HAMPTON — Earlier this year the Fort Monroe Authority announced a multi-million dollar project that would include a new Fort Monroe Visitor and Education Center, which they expect to open in August 2019.
Hampton Roads history buffs who are interested can get an update on the project from Robin Reed, the director of the Authority’s Casement Museum, on Wednesday from 12-1 p.m.
Attendees are encouraged to bring a bag lunch and the museum will provide free dessert. The lunch will be at the Hampton History Museum.
The new visitor and education center is expected to be open in time for the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans at Point Comfort and will serve as the orientation and education gateway to the fort and introduce the public to the existing Casemate Museum and Fort Monroe National Monument.
Operated jointly by the Fort Monroe Authority and the National Park Service, the FMVEC will also serve as the National Park Service contact station and starting point for both guided and self-guided tours of the entire property.
Glavé & Holmes Architecture is providing architectural and engineering services for the project and HealyKohler Design is providing exhibit design services.
For at least 400 years, the point of land known as Old Point Comfort, which now includes Fort Monroe, has served as the key defensive site at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.
Beginning with use by the American Indians years before the settling of Jamestown to its most recent mission as the U.S. Army’s Headquarters for Training and Doctrine Command until 2011, Old Point Comfort and Fort Monroe have been involved in many aspects of American history.
