Acting Fort Monroe superintendent returns to landscape of her youth
HAMPTON — Long before she became the superintendent of the Fort Monroe National Monument, many of the biggest life events for Eola Dance happened there.
She spent some of her childhood there, as the daughter of an Army officer.
“Pretty much anything important in my life happened at Fort Monroe, everything from doctor’s visits, to learning to swim, to Girl Scouts,” Dance said. “I probably could tell you a story about something that I attended or participated in on the parade grounds, at the YMCA, at the officer’s club, at the gazebo, at the Chamberlain. I just grew up admiring the architecture and the landscape.”
Dance, 41, is filling the role Terry E. Brown vacated in February. Brown is on a yearlong assignment in Washington as the National Park Service’s liaison with planning events for the 250th anniversary of American independence. It’s not clear if he is returning to his
Hampton post.
Tapped for the role in the spring, the superintendent’s job was a natural fit for her — and during a pandemic presented some obvious challenges.
“COVID, threw everybody a curve ball. We had a calendar of events anticipated throughout 2020. We definitely pivoted and created an opportunity to engage virtually,” Dance said.
Like so many public places, Fort Monroe made a hasty switch to virtual programming and has garnered several thousands in page views for events hosted on social media, such as African Landing Day and The Fourth at the Fort, spokeswoman Phyllis Terrell said.
“That’s incredible. When in person, we tend to plan for 250 people to engage and learn about the history,” Dance said. “It is difficult and challenging not being able to get together face to face in the places where history happened. But through the use of technology, we have been able to stay
connected and actually expand our audiences in ways that that I don’t know that we realized.”
Dance brings roughly two decades of experience with the federal agency, including expertise as an ethnographer who also served as a regional cultural anthropologist with the National Capital Region in Washington.
Dance also splits her time as the head of resource stewardship and science at the Colonial National Historical Park in Yorktown. She had a brief stint at Fort Monroe in 2012, shortly after then-President Barack Obama designated the site as national monument in 2011, after the Army pulled out.
Dance cites input from multiple sources at that time — Project 1619 Inc., a Hampton nonprofit and the 400 Years of African American History Commission — that helped design sustainable programming to include the history about the arrival of first Africans to the Virginia colonies in 1619 and the contraband decision. That’s the story of three Hampton slaves who sought refuge at the fortress during the Civil War, who became “contraband of war” and ignited a movement drawing thousands of slaves seeking refuge to the fort, or “Freedom’s Fortress.”
“It was to help to set the park up for success in continuing to engage people of all walks of life in talking about American history with this incredible story that tells the African American experience,” she said. “We’re still doing that incredible work.”
Dance will continue with programs established by Brown and has hired a facility manager for ongoing work to renovate Quarters No. 1 building, plus other projects.
“Much of my work has been related to planning for visitor use. We have an incredible park that extends to the North Beach area. Thinking about the opportunities to help people to connect to the landscape,” Dance said. “It’s opportunities for water recreation ... opportunities for birding, for enjoying the boardwalk. And ... thinking about where we might want to have trails.”
From curator dreams to the park service
The youngest of eight children, Dance was born at Langley Air Force Base, grew up in Fox Hill and graduated from Hampton public schools.
Her father — a lieutenant colonel who served at Langley Air Force Base and later worked at Fort Monroe — shaped Dance’s world view.
“We were always in parks. And I think it was conscious that my father took us to specific sites. We went to Jamestown and Yorktown; we went to the National Mall. And we went to Arlington House and Arlington Cemetery regularly,” Dance said. “I think it was about, you know, his service. And, you know, that fighting for your country, and for freedom, and wanting us to know and understand, you know what that meant. He served two tours in Vietnam.”
Dance’s father also sparked the idea of becoming a museum curator.
“Around the age of 12, my father had shared one of those big, thick books, you know, with occupations with me, and it had curator in there. We also had subscriptions to the Smithsonian Magazine, and I became pretty obsessed with the Hope Diamond,” Dance said. “This idea of being able to work with museums and touch artifacts was just particularly interesting.”
While a history student at Southern University and A&M College, an HBCU in Baton Rouge, La., Dance leaped at a chance to join the park service.
Dance rotated around the country in various management roles and was working at the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site when she learned Fort Monroe might be closing as a base. Knowing all the history there, Dance wanted to be part of any effort there, ultimately connecting with the monument’s first superintendent, Kristen Talken-Spaulding.
Dance also holds a master’s in historic preservation from Savannah College of Art and Design. She is a doctoral candidate in U.S. History and African Diaspora at Howard University.
With the 10th year anniversary of the monument on the horizon, Dance seems poised to come full circle.
“Fort Monroe for me, has a lot of layers and meaning,” Dance said. “There’s a place that’s special to you and you hope it’s special to other people. As a student of history, you couldn’t ask for a more dynamic and impactful site to have the opportunity to interpret.”