Save Fort Negley

CMWinkler

Colonel
Retired Moderator
Joined
Oct 17, 2012
Location
Middle Tennessee
Fellow members of the Nashville CWRT and friends,

Please take note and attend this important meeting if you can do so. The more people in seats for the side of historic preservation the better the chances that we win.

Fort Negley Update! Tuesday Sept. 12, @ 1 p.m., attend the Parks Board Meeting @ Centennial Park Boardroom, 2565 Park Plaza, Nashville 37203. At the meeting a Parks-only option will be shown to the Parks Board - an option that was never before allowed by this rushed process. Let the Parks Board, appointed by the Mayor, know that we believe park land should be park land!

If you cannot attend, please send your emails to support a full park on what is actually all park property and not a commercial development to the Metro Parks board -


[email protected], [email protected],[email protected],[email protected], [email protected],[email protected], [email protected]

And also to these two Metro Council members:

[email protected]

[email protected]

Thanks - please step up and show up at the meeting or send emails! The clock is ticking!

Greg Biggs

Nashville CWRT
 
Visited there last year, just a few months after seeing the Confederate monuments in New Orleans. I feel like I'm on a tour of the soon-to-disappear.

Fort Negley ought to be of particular interest to black Tennesseans as the place was built almost entirely by runaway slaves. (They were promised payment, most of them never saw a dime but that's another tale).

A large black "community" (for lack of a better word) grew up outside the Fort, first as tent villages for workers followed (inevitably) by shantys, leantos, sheds and whatever. After the war the area continued to be a magnet for migrating former slaves and the large community which grew around the Fort came from that genesis.

Also of note, hundreds and perhaps thousands of former slaves died during construction (there was at least one major typhus outbreak, along with the usual disease issues which arose when you jammed a bunch of previously rural and isolated people into close proximity). There was a large cemetery there which the city eventually moved elsewhere but no serious historian questions that there are more graves, Union and freed black alike, within the grounds, along with artifacts and relics.

There as never really been a meaningful archeological dig of the site. The fort was reconstructed by the WPA during the depression, large areas were paved over, the ballpark was built (the latter in particular is almost certain to contain unmarked graves according to the researchers) and nobody bothered to look very hard for anything they didn't want to find.

Make no mistake - this isn't about redevelopment - it's about 60 acres of prime land with a spectacular view of Nashville which is estimated to be worth $200 million and the city wants the money. They can pretend that it's about building "affordable living for working class blah blah blah" all they want but that's not what it's going to end up as. The whole area around the park is a bit dowdy and run down and you could get the land for that kind of thing a lot cheaper just by buying up a few plots and bulldozing.

And what kind of fool would build cheap "affordable" rental units and retail on a plot of land with this kind of value? Nobody in their right minds.

This is nothing but a political land grab which is intended to line a lot of pockets. Period.

Meanwhile, a substantial number of black historians are saying that this needs to be preserved as an important black historical site, Civil War and history supporters are arguing against destroying a significant CW site, others are upset that a large number of graves - mostly freed blacks who worked for the Union - will be dug up mindlessly and none of it matters.

Money will out because nobody cares.
 
The Black community in Nashville should hire some Chippewa lawyers from Wisconsin or Minnesota, evidently they relish taking on the Man. Right now the Fond du Lac band have a Minnesota highway job shut down because it uncovered an Indian burial site. They're sifting the dug up dirt for human remains, a couple of weeks ago the Chippewas had a ceremony for the remains discovered so far.
 
Bobby Lovett, a Tennessee born history scholar, gave a talk titled "Nashville and the Civil War, 1860-1866, and the Economic, Social and Political Transformations" at Vanderbilt University, which is here on Youtube. Lovett has written about the Fort, see this article (Nashville's Fort Negley: A Symbol of Blacks' Involvement with the Union Army) which is available on JSTOR.

HBN_FortNegley3 copy.jpg


Lovett is seen above, wearing a black cap in the middle of the photo, giving a tour of the site to college students in October 2016. Two students wrote about the experience:

Leoncia K. Gillespie | Freshman | Biology major:

While struggling to read through manuscripts and other primary documents is an example of analyzing tangible history, there is something different about being in a space where historical figures and happenings once were. The nature of this kind of experience, for me, is more surreal than reading letters and manuscripts.

At Fort Negley the original stones used to build the fort were still present and intact. I saw this durability of the stones as a symbol for the durability of the fort’s narrative, as well as the slaves who helped build it. Walking the path to the pinnacle of the fort, I listened as Professor Bobby Lovett explained the purpose of the structure and its history. At one point he pointed down a hill and informed us that some of the slaves who helped build the structure were buried, bodies lying east to west, in that area. At that moment, I was reminded that the “narrative” of Fort Negley that I have been studying was indeed another person’s reality.

I appreciate . . . the Hermitage and Fort Negley site visits because they have a way of putting you in the midst of beautiful places and reminding you of cruel and uncomfortable truths. It is easy to simply think of writing the paper for this class as a mere assignment, but then I see and learn about places like Fort Negley. Bobby Lovett’s students visited the site before they had access to as much information on the site as my classmates and I. Realizing that they had something to do with what I am learning presently, makes me understand the significance that my research can hold in the future.

Max Martineau | Senior| Economics & Public Policy major:

I really enjoyed learning about Fort Negley and getting to walk around and experience it firsthand. I think this is a great example of the important role that historians can play in telling stories that might otherwise go unheard. Over the years, Fort Negley deteriorated and became overgrown and forgotten. Now, however, restoration of the old fort to its original appearance allows groups like us to learn about Nashville’s history in ways that would have otherwise been impossible. [Professor Lovett] talked about how his students once asked him why no one wrote any history about them. He explained that history was about “his story” and “her story.” Our visit to Fort Negley was a great example of the importance of writing our own story, and telling the story of those who cannot tell it themselves.​

I have spoken to a few Nashville residents over the years who were aware of the Fort's history and had some pride in it. I have no doubt that there are some number of people who are advocating for the preservation of the site. I hate to be cynical, but the fact that it is considered a Union site with particular significance to the African American population means that it might not get as much attention as a Confederate site might get. We'll see what happens.

Thanks to @CMWinkler for highlighting this.

- Alan
 
From The Tennessee Star website:

Opposition Grows Against Nashville Mayor Megan Barry’s Plans To Redevelop Fort Negley Park
July 8, 2017 Wendy Wilson

Negley3.png


Opposition is growing against Nashville Mayor Megan Barry’s plans to open Fort Negley Park to private development.

...Barry has accepted a proposal from a development team called Cloud Hill Partnership, but Metro has not yet formally entered into an agreement. Plans for the Metro-owned property call for including affordable housing for workers, shops and restaurants, green space and creative spaces for artists. Under the proposed deal, Metro would retain ownership, with the development team investing private funds and sharing revenue.

Critics include African-American groups, Councilman John Cooper, a national nonprofit devoted to protecting cultural landscapes and many native Nashvillians.

“They shouldn’t even be considering this,” Nashville native Doug Jones told The Tennessee Star Friday. “That is sacred ground out there.”

Jones, a local attorney, is a past president of the Battle of Nashville Preservation Society. He told The Star that Ft. Negley Park is a site of national importance and that “this is not just some local thing that the mayor can do in a back room with rich developers.”​

The rest of the article is here.

- Alan
 
For those of you who haven't gotten around to this real gem of a place (and maybe you'd better hurry), some photos:

The problem: a wonderful, almost unequalled view of the Nashville area - which is why they built it there

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Just a really cool place, and a real rarity in that it's a European style native stone Star fort built to defend 360 degrees. Perched up there it was a perfect artillery platform commanding the entire Nashville area, the river and particularly the three turnpikes which converged there.

I believe I've read that the opening salvos of Thomas' attack came from here. The place was never threatened by Hood's forces; they didn't get close enough and anyway, charging up that hill into the teeth of those guns plus infantry behind stone ramparts would have been suicidal.

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And this photo from 2010 shows an artillery demonstration by reinactors sponsored by the Civil War Preservation Trust.

I think a Dollar General and a Blimpies would look much better here.

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Fellow members of the Nashville CWRT and friends,

Please take note and attend this important meeting if you can do so. The more people in seats for the side of historic preservation the better the chances that we win.

Fort Negley Update! Tuesday Sept. 12, @ 1 p.m., attend the Parks Board Meeting @ Centennial Park Boardroom, 2565 Park Plaza, Nashville 37203. At the meeting a Parks-only option will be shown to the Parks Board - an option that was never before allowed by this rushed process. Let the Parks Board, appointed by the Mayor, know that we believe park land should be park land!

If you cannot attend, please send your emails to support a full park on what is actually all park property and not a commercial development to the Metro Parks board -


[email protected], [email protected],[email protected],[email protected], [email protected],[email protected], [email protected]

And also to these two Metro Council members:

[email protected]

[email protected]

Thanks - please step up and show up at the meeting or send emails! The clock is ticking!

Greg Biggs

Nashville CWRT
Just visited there and and 3 other Nashville sites in June. I fear for all of the Nashville sites.
 
E-Mail sent. I was edumacated in Nashville back in the early 80s. It is a special place for me. It was my Waterloo and I cannot bring myself to go back.
 
I hope they get this stopped. Fort Negley is one of the few real Civil War sites left in Nashville. It is also a park. A green place people can go to enjoy themselves or learn history. We need green areas and green historic areas.
 
Dr. Bobby Lovett is a great advocate for the fort and Tennessee Civil War history in general. I served with him on the Board of Advisors for the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area. His work in Nashville is legendary.
 
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