Thursday, May 3, 2007
The NPS Eastern Incident Management Team arrived at the park’s Historic Jamestowne unit on Monday to assist the park and local, state and federal agencies with the commemoration activities associated with the 1607 founding of the first permanent English settlement in America. Some of the members of the team have been working with park staff on the planning effort since the summer of 2006. An honorary visit by Her Royal Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, and His Royal Highness, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, will occur on May 4th, and will be followed by a visit by President Bush on May 13th, coinciding with the actual 400th anniversary of the arrival of the colonists and the final day of “America’s Anniversary Weekend,” the centerpiece of the 18-month-long commemoration of the Jamestown settlement. The team’s responsibilities are to plan and make the necessary arrangements to assure the security for the royal guests and President Bush’s visit and to support the three-day anniversary weekend activities. The support includes developing and coordinating plans with several agencies and organizations to address the safety and security of visitors and to manage the logistics of dignitary visits and assist with media activities. Since one of two main routes to Jamestown, the scenic 23-mile Colonial Parkway, will be closed during the events, the team is implementing a transportation management plan to coordinate public transportation service with outside agencies, provide dignitary access, and arrange shuttle service for park employees to the island. On Tuesday, team members, park officials, and members of APVA Preservation Virginia (the NPS management partner at Historic Jamestowne), met with representatives from the British Embassy, Scotland Yard, U.S. Secret Service and the White House to plan Her Majesty’s visit, accompanied by a number of dignitaries including Vice President Dick Cheney, and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine and First Lady Anne Holton. Coordination of these events and activities is being done in cooperation with:
- APVA Preservation Virginia, the nation’s oldest statewide preservation agency which owns 22 acres of Jamestown island, including the fort site, and cooperates with NPS to preserve the Historic Jamestowne site
- Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, an agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia and administrators of the Jamestown Settlement, a living history museum adjacent to Historic Jamestowne
- Jamestown 2007, a sub-agency of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation with the responsibility for planning the 400th Anniversary events for the Commonwealth of Virginia
- Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, which operates the world’s largest outdoor living history museum in Williamsburg and a Founding Colony Sponsor of America’s Anniversary Weekend
- The U.S. Secret Service, Virginia State Police, and local law enforcement departments in James City County, Virginia.
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