[Archived] Reminder - City of Alexandria to Host Virtual Community Meeting on Fort Ward Park Projects

City of Alexandria to Host Virtual Community Meeting on Fort Ward Park Projects

­­For Immediate Release: January 20, 2021
Original Release: December 27, 2021

The City of Alexandria will host an online community meeting about Fort Ward Park on January 24, from 7 to 9 p.m. The meeting will provide an opportunity to learn about and provide input on recommendations in the Fort Ward Park and Museum Area Management Plan and the Fort Ward Interpretative Plan.  

The virtual meeting will include a presentation about historic resources, upcoming projects and related archaeology. Projects to be discussed include an accessible route to the picnic shelter, accessible parking areas, playground relocation, and the protection and commemoration of cemeteries and interpretive elements. 

The City of Alexandria affirms that significant parts of Fort Ward Park are hallowed ground. Fort Ward Park is home to significant historic and cultural resources, including sacred burial grounds of the families that lived there. The City of Alexandria recognizes that these sacred places and any other burial sites identified in the future must be protected from disturbance and treated with respect and dignity. The Fort Ward Park and Museum Area Management Plan provides a sensitive approach to acknowledging, protecting and interpreting the resources on this property, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, along with guidelines for managing the area's natural resources and compatible passive recreation uses.

The goal of the Fort Ward Interpretive Plan is to expand interpretation in Fort Ward Park to include the full range of its history, especially including the African American experience and the post-Civil War Fort community. Fort Ward's Civil War history will remain a core theme, but new elements will explore the legacy of that pivotal era.

Visit alexandriava.gov/FortWard for more information.

For inquiries from the news media only, contact Andrea Blackford, Editorial Communications Manager, at andrea.blackford@alexandriava.gov or 703.746.3959.

For reasonable disability accommodation, contact judy.lo@alexandriava.gov or call 703.746.5490, Virginia Relay 711.