Before many years pass, Gloucester will have a national park, Werowocomoco, site of Chief Powhatan and his people at the time of contact with English settlers in 1607.

Here is a case in which everyone has done something right.

1. Let us give posthumous credit to farmers of the past who preserved the 260+ acres without development. Although unaware of the significance of the soil they turned, they kept it intact.

2. Primarily let us recognize the extraordinary commitment of recent owners Bob and Lynn Ripley to do the right thing. For details on this topic, there is more below.

3. Let us be thankful that in a time of budget squeezes and national rancor in which almost nothing gets done, the acquisition of this beautiful site on the York River actually took place. For this, many individuals whom Gloucester will never know flexed hidden hands to obtain the funds and to make it happen.

Wow. Those are a lot of thoughts in a very small place. But we also have to recognize the cooperative...