Manskers Station may be closing

[mastrsgt]

I just saw this on another list. It would be a shame if this facility was closed.

From the TNFrontierlife yahoo group as posted by Albert Roberts:

Dear friends,

On June 30, 2008, Historic Mansker's Station and the Bowen Plantation House will close due to budget cuts from the City of Goodlettsville.

NOW is the time to act -- contact the city officials listed below. Let them know that these valuable places aren't just historical sites, they're living history. Visitors of all ages come to immerse themselves in frontier life, not just view a static display.

Removing a regular staff from these sites may accelerate ruin or even invite vandals. Let city officials know that this is unacceptable for your community. And, if you've visited the site or participated as a volunteer or reenactor, tell them how strongly you value your experience.

As you make your voice heard, you'll do your part to preserve a vital piece of Tennessee history -- for this generation and the ones that follow.

FACTS THAT FIGURE
-Overall visitation for the sites numbers about 15,000 per year.

-More than 4,000 school children came for field trips during 2006-07 and 2007-08.

-In recent years, visitors have hailed from ALL 50 states and countries as far away as England, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Spain and Japan.

It is crucial that you ACT NOW ”“ SAVE Mansker's Station and the Bowen Plantation House by contacting city officials TODAY!

Tim Ellis, Director of Parks & Recreation
[email protected]
(615) 851-2253

Jim Thomas, City Manager
[email protected]
(615) 851-2231

Jerry Garrett, Mayor
[email protected]
(615) 851-2207

John Finch, Vice Mayor
[email protected]

John Coombs, Commissioner
[email protected]

Jeff Cordell, Commissioner
[email protected]

Gary Manning, Commissioner
[email protected]

Letters can also be faxed to city hall at: (615) 859-2212

Please feel free to forward this info to anyone and everyone that you can think of that might be interested in aiding our cause.

 

[mazo kid]

Mansker's Station IS CLOSING! According to a letter from Ashley Staley, Site Director, the Goodlettsville City Commissioners voted to close it indefinitely on June 17th. The last day for staff is June 28th. Albert Roberts is spearheading a drive to save the site; if you would like to help, his # is 615-847-4141. ALL scheduled events have been canceled. There is no known plan for storing artifacts, store items, etc at this time, and the Fort and Bowen House will be locked. Emery

 

[bnail]

I definately don't want to start a firestorm, but is this REALLY a cotastrophy? isn't Mansker's juat a scaled replica of the original in a city park and not even on the original site? the first I heard of this place was when Mark baker m,entioned it.

 

[Claude Mathis]

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008806190356

 

[mazo kid]

I definately don't want to start a firestorm, but is this REALLY a cotastrophy? isn't Mansker's juat a scaled replica of the original in a city park and not even on the original site? the first I heard of this place was when Mark baker m,entioned it.

Well, maybe not a catastrophe, but it is always sad to see a primitive event closed down. A lot of camaraderie, history, and education will be lost.

 

This has been comming for several years and is no suprise to the volunteers in that area. I was informed by the powers that be of the progression of events that would lead to the closing back in 2000.

Those same people will claim it is a new decision and saddens them greatly, but they made the decision several years back when they rewrote Steve Marshal, the founding director, out of his job discription. The founder and builder of one of the best reenactment sites in the U.S. finished his carier as a city employee mowing grass on a tractor.

The city origionally built the new visitor center with the intent that it would be headquarters for the parks dept.

Kasper mansker is burried at the intrance to the Goodletsville Sports and Rec complex. No one even knows what the pile of rocks signifies. They just walk around them to go play B-ball.

Most of the longtime volunteers have shifted their home base over to Rock Castle in Hendersonville, TN, only a few miles away. That site also dates to 1784, and was the home of General D.B. Smith. Trained by Thomas Walker, surveyor of the TN/KY border, friend of Jefferson, neighbor of Anderw Jackson, first senator from TN, State Supreme court judge and a pretty serious woodsman.

Mansker's Station was a replica, but a good one, and served it's purpose well. It was an incubation site for many of the best reenactors of the middle ground longhunter era. In its day, it was the best thing available. Newer and more appropriate sites are now available, but when MS was new it was the best available.

We went there to learn, pure and simple. Then we went there to teach, and teach we did for 20 years.

The Bowen House is not a replica. It is the first brick house built in this area and dates to 1784.

This is just another symptom of the rot that dominates local government. History has no immidiate monitary value and is a poor income generator. You get more votes and make more people giggle with ball fields and golf courses.

 

[bnail]

well said Ghost.
It was a mecca for serious reenactors/trekkers. I've regretted not being able to get down there to see it.
could this be just a tempest in a teapot? after all, no one is proposing developing the fort site are they? they're just suspending activities; perhaps they'll reopen.
BTW, I do agree whole-heartedly. That's EXACTLY what our disenfranchised youth need, another BBall court :barf: we'll let'em entertain themslves there while we enjoy our new golfcourse :bull:

I'm curious, since you know the site so well. Is that post historically significant? I mean, is its architecture based on any documentation? do you know the story of the replica's creation; is it bicentenial? is it on the original site?
I didn't know that Mansker was buried there.
Anyway, thanks for the info. I definately didn't want to make waves, just playing devil's advocate. :hatsoff:

 

We built Manskers in the 80s, it is not bicentenial.

Mansker built two forts. The first was burned by Indians and he returned and built a second fort near the site of the repro.

As far as the repro being on the origional site, that is no longer done anywhere. The origional ground is normally preserved and the repro built nearby.

Manskers was reproed as a standard frontier fort, a bit on the small side; Blockhouse on two opposing corners, cabins spaced around the parimeter with shed roofs sloped inward, log palisade between the cabins, open air forge, gates front and back. The whole thing was about 150"x75".

It was not unusual to walk into the main blockhouse and find David Wright and Mark Baker talking treking with Ted David Balue and Frank House making fun of them for living like savages in the woods.

What went on inside was nowhere near as important as what went on outside the fort walls. Hundreds of the best reenactors in the nation gathered in one spot, swaping ideas and new knowledge, trading equipment and actually sitting around and comparing research. Those days had been gone for some time now. The admin had run most of the old timers off.

You had to jury to get into Manskers, and I do not mean send in a photo for a quick yes or no. They looked at your gear, discussed why you used what you had, gave suggestions and worked with you to get things right.

While Steve marshal was director, if you were jurried at Mansker's you were automatically jurried anywhere in the eastern U.S. Site managers all over the nation accepted your name on the Mansker's vollenteer list as proof that your gear was right.

Looks like Martin's Station will be the place to go from now on. It is a little closer to me anyway, since I moved to Yankeeland. Better view too. No subdivision in the background, just a mountain ridge that goes up and up and up....

 

[bnail]

That must have been a time to see.
it seems that municipalities have a way of freezing out the dedicated history beurocrats in favor of administrative beancounters. we have a small historical park in Green Bay that suffered the same fate.
I'll just have to make it a point to hit Martin 's Station now.
Take Care Ghost! :thumbsup: