YORKTOWN — On March 15, On the Hill Gallery was given its walking papers.
Representatives from the Colonial National Historical Park delivered documents to leaders at Yorktown Arts Foundation (YAF), ordering them to stop operating the gallery and vacate the historic Burcher Cottage property, located at 402 Main St., according to the foundation.
Since 2014, On The Hill Gallery, the retail outlet for YAF, a 501(c)(3), has operated as a National Park Service (NPS) concession at Burcher Cottage.
The concession agreement covered nine years and seven months, and was extended one year because of the COVID shutdown, which brought the concession contract to June 2024, the foundation said.
YAF said it spent $35,000 in renovations to get the building move-in ready and has maintained and made all repairs to the building since moving in.
When contacted by WYDaily, Colonial National Historical Park said it is in the process of transitioning the property to its leasing program.
“Colonial National Historical Park is committed to protecting and preserving a number of historic buildings in Yorktown. The park has been working over the past several years to transition the Burcher Cottage to our leasing program. We look forward to developing a request for proposals and beginning the leasing process for the Burcher Cottage in alignment with National Park Service policy,” Colonial National Historical Park said in an email to WYDaily.
According to YAF, in 2021, the NPS had informed it of its intent to end offering Burcher Cottage as a concession and rent the building with a standard lease.
“We understood that the Park Service wanted to change the way Burcher Cottage was rented and we told NPS representatives that we wanted to stay,” said Kathleen Wahl, president of Yorktown Arts Foundation.
“Since last summer, we made several attempts to meet with local NPS leadership to negotiate terms of a new lease, but they did not respond until March 15 of this year,” Wahl said. “They met with me and Lisa Trichel-Beavers, previous YAF president, at the NPS office. We sat down across from them, ready to finally discuss a lease. But rather than negotiate, Park Service representatives handed documents ordering us to cease doing business on June 14 and vacate the building no later than July 14.”
The 2014 concession contract outlines steps that YAF, as the concessioner, and the park director will take to transition to a new concessioner, the foundation said. It does not cover how a concession agreement is transitioned to a lease agreement.
“It’s true, the Park Service is in its contractual rights to order us to leave. But this is bureaucracy at its worst. We don’t understand why they would not negotiate with us while we are still in the gallery.”
YAF and On The Hill Gallery are asking for public support and to let the Park Service and elected officials know they want the gallery to stay at Burcher Cottage.
Wahl said, “Please stop by the Gallery and sign the petition. If you can’t come in person, please sign the digital petition at Change.org/onthehillgallery, or write to our local elected officials — Congressman Rob Wittman, Sen. Tim Kaine and Sen. Mark Warner.”
As of April 15, the petition has 464 signatures.
Yorktown Arts Foundation was established in 1975 to promote an appreciation for the arts using education and outreach, and to provide a venue for art sales by local artists, and for ten years, On the Hill Gallery has been a means to support that mission, it said.
On the Hill Gallery provides a venue for local artists to show and sell their work and a place for children and adults to learn new art techniques and express themselves through different art mediums, it added, with 55 local juried artists and producing exhibits that feature the work of veterans, students, and new artists.
YAF noted that in 2023, more than 304 children participated in summer art camp in classrooms located at the gallery, over 400 children participated through outreach programs, and it hosted over 13,600 visitors and sold over $65,000 in art from local artists.
