Saturday, December 4, 2010

11:00 a.m.

Fort Dupont Activity Center

The Fort Dupont Activity Center is located on Fort Dupont Drive just off the intersection of Randel Circle and Minnesota Avenue. The building does not have a street address. You may call the park at (202) 426-7723 for more information.

The National Park Service is looking for feedback and ideas from the community that can be used in a new long range interpretive plan that is being developed for the Civil War Defenses of Washington. During the Civil War a circle of about 63 forts developed around the city to protect the seat of the government from Confederate attack. By the end of the Civil War, Washington was the most heavily fortified national capital in the world as a result of this network of forts. Today many of these sites are protected by the National Park Service across Washington, DC and in Virginia, some are in the hands of partnering park organizations and some were lost to development over time. The Long Range Interpretive process will help us to explore how the National Park Service can best tell the stories of these forts.

Here in SE Washington, we have a number of sites that are part of the Civil War Defenses, these include: Fort Mahan, Fort Chaplin, Fort Dupont, Fort Davis, Fort Stanton, Fort Greble and Fort Carroll. These sites have many stories that can be told related to the Civil War and military history of the sites and the regiments from around the country that served in these installations. Freed and escaped slave also found refuge around many of the forts and as a result, many communities sprung up around the forts during the war that continue into the present and are tied to African American history. All of these sites are also part of a valuable green
space in the District that has a rich natural history that can be highlighted in nature programs at the sites, so we will be interested in capturing these ideas as well. Long Range Interpretive Plans not only address major themes and stories that can be told but also how the National Park Service should tell these stories, so we will also be including ideas and recommendations for places to do programs, new facilities that need to be developed or current facilities that need to be renovated or improved or recommendations for informational signage.

Please feel free to forward this email to others in the community who you think may be interested in attending this meeting.

Thanks,

Julie Kutruff
Site Manager Frederick Douglass NHS and Fort Circle Parks
(202) 426-5961 Desk
(202) 426-0880 Fax

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