St. Augustine Record editorial on historic preservation, Flagler College, St. Johns County and National Park Service

County, college have a future in preservation
Posted: June 5, 2014 - 12:01am

Tuesday we published a front-page piece about a new certification awarded St. Johns County that should give us a leg-up on securing funding, training and technical support from the National Park Service in the area of historic preservation.

The county’s historic resources manager, Robin Moore, told The Record that he’s been working toward the goal for years and that, in practice, it represents a partnership with the NPS, allowing the county access to federal historic preservation funds and expertise not previously available — or as available.

Perhaps more importantly, Moore explained that the certification “really places the decision about what is historically significant at the local level.”

This all is good news. St. Augustine always gets top billing in terms of historic preservation. We sometimes forget that there are important historic treasures outside the colonial town: Certainly plenty to go around in terms of restoration and interpretation. Fort Mose comes quickly to mind.

But this represents a relatively new direction for county government. We would hope that it would work closely with the city in its efforts. St. Augustine has made huge strides in historic preservation and some bonehead missteps along the way. We live, we learn.

We’d like to suggest a more specific course for the county’s preservation efforts. Moore told us that a priority project awaiting grant money is an oral history that would include interviews with a couple dozen older residents of West Augustine.

Do not overlook a deep, fresh and talented resource in Flagler College. Grandpa knew it didn’t make much sense to plow the same row twice, and Flagler has already been where the county seems to want to get. Its students and staff have done legwork galore for the prestigious new civil rights library. Its journalism students have been down many of the same roads. And these kids are good. Catch “Ancient City Stories” on cable TV: You’ll be wowed. The college also produced, in partnership with WJXT Public Radio’s “First Coast Connect,” a 30-month interview series — many of which were done with older residents on both sides of the tracks.

Moore said that the oral history grant he’s written outlines a relationship with Flagler. That’s a good start, but it could become more.

Ñot only has Flagler College been there and done that, from what we’ve seen it also has “done that” with technology and production capabilities exceeding anything in the county — including the county. It also has the drive.

Any kind of relationship between the two would seem sensibly symbiotic. The county’s fledgling program, frankly, can use all the help it can get. And Flagler is committed to community involvement and outreach in any area it can find to make a difference — to mainline its kids into the lifeblood of their community.

It’s a partnership that seems as practical as it is promising.