Acting superinttendent has history with Fort Necessity
While just settling into the job, acting superintendent Jeff Reinbold is no stranger to Fort Necessity National Battlefield in Farmington. “I came here as a kid quite often,’ said the Johnstown native. “I had an interest in the French and Indian War.’
Later, Reinbold worked at the National Park Service’s planning and design office in Denver, Colo., which was involved in planning the headquarters building, maintenance building and new interpretive center that have been added to Fort Necessity in the past 10 years.
“I was familiar with what was being planned and it’s exciting to see what has developed,’ he said.
Reinbold is on temporary duty as acting superintendent of both Fort Necessity and Friendship Hill National Historic Site in Springhill Township. He expects to be in Fayette County through the end of November as he takes the reigns from Superintendent Ken Mabery, who is on detail at Fort Stanwix, an 18th century fort in Rome, N.Y., that contributed to the American victory at Saratoga and westward expansion through New York’s gateway to the West.
Reinbold comes to Fort Necessity from Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Somerset County, which marks the site where the passengers and crew of Flight 93 courageously gave their lives on Sept. 11, 2001, by thwarting a planned attack on the nation’s capital.
Reinbold has been at the Flight 93 memorial site for the past three years, where he served as planner and project manager.
“It’s coming along well,’ Reinbold said of the memorial. “We have a design for the memorial and just completed our management plan. This is the first time a national park has been designed through a competition. We held an international competition not only to come up with a design for the memorial but for the entire park. One of the challenges with Flight 93 is that it occurred in the middle of such an open place so we wanted a memorial not only representative of the event but of the setting as well. We encouraged those in the competition to design the visitor’s experience and the entire park. Our goal is a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the 10th anniversary – 2011 – and it’s going very well. We’ve spent a lot of time in the last three years developing strong partnerships with the local community and families of the passengers and crew,’ he added.
Reinbold started his career with the National Park Service in 1990, working as a seasonal employee at Johnstown Flood Memorial. He worked in Denver from 1992-95 and, after a couple of stops, worked in Washington, D.C., before moving on to the Flight 93 memorial site.
Now at Fort Necessity, Reinbold said, “The park has wonderful facilities in place and there’s an opportunity to do even more for visitors on the meadow at the battlefield site.’
A busy place, Fort Necessity is hosting numerous encampments this month.
Reinbold, who arrived in Fayette County on July 31, spoke of the first one that featured Trent’s Company, a French and Indian War re-enactment group.
“It was very well attended,” he said. The staff does a fantastic job with those and, another thing I noticed is what strong volunteer support the park has and how many partners help us achieve our mission here. It’s very gratifying to see the commitment.’
Talking about the staff, Reinbold said, “I think we have a great mix of professionals and people with a lot of experience in the community. I think it’s really a good mix to go forward. They’ve done an incredible job through the major building of the last 10 years and I think we’re poised for even better things in the future.’
Reinbold also had kind words for Friendship Hill, which he first visited in the 1990.
“That’s another great place,” he said. “The setting for that is incredible. The grounds are wonderful.’
Friendship Hill, the 18th century home of Albert Gallatin, a Swiss emigrant who served as secretary of the treasury under Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, is undergoing changes this year that are being called the Gallatin Mansion Renaissance. They included moving the visitor’s contact area from the kitchen to the state dining room to allow the kitchen to be interpreted and doing exterior work that includes repairs to the roof, redoing the stucco and repainting the exterior trim and windows.
Reinbold noted the current painting project is nearly finished and that the outside of the mansion “looks fantastic.’
He recently met the president of the Friendship Hill Association, a group that strongly supports the national park.
Reinbold said, “As tight as budgets are now, and the fact that the staff and volunteers have been able to accomplish what they have, it’s really a great partnership.’
For more information on Fort Necessity, check the Web site at www.nps.gov/fone
and for more information on Friendship Hill, check the Web site at www.nps.gov/frhi
.