FORT MONROE — The Fort Monroe Authority is hosting a physically present meeting at Fort Monroe with the Lt Governor-Elect, the Honorable Winsome Earle-Sears. At this meeting the Lt. Governor-Elect will meet with community leaders, representatives of the National Park Service, stakeholders in the history of Fort Monroe, and community partners.
The program for this meeting will immerse the Lt. Governor-elect into in the responsibilities the Commonwealth inherited when the property reverted from the US Army back to the Commonwealth of Virginia. Additionally, the meeting will review the generational responsibility that the Fort Monroe Authority has to tell the history of this property as a story of endurance and the quest for freedom in the early beginning of our country. The challenge to tell this story is in partnership with the NPS and in collaboration with our many stakeholders, such as The William Tucker 1624 Society, Project 1619 Inc, and the Contraband Historical Society.
“The Fort Monroe Authority and our community partners have invested heavily in both the real estate successes and the educational responsibilities at Fort Monroe,” said Glenn Oder, FMA Executive Director. “We look forward to opportunities for more progress as the new administration transitions into these responsibilities.”
The meeting will begin at 12 noon at the Fort Monroe Visitor and Education Center with an overview of Fort Monroe followed by a tour of selected sites including stops at the First Africans in Virginia State Marker, the site of the future African Landing Memorial, a brief walk in the footsteps of three enslaved men who sought refuge at Fort Monroe–Frank Baker, Shepard Mallory, and James Townsend at the Main Gate, a visit to the Old Officers Club and Casemate Museum, with a final stop at the entrance of Fort Monroe at the shoreline to identify several historic granite stones that will be used at the African Landing Memorial Project site.