Phase One
As its first project, Colonial St. Augustine elected to assist the National Park Service (NPS) in acquiring property for the construction of an orientation/education center for the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, the oldest masonry fortification in the continental United States. In the past half century, the Castillo has attracted over 30 million visitors. Each year, more than 125,000 school children visit the magnificent fortress and receive an introduction for a lesson in American history that is relatively ignored elsewhere.
This project requires the cooperation of federal, state, and municipal governments, as well as the private sector, which is represented by Colonial St. Augustine. We have achieved preliminary success. Congressman John Mica was persuaded to sponsor a bill, passed by Congress and signed by President Bush, to all the NPS to accept donated property for the purpose of erecting the orientation/education center. The City of St. Augustine was at the same time persuaded to purchase a critically situated lot that came onto the market as the process began. Our local state representative, Dr. William Proctor, is now leading an effort to persuade the State of Florida to make a property donation for the center. The benefits of having such an orientation/education center that would introduce visitors to the Castillo and the Colonial Spanish Quarter and reinforce the essential link between the two cannot be underestimated.
We are presently awaiting a decision from the NPS before taking further action in this regard. The NPS has revised its General Management Plan in response to public support for the orientation/education center and is now presenting the center as part of its preferred alternative. The NPS is taking public comments until January 15, 2007 at http://parkplanning.nps.gov.