Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation Looking to Revolutionary Times

By Kimberly Lenz Friday, May 14, 2010

In a way, the news at the joint spring meeting of the Jamestown Yorktown Foundation and its private fund-raising arm Thursday was appropriate to the day - the 403rd anniversary of the landing at Jamestown.

Then, as now, a determined group staked its claim on American history with little more than an idea and the "whatever it takes" attitude to see it through.

This time the focus is on the other end of the Colonial Parkway, Yorktown, and its importance to telling the rest of the story of American independence the 1607 voyagers began.

Last year's state budget saw cuts to the foundation, which runs the Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center. Foundation treasurer Del. Kirk Cox said, "The agency has worked to be creative, but the realities are harsh." He pointed to 32 examples of how the cuts affected the destinations, including 18,300 fewer students reached with programs, elimination of community programming for adults and periodic closure of the Riverfront Discovery area at Yorktown.

This year's budget talks had better outcomes for the foundation. Phil Emerson, executive director of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, said $1.3 million in planning funds were freed to complete architectural drawings for the $46 million Yorktown Victory Center replacement project. Those funds had been stricken from the previous year's budget by clerical error.

Once the drawings are complete - it's expected they'll be nearly ready next month - the foundation will pursue project funding with Virginia Public Building Authority bond proceeds. Those bond funds will be available only if the state has sufficient debt capacity. In addition, Cox said, the General Assembly allocated $200,000 to the foundation's general fund for museum programming and web-based tourism and education.

The foundation's plans to renovate the Yorktown Victory Center hinge on creating what members call a "wow factor" - an unforgettable, hands-on experience like the one built at Jamestown in advance of the 400th anniversary.

The revamping will include a 170-seat theater, indoor exhibition galleries, classrooms and a shift in the outdoor experience to make it even more interactive and focus on in-the-moment Revolutionary War experiences. The working farm, for example, will become a war-era farm tended by family not fighting in the war and their slaves. The story told will be one of labor and economy, and women's roles in those times. The landowner's farmhouse will be expanded to better reflect what recent scholarship now shows, and slave quarters will be built, along with a garden kept by those slaves. A new part of the story will be the daily lives of enslaved African-Americans when away from their masters.

Sue Gerdelman, president of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, Inc. board of directors, said the group has already raised around $800,000 toward artifact acquisition. She said the goal was to build an artifact collection worthy of the history of the place, pointing out "the vital difference private funds will make" in that pursuit and urging fellow members to be on the lookout for acquisition opportunities.

The lunchtime gathering at Williamsburg's Hospitality House had an unscheduled guest, Gov. Bob McDonnell, who was in another ballroom to address statewide land conservancy groups.

McDonnell is a member of the foundation, and told the group that preserving the state's heritage and treasures was "good for jobs, good for economic development and good for the future...You can count me as a partner."

The joint meeting will continue through this afternoon.