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State-operated landmarks endangered by Pa.'s financial crisis

The Daughters of the American Revolution sent a check. Local bed-and-breakfast owners are kicking in a dollar per registration, matched by the local tourism bureau.

The Daughters of the American Revolution sent a check.

Local bed-and-breakfast owners are kicking in a dollar per registration, matched by the local tourism bureau.

Potential benefactors from as far away as California and England have been in touch.

Clearly, the word is out: The Brandywine Battlefield Historic Site is in trouble, one of several state-operated landmarks endangered by Pennsylvania's financial crisis.

"It's shocked so many people that a treasure of this proportion could be in danger of closing," said Linda Kaat, president of the Brandywine Battlefield Park Associates, a 260-member volunteer group struggling to keep the 52-acre Delaware County site running. "The silver lining is that we are becoming a point of concern again."

In 1777, redcoats were the enemy here: 15,000 British troops who fought George Washington's Continental Army in the largest land battle of the Revolutionary War.

Today, Kaat said, "we're fighting red ink."

As early as next month, state officials could finalize plans to shut off funding to the Chadds Ford attraction, leaving it a "passive" park with no paid staff to interpret its rich history for visitors.

Gov. Rendell, facing a $3 billion state deficit, has proposed cutting $1.8 million next year from the $25.8 million operating budget of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, which oversees Brandywine and more than 20 other sites. A Republican counter-plan, passed last week by the state Senate, would cut even deeper, slicing an additional $4.5 million from the commission.

Rendell's budget alone has led the commission to recommend closing or curtailing operations at Brandywine and five other state historic sites.

In addition, the visitor center at Washington Crossing Historic Park in Bucks County could be shuttered for safety reasons if long-delayed renovations are not made. More than $4 million in state funds is available, but costs are expected to exceed that by $1 million to $2 million.

As public funds wane, state officials urge private donors and local volunteers to pick up the slack for sites they want preserved.

"State and federal money for these operations is not increasing," Commission Executive Director Barbara Franco said at a contentious hearing last month at Washington Crossing. "We have half as many employees as we used to because tax money - your money - is not going for that at this point. So it's important to look at public-private partnerships."

Brandywine Battlefield Park Associates already contributes. Last year, the group raised nearly $150,000 of the site's $385,000 operating budget, and put in "thousands" of volunteer hours, Kaat said.

Still, the paid staff is skeletal. The site administrator left in June, Kaat said, leaving one full-time educator, a full-time maintenance man, three part-time tour guides and a part-time secretary.

Teachers leading school trips to the site last week said children would have little interest without period-dressed interpreters to guide their visits.

"The staff there brings it to life for our students," said Michael Whiteley, who visited Thursday with about 100 fifth graders from Springton Manor Elementary School in Downingtown. "It boggles my mind, because some things should be untouchable."

Added Geraldine Gossard, who brought 13 eighth graders Wednesday from the French International School of Philadelphia: "It would be dead without the staff people." In her native Europe, she said, "they would never get rid of these historic sites."

Others question the government's historical priorities. Valley Forge, a national park site, is in line for $2 million in federal stimulus money, and the state has committed at least $8 million toward a private American Revolution Center there.

Supporters of Brandywine and Washington Crossing argue that their sites have more historical significance than Valley Forge, yet they go begging for state funds.

"They're different pots of money," Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said. The $8 million for Valley Forge is bond money for economic development, and Brandywine's budget came out of the general fund, he said.

Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, whose district includes Brandywine, said that while he generally supports the Republican budget, he doesn't think the fate of a 200-year-old historic site "should be determined by a turn of fiscal fortune."

Historians regard Brandywine as a pivotal point of the war. Washington's defeat on Sept. 11, 1777, enabled the British to capture Philadelphia, the capital, yet his army remained intact enough to regroup at Valley Forge.

Two future presidents - Washington and James Monroe - fought at Brandywine, as did future Chief Justice John Marshall. It also was the first battle of the war for the Marquis de Lafayette.

"In World War II terms, it would be like Churchill, Eisenhower, Patton - all of those names," Kaat said.

The state historical commission will hold a hearing Monday at the Brandywine River Museum. If lobbying in Harrisburg falls short, Brandywine volunteers are determined to supply programming on their own.

"What we need is a patron, a benefactor," Kaat said. With a laugh, she added, "How does the Comcast Battlefield Park sound?"