Deadline Approaching For Comment On Plan To Lease Building At Valley Forge

By John Ostapkovich

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Time is running out for the public to comment on a plan to allow a building in Valley Forge National Historical Park to be leased for private use.

Part of the Philander Chase Knox house in the Southeast corner of the park dates to the Revolution, says Don Naimoli, Chair of Friends of Valley Forge Park, and in many respects it only got more historic since Knox was a trust-busting Attorney General, Secretary of State and a US senator.

Naimoli says the Park previously allowed another building to be used as a Montessori school with beautiful results, so he and his group say this too looks like a "fantastic partnership."

"All the parks are running below what they need to keep the parks open, let alone maintenance these buildings, so if we can find someone that can utilize that building (and it's a beautiful building) and make use of it and open it to the public for events and maintain the building, it's a win all the way around."

Yet, with park funding tight, he worries about some of the other hundred or so buildings.

"Right now, they're not getting used and they're historic. I mean Lafayette's quarters, here in the park, is closed. It's deteriorating. Lord Sterling's quarters. You know the park has done a certain amount of work on these buildings to stabilize them, to keep the roofs from leaking, to keep the foundations from going bad, but other than that there's just no money to maintain all these buildings."

This second comment period closes October 25th. To learn how you can submit a comment, visit the National Park Service website.