following as a pathway forward, in addressing the concerns of the Oakland Baptist Church Cemetery descendants:

1) The creation of an Implementation Monitoring Group to provide oversight and protection as the planned work, both storm water, park and  historic preservation proceeds

2) This group should have a City Council Member designated by the Mayor to be a liaison 

3) Further, since much of the planned work going forward is so sensitive, and there exist a serious "lack of trust" factor, it is imperative, that a work session with the citizens, staff and council take place after the public hearing, to allow for a full discussion as to the issues, and potential solutions.

We have invested too much time and resources, both staff and monetary, to not end up with a win-win outcome. Citizens should not feel that government has failed to listen and be responsive.

This project has the potential to be an attractive tourism venue as well.

Let's talk.

Thanks,

Bill 

Sent from my iPhone

Remarks on the Proposed Fort Ward Park and Museum Management Plan by Joseph Glenn Eugster. January 24, 2015

Remarks on the Proposed Fort Ward Park and Museum Management Plan by Joseph Glenn Eugster

January 24, 2015

I am Joseph Glenn Eugster.  Thank you for your interest and support in Fort Ward Park.  I’m here to ask you for your help with the proposed Management Plan for Fort Ward Park and Museum.  

Make no mistake, everyone involved with the park and this effort believes that Fort Ward is one of the City of Alexandria’s assets.  Everyone believes that the activities that currently take place in the park should continue.   However, considerable concern exists about what future development might be proposed. 

The plan has several serious flaws that need to be quickly fixed before you act on it.  

Please give the plan a chance of succeeding so that the wounds created by past mistakes can be healed, divisions between public servants and the communities they serve can be removed, and we can as citizens of one city begin to implement this plan.

The key actions needed to repair the plan are:

1.  Complete research on locating the bodies of those buried within the park. The map that will be used to guide ground-disturbing activities is fundamentally flawed.  It does not include spatial information on: 1) the graves that were identified by the city in the 1990’s through oral history interviews; 2) graves from any new oral history interviews; correspondence between and with city officials on graves in the park (i.e. Boothe letter).  Information from oral histories and fact-finding from city files and records must be included before the ground disturbance map is complete.

2.  Redesign two of the storm water projects within the park.   The ravine and Oakland Baptist Church Cemetery projects are proposed within cemeteries and, or know burial areas.  The proposals developed by the city and your consultant were not guided by accurate research information.  They also did not include input from the descendants of the Fort Ward African American community and the Oakland Baptist Church.  City staff working collaboratively with these groups should jointly develop alternatives that will manage park runoff and protect important historic and cultural values.

3.  Redesign the process for assessing new development on archaeology.  Future decision making relies on an “iterative process” for proposing development and then checking for archaeology.  Past actions, especially within and around the maintenance yard, have proven that the iterative approach doesn’t work.  Forcing or trying to fit projects into sacred and sensitive areas is a formula for more conflict between communities and the city.  Also, the “protocol for ground-disturbing activities” was developed by Office of Historic Alexandria managers unilaterally.  The intent of the advisory group was to have the President of the Descendants Society work with the Fort Ward Park liaison to develop procedures that make sense and everyone can agree on.  That did not happen and it needs to.

These tasks can be completed within 4 to 6 months provided that there is some urgency to do this work.  

Please do not approve the plan today but rather request the City Manager and department heads, in direct cooperation with the descendants of the Fort Ward community, to fix these flaws in the plan and re-present it to you.  Such action will demonstrate the city’s commitment to the park and the communities it serves.

Alexandria City Leaders Continue Cover Up at Fort Ward Park: J. Glenn Eugster

Alexandria City Leaders Continue Cover Up at Fort Ward Park

January 15, 2015

J. Glenn Eugster

Fort Ward Observer

According to sources within the City of Alexandria  Steve Tompkins, a member of the Recreation Department, was directed by city managers to remove African American gravestones and markers from burial areas within Fort Ward Park in 1979.  

A current city employee, who wishes to remain anonymous,  attended a meeting on Fort Ward Park in 2009 with Mr. Tompkins and members of the Office of Historic Alexandria, the Department of Recreation and Parks, the Department of Transportation & Environmental Services, and other city leaders.  Mr. Tompkins reminisced about working through a grant the city received for the park.  He explained that he was told to remove the grave stones and markers but couldn’t recall where he took them.  He noted that he had just become a city employee and the work he did to clear the area wasn’t an issue. 

The alleged desecration of these sacred places has re-opened old wounds between city leaders and Alexandria’s African American community.  Family burial areas in Fort Ward Park, as well as other places such as T.C. Williams High School, have been ignored while the city has pursued other public needs.  The sensitivity between races, and what seems to be latent racism continues to delay resolving the search for Fort Ward’s lost graves.

Some of those who attended the meeting have no recollection of Mr. Tompkins comments and were unwilling to meet to discuss information about these city actions.  Other city managers indicated that the grave stones were not removed and that Mr. Tompkins did not work for the city at that time.  One city manager, in response to information requests made to the city and discussions with his staff, indicated that he thought that Mr. Tompkins was the person who removed the grave stones and markers.

Research reveals Mr. Tompkins did work for the City of Alexandria on a grant that involved work on Fort Ward Park in 1979.  

Requests made to the Office of Historic Alexandria by the Fort Ward and Seminary African American Descendants Society, Inc., Oakland Baptist Church, and the Seminary Civic Association to interview Mr. Tompkins and others who have knowledge of burial areas within Fort Ward Park have been unsuccessful. Mr. Tompkins did not reply for a request for information.

As the draft management plan for Fort Ward Park and Museum moves forward through the City Council review and approval process city leaders should help locate Fort Ward’s lost graves rather than contribute to the cover-up.

Search & Rescue Needed for Fort Ward’s Lost Graves

Search & Rescue Needed for Fort Ward’s Lost Graves

October 21, 2012

J. Glenn Eugster

Fort Ward Observer

In September noted historian and author C.R. Gibbs made a presentation to the members of the Fort Ward and Seminary African American Descendants Society, Inc. at the Oakland Baptist Church.  His presentation, titled “The Call of Freedom” opened with a horrific 1861 painting by Richard Ansdell called 'The Hunted Slaves’.  The painting depicts the use of dogs to find people trying to escape from slavery.  Mr. Gibbs presentation led the audience on an emotional journey through the Underground Railroad including stops in Alexandria, VA.

The people in the audience have been on another journey to research, locate and properly recognize and protect their ancestors and others who lived and are buried within the land that is now Fort Ward Historic Park.  Although City of Alexandria elected officials and government agency managers and staff have been working diligently to locate the lost graves of Fort Ward some of their work with ground-penetrating-radar and test-pits has not been able to find many of the remaining graves in the park.  

In August, in a decision that suprised descendant family members as well as those serving the city on the Fort Ward Park & Museum Advisory Group and the Fort Ward History Work Group, Lance Mallamo, Director of the Office of Historic Alexandria announced a decision to end the search for additional graves.  Although the City of Alexandria’s press release, which was shared with the media rather than community partners, offered a variety of reasons for the about face, the fact remains that there are more lost graves in Fort Ward Historic Park and community leaders want the city to continue the search.

One alternative that may be a way to compliment the city’s archaeologists, and the family members assisting them, is the use of “search and resue dogs”. Attached is a link with more information on the use of dogs to help archaeologists locate graves.  Also included is the link with information on Ansdell’s painting.

[PDF] 

What Archaeologists Can Learn From SAR Dogs - Bay Area ...

www.bayarearecoverycanines.com/BARC/Articles_files/VAArch.pdf

File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - Quick View

Archaeologists Can Learn From SAR Dogs. Canine SAR Background: .... •Find unmarked graves or cemeteries, including locating 'outliners' near cemeteries & ...

'The Hunted Slaves' 1861 - National Museums Liverpool

www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ism/collections/.../hunted_slaves.aspx

The Hunted Slaves' 1861 by Richard Ansdell. On display in the International Slavery Museum, Liverpool.

Comments on the Fort Ward Park Draft Drainage Master Plan: J. Glenn Eugster

Comments on the Fort Ward Park Draft Drainage Master Plan

To:  Fort Ward Park and Museum Advisory Group Members

Subject:  Comments on the Fort Ward Park Draft Drainage Master Plan

Date: May 7, 2014

Thank you for the opportunity to review and comment on the Fort Ward Park Draft Drainage Plan.  Your report is a welcome sight.  As you know water runoff from Fort Ward Park has been a long-standing problem for adjacent residents and leaders of the Oakland Baptist Church. For many years residents have contacted city staff raising their concerns with little or no response.  The fact that Fort Ward Park is managed by four separate city offices, and does not have an approved management plan, has led to many single-purpose initiatives which have been in conflict with the overall purpose of the park. 

Almost five years to the day I presented concerns on behalf of Marlboro Estates, the Seminary Hill Association, Inc. and the Oakland Baptist Church to the City’s Department of Transportation and Environmental Services (T&ES) at one of their “Stormwater Outreach Meeting” on May 13, 2009.  On January 28, 2010 a group of community leaders met with the then-Vice Mayor Kerry Donley about concerns we had related to storm water runoff from Fort Ward Park.  

Based on our discussion with Vice Mayor Donley, who worked with Rich Baier, Director of T&ES as well as former Councilwoman Alicia Hughes, we helped the city staff and Council craft a proposal, with funding support, for short-term stormwater solutions and the long-term study.  

We also worked with Council and the Office of Historic Alexandria staff to craft a proposal, with funding support, to do archaeological and cultural research to help make decisions in the short and long-term stormwater runoff master plan and proposed management plan.  With the strong support of the Mayor, City Manager and the City Council these efforts were given high priority and funded at the requested levels.

Although it is good to finally see this report, after reviewing it and discussing it with community leaders, I believe that your analysis is incomplete and the recommendations are premature and inconsistent with other facts in the public record.  The document indicates, “The challenge is to manage the stormwater runoff and to minimize flooding and erosion while preserving the historic and archaeological resources of the Park”.  Unfortunately what has been proposed will not meet the challenge. 

The report does not integrate information from written and verbal community input, the historical, cultural and archaeological research that has been done, or is now being completed.  For example, the research that City Council funded to identify graves and family burial areas within the park has not yet been completed.  The Office of Historic Alexandria recently made a belated written commitment to interview current and past city employees and descendant Fort Ward community family members to help identify where additional graves are located.  It is unclear at this time when that information will be available for review by the public and use in your decision-making. Decisions about stormwater and the overall management plan must be based on this information.

The report indicates that this effort has been designed to “Work with Local Government and Citizens to Create Viable Solutions”.  Although the consultants made presentations to the city and the Fort Ward Park and Museum Advisory Group, the efforts to engage the public to help create solutions have fallen short.  For example, there was no early communication or outreach to help create viable solutions with the homeowners from Marlboro Estates or the Oakland Baptist Church leaders despite several assurances from the Mayor, City Manager and city staff that there would be.   

The report that has been prepared is also technically flawed.  The development projects for “Site 6- The Berm” and “Site 7--Stream Stabilization” are not based on good site analysis.  For example, within the Maintenance Yard where The Berm is proposed, the document failed to recognize that the site and the soils in this area were substantially modified as a result of illegal activities by the City of Alexandria.  As you may, or may not, know this area was filled and drainage areas were modified without any permit or public notice.  The fill, which included soil, gravel and organic debris, modified the areas drainage increasing and redirecting sheet flow into the cemetery and adjacent residential properties causing flooding, erosion and subsidence.  In addition, the fill degraded and covered identified graves and family burial areas within this space.

The report also does not recognize statements made by Mr. Spengler, Director of the City of Alexandria Recreation Department, Mr. Baier and Mr. Mallamo, as well as many others, indicating that the Maintenance Yard needs to be restored to find graves as well as repair damage to drainage and vegetation.

The proposal to cover this area with more fill will not correct the damage that has been done to site drainage and will permanently cover-up graves. It ignores the need to complete archaeological and oral history research before any decisions are made.

Within the ravine, where “Site 7--Stream Stabilization” is proposed, the report failed to recognize that this ravine has been identified as an area where there are graves.  The ravine was filled with park debris as part of a Fort Ward Park Master Plan and implementation project in 1979.  At that time, Recreation Department staff, some of who still work for the city, were directed to remove gravestones and markers from parklands.  City leaders have been unwilling to discuss where those markers and stones were taken and community leaders believe that they may have been discarded in the ravine.   These points were raised with Transportation & Environmental Services and Office of Historic Alexandria leaders when Daniel Imig from T & ES brought this same stream stabilization proposal to the Advisory Group on November 11, 2010.

The proposal to further fill this area with soil and rock at this time ignores the need to complete archaeological and oral history research before any decisions are made.

The report notes, “In 2012, the City implemented interim drainage improvements on the east side of the Park to divert runoff from Oakland Baptist Church Cemetery and neighboring Marlboro Estates subdivision. The measures included installation of small catch basins, drainage pipes, and infiltration trench drains (Figure 2). The improvements provide a temporary solution to prevent runoff from flowing into the cemetery”.  This conclusion reflects poorly on your analysis in that the short-term solutions have helped reduce some stormwater runoff but did not “prevent runoff from flowing into the cemetery”.  

Perhaps this conclusion was reached after the one site reconnaissance visit that was made to the park and the cemetery.  A visit to the park and cemetery during or shortly after a rainfall illustrates time and time again that stormwater runoff continues to enter the cemetery from parklands.   This fact was repeatedly made to the advisory group members, city staff and elected officials.  The report’s analysis does not make use of photos taken during wet-weather periods by community members and provided to the city and the advisory group.

The report indicates, “Approximately 50 percent of the Park drains northeast to the Stormwater Management (SWM) Pond before entering the City’s storm drainage system at Outfall C. The SWM Pond also captures the off-site runoff from the area west of Braddock Road and the Marlboro Estate subdivision (Dedicated pond)”.  The statement is confusing and seems as if the consultants believe that there are two stormwater management ponds within the park.  The only designated stormwater management pond in Fort Ward Park is the one adjacent to Van Dorn Street.  

In summary, this report is an important element of the proposed management plan and needs to be completed.  However, the Draft Fort Ward Park Drainage Master Plan is missing crucial information on the location of graves, family burial areas and cultural artifacts.  It also fails to recognize the City of Alexandria has a moral and a legal responsibility to restore the Maintenance Yard so that damage to park drainage can be repaired and graves can be located.  Without this basic restoration and information the Site 6 and 7 alternatives presented in the draft plan are premature.  

It is essential that proposals in the drainage master plan find a way to solve stormwater runoff problems without degrading and covering-up graves, family burial areas and community history.  The city’s decision to conduct three separate studies simultaneously without integrating their sequencing, timing, information, public outreach, analysis, and recommendations has muddled the objectives of each effort and continues to delay reaching agreement on solutions to long-standing problems.  The recommendations provided in this draft will not benefit the City or the community it serves.  I urge you to place this long-term work on hold until the Maintenance Yard restoration and research on archaeology, history and culture has been completed.  

Thank you for your commitment to Fort Ward Park and the citizens it serves.

Sincerely,

Glenn

J. Glenn Eugster, Co-Chair, Fort Ward History Work Group; 

Steering Committee, Fort Ward African American Descendants Society, Inc.

cc. Rich Baier, James Spengler, J. Lance Mallamo, Mayor and City Council Members