On Monday night, the National Park Service withdrew a draft proposal to rehabilitate Welcome Park, including removing a statue of William Penn in a move that had set off an uproar earlier in the day.

The press release read, “Independence National Historical Park has withdrawn the review of a draft proposal to rehabilitate Welcome Park and closed the public comment period. The preliminary draft proposal, which was released prematurely and had not been subject to a complete internal agency review, is being retracted. No changes to the William Penn statue are planned.

“The National Park Service remains committed to rehabilitating Welcome Park as the nation prepares to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. Upon completion of all the necessary internal reviews, the park looks forward to engaging in a robust public process to consider options for refurbishing the park in the coming years.

“The park is located on the site of William Penn’s home, the Slate Roof House, and is named for the ship, Welcome, which transported Penn to Philadelphia. The design and construction of Welcome Park was funded by the Independence Historical Trust and was completed in 1982. Updates on the project may be found on the park’s website at www.nps.gov/INDE.

The matter had become heated earlier Monday as Republican lawmakers and commenters on social media were giving the park service a rough time about the plan.

“The decision by President Biden and his administration to try and cancel William Penn out of whole cloth is another sad example of the left in this country scraping the bottom of the barrel of wokeism to advance an extreme ideology and a nonsensical view of history,” Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster, said in a statement.

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I recall in the early to mid 90's Disney was wanting to put a theme park out in Virgina area and Desecrate some of the Civil War Battlefields Sacred Ground... Both Northerners and Southerners came together with talk show host like G. Gordon Liddy, Rush Limbaugh and for a bit was Oliver North who during the time was running for office after the Iran/Contra fiasco... The Word Wss This.. The First Dozer Blade to go in this Sacred Ground will be the first shot fired!

RiverRatRuss wrote:

So this guy, what, invented the Pen? Who cares, everyone types now anyway...

Stogie1020 wrote:

I recall in the early to mid 90's Disney was wanting to put a theme park out in Virgina area and Desecrate some of the Civil War Battlefields Sacred Ground... Both Northerners and Southerners came together with talk show host like G. Gordon Liddy, Rush Limbaugh and for a bit was Oliver North who during the time was running for office after the Iran/Contra fiasco... The Word Wss This.. The First Dozer Blade to go in this Sacred Ground will be the first shot fired!

RiverRatRuss wrote:

I think you're a bit confused. During this controversy, I lived in Falmouth, VA about 5 miles away from the area in question. As such, I have direct knowledge of the controversy.

The area is known as Ferry Farm, George Washington's childhood home. Walmart wanted to buy the property and build a Super Walmart. The community came together and fought it. Btw, drglnc I think you're thinking of Central Park. It's actually on the opposite side of Fredericksburg away from Ferry Farm. That is a massive retail area and does have a relatively new golf course. But it's not on the "hollowed" grounds Russ is referring to.

The homeowners didn't want it because that area was and still is 98.2% residential. The residents had a very specific reason for not wanting Walmart there. What most people fail to realize is that Fredericksburg, VA is a Washington DC bedroom community. Most of the people who live there commute back and forth on I-95 an hour and a half each way to Washington DC for work. To them that area is a nice quiet respite from the big city BS they deal with every day. As far as they were concerned, a Walmart in the neighborhood would have been an intrusion into that peacefulness.

Since the store would have been less than a mile or so from what's known as Old Town Fredericksburg, the local merchants didn't want it either. You see Old Town is one of the few places that still has what's often referred to as "Mainstreet USA". On the weekends you'll find many residents strolling the many streets shopping at any one of dozens upon dozens of small specialty shops ranging from upscale women's clothing to stationary stores, a butcher's shop and many others. Or enjoying a restful moment sitting at a table on one of the sidewalks outside a coffee shop or small restaurant enjoying a relaxing afternoon. Again, a welcome respite from the daily grind during the week. The fear was that Walmart would move in and kill Old Town Fredericksburg just like it has so many other small town mercantile centers.

Abrignac wrote: