THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 27, 1996 TAG: 9609260133
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: IDA KAY'S PORTSMOUTH
SOURCE: IDA KAY JORDAN
LENGTH: 82 lines
An outsider's first look at Downtown Portsmouth always is interesting.
James ``Chip'' Jeffries, a New Yorker and a museum expert, visited here last week with Vision 2005 consultant Ray Gindroz of Pittsburgh.
He arrived here at night and checked into the Olde Towne Bed and Breakfast Inn on London Boulevard.
``I got up the next morning, thinking I would walk over to High Street and see the museums,'' he said. ``I couldn't believe what I saw when I walked out on the street.''
What he saw was a cruise liner sitting in the Norshipco drydock, towering over Portsmouth buildings.
He walked closer, examining the waterfront.
``It's an amazing sight,'' he said. ``Seeing the ships in the framework of the city.''
Jeffries called the working waterfront a ``remarkable resource.''
``So many others would give their eyeteeth for this,'' he said.
And many people in Portsmouth complain about the drydock, even about ships going up and down the river. How many times have I heard people wonder, ``Who would want to live down in those condos with the shipyard right there?''
Of course, there are as many others who are fascinated with everything from the pedestrian ferry and tugboats to the superliners to the battleships. I'm one of them, so I was glad to hear Jeffries' positive opinion.
Jeffries also was taken with the ``pure concentration of history'' in Portsmouth.
``Sometimes people aren't aware of how significant the stories are,'' he said.
Portsmouth has an overload of significant places and stories. Because it is the home of the Navy's first shipyard and first hospital, there are significant stories of every war the United States has ever been involved in - and wars are important marks in the history of this country.
In addition, it has the Coast Guard and its wonderful history made here.
Furthermore, it has architectural history galore, starting with Olde Towne, where you can see two centuries compressed into a few blocks.
``Portsmouth's treasures contrast vividly with the image it has of itself and its image in the region,'' Gindroz said. ``The history of Portsmouth and the quality of Portsmouth as a place to visit needs to become central to its revitalization.''
Portsmouth, Norfolk, Williamsburg and Jamestown provide a collection of history and a collection of museums ``unparalleled anywhere,'' Gindroz said.
``They are an essential part of American history.''
Portsmouth is a major part of the big picture.
Gindroz wants to create ``a continuous outdoor museum,'' turning the whole downtown into a museum.
``Heritage tourism,'' the market for Portsmouth, is growing at a rate of more than 15 percent a year, the consultants said. Most ``heritage tourists'' are fairly affluent, eat well and stay in hotels or bed and breakfast establishments.
``More people go to museums than visit professional sports events every year,'' Jeffries said.
Considering the local itch for more professional sports, that's an important statistic to remember. We need to realize that there are plenty of people out there who would prefer to visit us for our history.
For once thing, nobody else has exactly what we have because most of the country had not even been developed when much of our history was being made.
Jeffries was obviously impressed on his first visit here.
``This city is amazingly livable and accessible,'' he said. ``It's warm and it's a human-scale city. That is very rare.''
Sadly, he said, the ``remarkable resources'' here have not been well-connected for visitors.
``We must find a string to line all these pearls together,'' he said. ``You would have a beautiful necklace.''
Jeffries said he envisions the city as ``a gigantic museum with many different departments.'' He said Portsmouth could become a ``museum model for other cities.''
Jeffries works with the firm that produced the Holocaust Museum in Washington, the Martin Luther King Center in Atlanta and the Steel Industrial Heritage Center in Pennsylvania, among many others. He has the right credentials to create a plan for Portsmouth.
Most of all, he has the right reactions to Portsmouth's attractiveness and to its history.
Jeffries, like Gindroz, saw much more on first glance than most of us see in a lifetime in Portsmouth. We need to hear from them to help us with our self-esteem. by CNB