Sycamore Shoals State Historic Park supporters petitioned the state for more funding assistance and more employees for the state historic area during a public hearing Tuesday night.
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation hosted the public hearing to share the park’s business and management plan while gathering public input on what future plans for the park should include.
Reenactor and volunteer Ramona Invidiato expressed her concerns that the park area was not adequately funded or staffed by the state.
“We know that this area is the cradle of American expansion, but we are concerned that Nashville doesn’t know that,” Invidiato said.
Invidiato said Sycamore Shoals was the oldest historic site in the state, and included an American Revolution site at Fort Watauga, the oldest frame house in the state at Carter Mansion and Sabine Hill, a home from 1812 that is regarded as one of the best examples of Federal-style architecture.
She said volunteers were concerned the park would not be able to continue operating as it has been without an increase in financial support and more employees from the state to the park. She said volunteers provide most of the equipment and tools for reenactment and events to help give an accurate historic presentation to visitors.
“We are concerned that funding will dwindle and the volunteers will not be able to pick up the slack,” Invidiato said.
She said because the park is a historic site and not a recreation site, it lacks the opportunities to provide self-supported funding like other state parks.
John Large, a volunteer with the Master Gardeners and the Watauga Valley Fife and Drum Corps, echoed Invidiato’s concerns. He said many volunteers were amazed that the park employees had been able to maintain the 8-mile stretch of park property as they have been with the limited funding and personnel.
Sycamore Shoals currently has six full-time employees — the director, two maintenance workers, an interpretive ranger, a historic ranger and a secretary.
“The park is getting ready to expand to include Sabine Hill,” Large said. “I am amazed the employees are able to do what they have done with what they have, but I don’t think it can go on. We are tired of the fact the state is not doing anything for Sycamore Shoals. This is not a park that can raise its own money. This is not a recreational park, this is an educational park.”
Large said that while the park lacks its own funding opportunities, Sycamore Shoals brought income into the city with the number of visitors that come to the historic area.
“This is the birthplace of liberty and the birthplace of Tennessee,” Large said. “Our main concern is the underfunding of the park.”
Sue Knoche, also a volunteer and reenactor, suggested the park needed to do more in public relations and marketing to share what is happening at the historic sites.
“People have no idea of the significance of what happened here,” she said. “I am amazed at the efforts of the militia and the volunteers. We need to publicize more when there are events here.”
Ranger Jason Davis shared that Sycamore Shoals had 285,593 visitors in 2013. The park is the home of a state-certified arboretum, a butterfly garden and a monarch butterfly waystation.
Davis continued the park hosts at least one special event each month, including militia musters, reenactments, the Native American Festival, the Celtic Festival, the outdoor drama “Liberty! The Saga of Sycamore Shoals” and art workshops and shows.
“We work to foster a sense of stewardship and perpetuate a personal ownership of heritage forged by the spirit of our ancestors,” Davis said. “The goal is to preserve something greater than ourselves, it is to preserve our history.”
Sycamore Shoals manager Jennifer Bauer shared the parks accomplishments and short- and long-term goals. In the past year, Sycamore Shoals has added Sabine Hill to its system and is working to restore and renovate the home and dedicated the new arboretum and the new local history museum.
She added the park is only able to produce 2 percent self-sufficient funding.
“We aren’t like the other parks,” she said. “We don’t have campgrounds or other opportunities like that to raise our own funding.”
Short-term goals for the park include adding a restroom and playground to the picnic shelter area and making Wi-Fi accessible throughout the park.
The park has several long-term goals, according to Bauer:
• Building an enclosed, rustic shelter near the picnic shelter;
• Renovating the outdoor amphitheater and expanding the community room;
• Acquiring land on the north side of the Watauga River opposite Sycamore Shoals, an area that was also an important American Revolution site;
• Acquiring more land near Carter Mansion and Sabine Hill; and
• Adding more personnel.
Additional public comments will be accepted until Dec. 31 and can be emailed to state.parks@tn.gov.