The town of Phoebus and Fort Monroe may have been separated by water, but they are connected in Hampton history.
A new Phoebus-Fort Monroe Coalition wants to preserve and showcase that history, aided by a $150,000 Chesapeake Gateways grant from the National Park Service.
“These two communities are tethered by historical events over the last 400 years,” said Joe Griffith, Virginia Main Street manager for the Phoebus Partnership.
“We’ve been doing our work independently … trying to celebrate history and being good stewards of the Chesapeake Bay and natural resources, but we haven’t quite worked together.”
The area now known as Phoebus and Fort Monroe was home to indigenous Kikotan – an early spelling of Kecoughtan – people before European colonists arrived in the bay. After the fort structure was constructed at Old Point Comfort in the 1800s, it remained in Union hands throughout the Civil War.
Fort Monroe served as a place of refuge for formerly enslaved Black people fleeing bondage during the war following the 1861 Contraband Decision. Many of those people and their descendants formed communities and homes in Phoebus.
With how “deeply attached” the two districts are historically, John Reynolds, member of the Fort Monroe Authority Board of Trustees, called the new partnership a “gift to the future for the people of our nation, Commonwealth of Virginia and the region.”
Griffith tells WHRO he’s excited about the prospect to better tell these and lesser-known histories in collaboration with partners in the coalition.
“It doesn’t replace the town of Phoebus, it doesn’t replace Fort Monroe, it doesn’t replace the Casemate Museum,” he said. “It just allows us to focus on specific topics that relate to our shared heritage and relate to our shared geographic location.”
The work to bring the coalition together began in earnest in the spring, including representation from the Phoebus Partnership, Fort Monroe Authority and city of Hampton. With the grant secured, the coalition is now looking for design firms that can help craft the group’s strategic plan.
“We’re looking at over a year, a year-and-a-half to look at this mission,” Griffith said.
“That design firm will be expected to put a lot of boots on the ground, talk to people in the community, understand what kind of shared heritage we should be championing and … how we would implement a plan that celebrates it in the right way.”
The Chesapeake Gateways grant is awarded annually and supports a variety of initiatives to “promote resilient communities and landscapes through tourism, sustainability, conservation and local economies throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed.”
“Resiliency just doesn’t mean that it’s going to be a focus on creating living shorelines so that our coastlines are preserved,” Griffith said. “We’re cognizant that we are facing these challenges from the sea, but we also need to make sure that those stories that are place-based are also told and not lost to history.”
The grant is administered by the Chesapeake Conservancy, a Maryland-based nonprofit working to conserve and restore the Chesapeake Bay watershed’s natural and cultural resources. The conservancy is also a member of the coalition.
“Chesapeake Conservancy is eager to help explore, preserve and showcase the vast historical, cultural and natural resources of Phoebus and Fort Monroe,” said Michael Augustin with the conservancy.
“We’re thankful for the involvement of the Phoebus Partnership, Fort Monroe Authority and the city of Hampton to help build momentum for a coalition and forge a path towards community collaboration and storytelling.”
Griffith was also pleased that the city got involved in the coalition. He called Hampton “essential” to the partnership, noting the city’s community development department will be pivotal in pending community engagement efforts for the coalition’s strategic plan.
“By bringing together organizations, communities and institutions, we are creating new opportunities to preserve and celebrate our shared history and natural environment,” said Jonathan McBride, housing and neighborhood services division manager for the city of Hampton.
“This initiative will lay the foundation for future collaborations to showcase the full breadth of the American experience, offering residents and visitors additional opportunities to engage through recreation, historic sites and interpretive events throughout Fort Monroe and Phoebus.”
