Hampton Roads Through the Lens: Freedom’s Fort Monroe
January 26th, 2012 at 9:25 am by Tom Schaad under Military, News, Personalities, Uncategorized
It’s beginnings date to the very genesis of America itself. Defensive fortifications were built in Hampton starting in 1609. Fast forward two centuries and a more substantial imprint of our nation’s emerging power was completed in 1834. Fort Monroe was named after Amercia’s 5th president, and during the Civil War, it was one of the few areas of the Old Dominion which remained in Union hands, and thus became a beacon of freedom for runaway slaves. It was the last active Army Fort when it was decommissioned in September 2011, and thus has a mysterious feel when one strolls the grounds on a cold morning as I did recently. Here are a few impressions from my camera– many of them recording a stark black and white look of a proud but time-worn edifice that is Freedom’s Fortress. A title that led President Obama to declare Ft. Monroe a National Monument and forever be preserved as part of the American fabric.
Tags: Fort Monroe, Through the Lens, Tom Schaad
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Fort Monroe is beautiful and I have been lucky to have lived here for nearly 6 years
Inside of the moat. I was so pleased when it was named a National monument. Unfortunately,
FMA is too cheap to display our country’s flag. What’s up with that??
Problem is, the president did _not_ make Fort Monroe into a national monument. He only did that for the parts that no one ever meant to overdevelop anyway. Almost all of Fort Monroe has been a national historic landmark for a half-century. Now, it’s OK for the parts on the bridge-tunnel side to remain as they are: a community of residences and business. But the new national monument is split in the middle on the sense-of-place-defining bayfront. It’s crucial for citizens to speak up and insist that that gap be fixed. It’s only there because Virginia’s leaders — whose political campaigns are funded by the real estate industry — have carved it out of precious public land for the benefit of private interests. The irony is that this narrowness of vision will actually cost us money. For over six years I’ve worked to save Fort Monroe. Please contact me: Steven T. Corneliussen, SaveFortMonroe@gmail.com
Steven,
You raise many interesting issues we may have revisit for another time. Thanks for looking at my photos.
Fort Monroe is beautiful and I have been lucky to have lived here for nearly 6 years inside of the moat.
I was so pleased when it was named a National monument. Unfortunately,
FMA is too cheap to display our country’s flag. What’s up with that??
Great photographs of such a beautiful place.