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Help came from all over after Isabel struck
Fredericksburg-area national parks took hits from Isabel that required volunteers from elsewhere to fix; the cost of repairs will top $1 million
Date published: 12/4/2003 By ROB HEDELT WHEN HURRICANE Isabel smashed through the George Washington Birthplace National Monument as it pounded the region in September, the devastation was considerable. Hundreds of trees down. Roofs of buildings smashed. Fifty feet of shoreline washed away. When the National Park Service's emergency system kicked into gear, park rangers and employees of other federal agencies across the country got emergency assignments to help in hard-hit Virginia parks. "The need was so bad elsewhere, we weren't initially a priority," said Vidal Martinez, superintendent of the Westmoreland County national park. "But we did put out a call for help to people we'd made connections with through the years." Before several weeks of intensive cleanup concluded, help in the form of workers or equipment came from Adams National Historical Park and the Olmstead Center in Massachusetts, Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas, Martin Van Buren National Historic Site and Saratoga National Historical Park in New York, Roger Williams National Monument in Rhode Island and Steamtown National Historic Site in Pennsylvania. Not to mention Virginia park crews from Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, Booker T. Washington National Monument and Thomas Stone National Historic Site. "When it was all over with, we got letters and postcards from some of those people, remarking on the hospitality here," said park facilities management specialist John Storke. The letters noted the many meals and goodies Westmoreland staffers brought in to feed the workers, and many other extra steps taken to make them feel welcome. "Several said they've never seen hospitality like that before," said Storke. "But it's the way things usually are here for this staff, many born and raised here." In stories all this week, I'm looking at Isabel's continuing aftermath. Today's column looks at the George Washington National Monument and the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park. Birthplace bashed Martinez said that although his park's maintenance staff did yeoman's work the first day or two after the storm, the manpower and equipment that rolled in made it possible to get the park reopened in about two weeks.
Date published: 12/4/2003
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