[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 60 (Thursday, March 28, 2013)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 18769-18776]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-07401]




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  Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 60 / Thursday, March 28, 2013 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 18769]]


                Proclamation 8944 of March 25, 2013

                
Establishment of the First State National 
                Monument

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Sites within the State of Delaware encompass nationally 
                significant objects related to the settlement of the 
                Delaware region by the Swedes, Finns, Dutch, and 
                English, the role that Delaware played in the 
                establishment of the Nation, and the preservation of 
                the cultural landscape of the Brandywine Valley. A 
                national monument that includes certain property in New 
                Castle, Dover, and the Brandywine Valley, Delaware 
                (with contiguous acreage in the Township of Chadd's 
                Ford, Pennsylvania) will allow the National Park 
                Service and its partners to protect and manage these 
                objects of historic interest and interpret for the 
                public the resources and values associated with them.

                In 1638, Peter Minuit led Swedish and Finnish colonists 
                to present-day Wilmington, established New Sweden, and 
                built Fort Christina. Holy Trinity (Old Swedes) Church 
                nearby includes a burial ground used since the Swedes 
                landed in this area in 1638. In 1651, Peter Stuyvesant 
                led Dutch settlers from New Amsterdam in present-day 
                New York to a site approximately 7 miles south of Fort 
                Christina. There, in present-day New Castle, the Dutch 
                built Fort Casimir and named the place ``New Amstel.'' 
                The Dutch fort at New Amstel occupied a better position 
                than the Swedish Fort Christina for controlling 
                commerce. Conflicts between the Swedish and Dutch 
                colonists resulted in changing occupations of Fort 
                Casimir, with the Dutch regaining control in 1655.

                In 1664, the English arrived in New Amstel, seized the 
                city for the King of England, and renamed it ``New 
                Castle.'' The English also wrested control of all of 
                New Netherland, incorporating it into the colony of New 
                York under the Duke of York, brother of King Charles 
                II.

                In 1681, King Charles II deeded Pennsylvania to William 
                Penn. To protect the land around New Castle that he had 
                previously granted to the Duke of York, the King set 
                the boundary 12 miles from New Castle in an arc 
                extending radially from a point subsequently marked by 
                the cupola of the New Castle Court House built in 1732. 
                To gain access to the Atlantic Ocean for his new Quaker 
                Colony, however, William Penn persuaded the Duke of 
                York to give him the three ``Lower Counties of 
                Pennsylvania'' that eventually became Delaware. The 
                ``12-mile arc'' that separated these lower counties 
                from the rest of Pennsylvania, and eventually became 
                the State boundary between Pennsylvania and Delaware, 
                runs through the present-day Woodlawn property in the 
                Brandywine Valley (Woodlawn).

                William Penn landed in New Castle in 1682, and took 
                possession of the city. In 1704, Penn allowed the 
                General Assembly of the Three Lower Counties to meet in 
                New Castle separately from the Assembly in 
                Philadelphia, portending the development of the State 
                of Delaware. New Castle remained the colonial capital 
                of Delaware until 1777, and the New Castle Court House 
                served as the meeting place of the Delaware Assembly.

                During the 1700s, colonial Delaware actively 
                participated in both the first and second Continental 
                Congresses, and engaged in the debates over British 
                actions and the question of independence. The Delaware 
                Assembly met

[[Page 18770]]

                on June 15, 1776, in the New Castle Court House, where 
                it voted to separate from England and from 
                Pennsylvania, creating the ``Delaware State.'' The 
                Court House served as the capitol until 1777, when 
                government functions moved to Dover as a precaution 
                against attack from British warships in the Delaware 
                River.

                The Court House and the New Castle Historic District, 
                including the Green, the Sheriff's House, and numerous 
                additional resources from the time of earliest 
                settlement through the Federal era, are National 
                Historic Landmarks. The Green has served as a center of 
                activity since the Dutch laid it out as the Public 
                Square. The Sheriff's House, abutting the Court House 
                on the Green, is architecturally significant and is all 
                that remains of the State's first prison system. The 
                New Castle Court House later provided the setting for a 
                dramatic chapter in the history of the Underground 
                Railroad: the criminal trial, presided over by Chief 
                Justice Roger B. Taney, of prominent Quaker 
                abolitionist Thomas Garrett and his colleague John Hunn 
                for assisting runaway slaves escaping from Maryland to 
                Pennsylvania. In the trial Garrett defiantly asserted 
                that he would continue to assist runaway slaves, as he 
                did working with Harriet Tubman and other heroes of the 
                Underground Railroad.

                The Constitution of the United States was completed in 
                Philadelphia on September 17, 1787, and then sent to 
                the Congress of the Confederation for transmittal to 
                the State legislatures. At the Golden Fleece Tavern on 
                the Dover Green, a Delaware convention ratified the 
                Constitution on December 7, 1787, earning Delaware the 
                accolade of ``the First State.'' Though the Tavern no 
                longer exists, Dover Green is the central area of the 
                Dover Green Historic District that signifies this event 
                and many others, including the mustering of a 
                Continental Regiment during the American Revolution and 
                the reading of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

                The boundary arc establishing the three ``Lower 
                Counties of Pennsylvania'' that became the State of 
                Delaware runs, in part, through Woodlawn, northwest of 
                Wilmington. Woodlawn is situated on land in the 
                Brandywine Valley acquired by William Penn in 1682. 
                Penn commissioned a survey of this land that marked the 
                12-mile boundary arc through his property with tree 
                blazes, which were replaced in 1892 with stone markers, 
                two of which still stand. In 1699, Penn sold 2,000 
                acres of this property to the Pennsylvania Land 
                Company, which in turn sold the land predominantly to 
                Quakers, who had begun settling the area before 1690. 
                In time, the Brandywine and Delaware valleys were more 
                densely settled with Quakers than any other rural area 
                in the United States. At least eight structures from 
                the 18th century are known to be located at Woodlawn. 
                Because Woodlawn has been relatively undisturbed, it 
                still exhibits colonial and Quaker settlement patterns 
                that have vanished elsewhere.

                The preservation of Woodlawn is the result of the 
                little-known but historically significant story of 
                Quaker industrialist William Poole Bancroft's prescient 
                planning efforts for the region. Beginning in 1906, 
                Bancroft began to purchase property in the Brandywine 
                Valley, 5 miles outside Wilmington city limits, to hold 
                in reserve for the health and well-being of the public. 
                Heir to the Bancroft textile mills on the Brandywine 
                River, Bancroft eventually amassed over 1,300 acres, of 
                which Woodlawn comprises approximately 1,100 acres that 
                remain essentially the same as when he purchased them: 
                farm fields and forest predominate, dotted with old 
                farmsteads, bridges, and a few roads and trails.

                Bancroft provided this rural landscape as part of an 
                altruistic planning effort that also included 
                affordable housing in the City of Wilmington and a 
                system of parks and parkways, on which Frederick Law 
                Olmsted consulted, that linked the neighborhoods to the 
                green spaces. Bancroft established the Woodlawn 
                Trustees to preserve much of the rural landscape as 
                public park land where city residents could enjoy 
                recreation and bucolic surroundings.

[[Page 18771]]

                WHEREAS section 2 of the Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 
                225, 16 U.S.C. 431) (the ``Antiquities Act''), 
                authorizes the President, in his discretion, to declare 
                by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and 
                prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic 
                interest that are situated upon the lands owned or 
                controlled by the Government of the United States to be 
                national monuments, and to reserve as a part thereof 
                parcels of land, the limits of which in all cases shall 
                be confined to the smallest area compatible with the 
                proper care and management of the objects to be 
                protected;

                WHEREAS, for the purpose of establishing a national 
                monument, the State of Delaware has donated to the 
                United States certain lands and interests in lands in 
                New Castle, Delaware (including the Sheriff's House in 
                fee, and an easement for the protection of and access 
                to the New Castle Court House and the Green); the City 
                of Dover has donated to the United States an easement 
                for the protection of and access to the Dover Green; 
                and the Conservation Fund, with the support of the Mt. 
                Cuba Center and the cooperation of the Rockford 
                Woodlawn Fund has donated the Woodlawn property to the 
                United States in fee;

                WHEREAS it is in the public interest to preserve and 
                protect the objects of historic interest associated 
                with the early settlement of Delaware, the role of 
                Delaware as the first State to ratify the Constitution, 
                and the establishment and conservation of Woodlawn;

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the 
                United States of America, by the authority vested in me 
                by section 2 of the Antiquities Act, hereby proclaim, 
                set apart, and reserve as the First State National 
                Monument (monument), the objects identified above and 
                all lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by 
                the Government of the United States within the 
                boundaries described on the accompanying maps, which 
                are attached to and form a part of this proclamation, 
                for the purpose of protecting those objects. These 
                reserved Federal lands and interests in lands encompass 
                approximately 1,108 acres, together with appurtenant 
                easements for all necessary purposes, which is the 
                smallest area compatible with the proper care and 
                management of the objects to be protected.

                All Federal lands and interests in lands within the 
                boundaries of the monument are hereby appropriated and 
                withdrawn from all forms of entry, location, selection, 
                sale, leasing, or other disposition under the public 
                land laws, including withdrawal from location, entry, 
                and patent under the mining laws, and from disposition 
                under all laws relating to mineral and geothermal 
                leasing.

                The establishment of the monument is subject to valid 
                existing rights. Lands and interests in lands within 
                the monument boundaries not owned or controlled by the 
                United States shall be reserved as part of the monument 
                upon acquisition of ownership or control by the United 
                States.

                The Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) shall manage 
                the monument through the National Park Service, 
                pursuant to applicable legal authorities, consistent 
                with the purposes and provisions of this proclamation. 
                Further, to the extent authorized by law, the Secretary 
                shall promulgate any additional regulations needed for 
                the proper care and management of the monument.

                The Secretary shall prepare a management plan for the 
                monument, with full public involvement, within 3 years 
                of the date of this proclamation. The management plan 
                shall ensure that the monument fulfills the following 
                purposes for the benefit of present and future 
                generations: (1) to preserve and protect the objects of 
                historic interest identified above; (2) to interpret 
                the story of early Swedish, Finnish, Dutch, and English 
                settlement in the region, and Delaware's role in the 
                establishment of the Nation, including as the first 
                State to ratify the Constitution; and (3) to preserve 
                Woodlawn consistent with William Poole Bancroft's 
                vision of a rural landscape accessible to the public 
                for their health and well-being. The management plan 
                shall set forth, among other provisions, the desired 
                relationship of the monument to other related 
                resources, programs, and organizations in the region,

[[Page 18772]]

                including Old Swedes Church, Fort Christina, Stonum, 
                Lombardy Hall, Brandywine Creek State Park, Hagley 
                Museum and Library, Nemours Mansion and Gardens, 
                Winterthur Museum and Country Estate, Brandywine River 
                Museum, Longwood Gardens, John Dickinson Plantation, 
                and First State Heritage Park.

                The National Park Service shall consult with State and 
                local agencies and other appropriate organizations in 
                planning for interpretation and visitor services at the 
                monument. The National Park Service is directed to use 
                applicable authorities to seek to enter into agreements 
                addressing common interests and promoting management 
                efficiencies, including provision of visitor services, 
                interpretation and education, and preservation of 
                resources and values.

                Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to revoke 
                any existing withdrawal, reservation, or appropriation; 
                however, the monument shall be the dominant 
                reservation.

                Warning is hereby given to all unauthorized persons not 
                to appropriate, injure, destroy, or remove any feature 
                of the monument and not to locate or settle upon any of 
                the lands thereof.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twenty-fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
                seventh.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

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[FR Doc. 2013-07401
Filed 3-27-13; 8:45 am]

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