Vidal Martinez is now superintendent of the George Washington Birthplace National Monument in Westmoreland County. DANA ROMANOFF/THE FREE LANCE-STAR

During their visit yesterday, the Baker family enjoys a vista that George Washington had from his birthplace near the Potomac. DANA ROMANOFF/THE FREE LANCE-STAR

Paige Baker, 3, and her mom, Ann Baker, descend the stairs of the house built to commemorate the first president's birthplace. The Bakers live in Atlanta and are visiting their family in Montross. DANA ROMANOFF/THE FREE LANCE-STAR

George Washington Birthplace superintendent dedicated to planning park's future

Date published: 3/14/2006

VIDAL Martinez, superinten- dent of the George Wash- ington Birthplace National Monument in Westmoreland County, has an effective opener meeting folks on park business.

"Martinez--it's an old Northern Neck name," he says with a grin, quickly acknowledging his true Bronx, N.Y., roots and his admiration for the history of his park.

"It's a good way to break the ice," said Martinez, whose parents were born in Puerto Rico, then moved to New York City, where his father worked for the Park Service at the Statue of Liberty.

From there, Martinez, who previously headed up the national site at the Oyster Bay, N.Y., home of President Teddy Roosevelt, quickly segues into the pride he feels overseeing the birthplace of our country's first president.

"There is so much history from so many different periods in Virginia that sometimes I think the importance of our Founding Fathers doesn't fully get the attention it deserves," said Martinez. "I feel a great responsibility and a great pride at helping to tell and interpret the history of George Washington and his family here."

George Washington was born at the plantation on Pope's Creek in 1732 and remained there until age 3, according to Park Service historians. He returned as a teenager while studying surveying and later in life. The monument is 38 miles east of Fredericksburg on State Route 3.

That history, the way the park interprets it and the future of the Birthplace National Monument are at center stage tonight in a public meeting from 6 to 8 in the auditorium at the restored A.T. Johnson School, just outside of Montross on Route 3.

It's a "public scoping" meeting designed to introduce the project the park is now involved in: the development of a general management plan to guide the birthplace for the next several decades.

The meeting is mostly to solicit opinions from the public on the operation and future of the national monument.

Martinez, whose enthusiasm and sense of humor is contagious, doesn't dwell on the fact that his Puerto Rican heritage plays a part in the way he approaches his job.

But it's clear that he's immensely proud that he's overseeing a national treasure, himself just one generation removed from parents drawn to this land of freedom and opportunity.

Date published: 3/14/2006