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Vidal Martinez is now superintendent of the George Washington Birthplace National Monument in Westmoreland County.
During their visit yesterday, the Baker family enjoys a vista that George Washington had from his birthplace near the Potomac.
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. |
VIDAL Martinez, superinten-
"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.
Moving the park through this planning period will take another three years or so. Park Service officials and consultants have already studied the park's management history, natural resources and much more.
A meeting was held last spring with more than 50 major "stakeholders," a hodgepodge of park neighbors, Northern Neck politicians, regional tourism officials and other interested parties.
It was a fascinating exercise, said Martinez, because the park's future and the entire region is at the crossroads with big development bearing down on areas previously shielded by natural barriers such as rivers and creeks, poor roads and bridges and sparse populations.
When those attending last spring's meeting were asked what they hoped to see in the region in the year 2020, among the answers were:
Open spaces and working farms.
No fast-food restaurants.
Healthy hardwood forests.
Wildlife habitats and "more managed public lands to connect people with resources."
As for development in the Northern Neck, respondents said they'd like to see hotels, more bed and breakfasts and town centers filled with residential and business growth.
Still, questions abound about how the park will evolve.
In the future, will it look more to Web sites and computer technology to draw visitors and enhance visits to the monument?
Is a new building needed eventually to separate the park staff office from a welcome center to maximize the experience of those who come to the Birthplace?
And what's the balance between use of the park and preservation of its natural and historic resources?
No one seems inclined to allow
Martinez uses these as examples of possible new uses that are growing in popularity for many who visit national parks all over.
Spend a morning with Martinez, and it's impossible not to be drawn into the upbeat sense of possibilities he and the staff have for the park.
This longtime Park Service vet, who also spent seven years with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, says he hadn't planned on following his dad into the National Park Service initially.
But a seasonal position he picked up just out of college in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park changed that.
"There, I met and was inspired by a ranger, an interpreter, who still in my mind is the epitome of a park ranger," said Martinez. "The knowledge, love and enthusiasm he had for the natural beauty and story of that park showed me what the Park Service is all about."
He added, "Doing that job wasn't about the money. It was about the dedication and love for what he was doing. That still inspires me today."
Information about George Washington Birthplace National Monument or the development of its plan is available online at nps.gov/gewa/. Comments or suggestions are welcome at
Email: GEWA_GMP@nps.gov.
To reach ROB HEDELT:
Email: rhedelt@freelancestar.com
