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John Long

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From the RoundTable blog

Once there was a place in the mountains of Roanoke County where school kids, families and history buffs could glance back into early America.

Youngsters turned off their cellphones and iPods for a few hours and learned what it was like to cook on a hearth; how to hoist a hogshead with a pulley system; how the villagers of the Totera tribe provided for themselves. Then they stepped back into a modern world, suddenly aware that the past was not so far away and was no boring place.

That was the magic of Explore Park.

The magic has faded; hope of it re-emerging in an altered form is weakening in this troubled economy. I have no easy answer for what to do with the now defunct institution. But I do have a concern I have heard few others express.

I've been following the saga of Explore for many years. I recall the early vision of a Lewis and Clark theme park proposed by the redoubtable Bern Ewert. That vision evolved quite a bit before the park opened. The finished product that we came to love took visitors through a 17th century Indian village, an 18th century frontier camp and a 19th century rural village. Along the way, visitors could pick up information about blacksmithing, milling, livestock husbandry, bateau men on Virginia's rivers and other aspects of early American culture.

Over time, the park's contours and programs changed. An upscale eatery opened in the Brugh Tavern. A visitor's center drew travelers off of the Blue Ridge Parkway. A church, an old one-room schoolhouse, an early mill, a re-created frontier fort, bike paths and nature trails all appeared at the site.

Over the years it was open, I was a frequent visitor, and got to know a number of the staff and historical interpreters (many of whom I still call friends). I was able through the years to offer occasional advice or information, participate on a planning committee, and occasionally was invited to speak there on historical subjects. I grew to love the place, and was saddened when it closed.

The reason for the closing was simple: Explore could not bring in enough visitors to cover the costs. Enter the flamboyant out-of-state developer, Larry Vander Maten. A history buff who wanted to encourage historic tourism, he proposed to lease the park and convert it into a destination attraction that would actually turn a profit. Roanoke County and the Virginia Recreational Facilities Authority (the administrators of the park) jumped at the chance.

A few years, a couple of lease extensions and one recession later, chances are dimming that Vander Maten will be able to pull it off. The authority and Roanoke County seem unlikely to grant another lease extension and are looking for a viable "Plan B."

I have no ready answer as to what to do with a great idea that became a white elephant. But as a local historian, I do have a concern that I don't think has been adequately addressed: What will become of the historic structures in the park?

Explore became home to several significant local buildings, relocated to the park and reincarnated as educational facilities. The picturesque church, the cozy Hofauger House, the Houtz Barn, stately Brugh Tavern, the Slone Mill and other structures were moved there to preserve them. Ironically, they may have been more secure in their original locations. I've been told there are other buildings (or parts thereof) in storage at Explore as well.

Some Explore buildings, like the fort, are pretty cool but only reproductions. They need not be protected in the same sense. Losing them would be a shame, but not a tragedy. But there will never be another Houtz barn or Kemp's Ford School.

I call on Roanoke County and the Virginia Recreational Facilities Authority to take steps to safeguard these local architectural treasures, whatever form the park takes in the future. It would not be difficult, it seems to me, to formulate covenants in any deed or lease that mandate the preservation of these historic structures. Failure to do so could result in pieces of our architectural heritage being irretrievably lost.

Explore Park was founded to preserve the past by educating the present. Though the initial iteration of the park failed to thrive, there is great potential there, with or without Vander Maten. But neither the past nor the future will be served by allowing the architectural heritage at Explore to fade forever.

Long, a Roanoke Times columnist, is director of the Salem Museum and teaches history at Roanoke College.