In October, two international students from the University of New Mexico went behind a split rail fence and carved their nicknames on the sandstone walls of El Morro National Monument. They knew enough English to write “Super Duper Dana” and “Gabriel” but claimed they didn’t know enough English to read the sign posted just a few feet away that said, “It is unlawful to mark or deface El Morro Rock.” Now their graffiti joins “Pedro Romero 1758” and two thousand other signatures, dates, messages, and petroglyphs that have been left over hundreds of years by Puebloans, Spaniards, and Americans. They were recently charged with damaging an archaeological resource on public land and face fines, prison, and repair costs of nearly $30,000. For more details, see the Albuquerque Journal and Cibola Beacon. Continue reading
Category Archives: Historic preservation
History Places
HistoryPlaces.WordPress.com by Tim Grove
Some of you may know Tim Grove as the Chief of Education at the National Air and Space Museum or as the History Bytes columnist in History News, but you may not know he started a weekly blog about historic places in April. Through a wide variety of sites, he posts ideas and opinions about interpretation, visitor experience, and historical significance. It’s part travelogue, part museum studies. Most recently he’s discussed the C & O Canal near DC, the Forbidden Drive in Philadelphia, Appomattox Court House, and Fort Mantanzas in Florida. If you’re enthusiastic about historic sites, check out his blog at HistoryPlaces.WordPress.com.
African American Historic Place Demolished in Virginia, Despite Protests
The Masonic Lodge in Hobson, recently destroyed by the City of Suffolk, Virginia. In this 2002 photo, then-Suffolk Councilman E. Dana Dickens III is seen with Hobson resident Mary Ellen Hill, who was one of the two women arrested Monday on misdemeanor charges during an unsuccessful attempt to save the former Masonic Lodge building, seen behind them. Virginian-Pilot file photo.
A Masonic Lodge that was the centerpiece of Hobson, an early 20th century African American waterman’s community in Virginia, was recently demolished by the City of Suffolk, despite protests from the local community and standing in front of the bulldozers. The 1950 Masonic Lodge served as a community meeting place, general store, school, philanthropic organization, and rallying point for political activism in the village of Hobson, which was recently placed on the Virginia Landmarks Register. Only portions of downtown Suffolk are locally protected as historic districts.
According to the October 25, 2011 edition of the Virginian-Pilot:
In a last-ditch effort to save a historic building from the bulldozer Monday morning, two community activists placed themselves inside a circa-1912 former Masonic Lodge in the rural village of Hobson and pleaded with police to send a city wrecking crew away. Instead, police arrested Continue reading
Engaging Places 