http://frenchtownpartners.zoomshare.com/1.shtml Frenchtown/St. Rose Project: News/Events Tue, 16 Oct 2007 16:57:44 -0500 http://frenchtownpartners.zoomshare.com/1.shtml/efcfa7a54d11c836f8e49292e0d70c7a_471533d7.writeback Tue, 16 Oct 2007 16:57:43 -0500 The fall Frenchtown Barbecue will be held on November 3, 2007 at Frenchtown Hall in Lowden. This community event features a barbecue dinner and dance, and along with the annual Spring barbecue, serves as a fundraiser to support the maintenance of the Frenchtown Recreation Hall. For ticket information, contact Kim Frank at Crossroads Steakhouse and Lounge, 509-522-1200 or Frenchtown Recreation Hall board members. http://frenchtownpartners.zoomshare.com/1.shtml/7f69a4006f8b1ca8a1b8c5c024d5c17a_46cb559a.writeback Tue, 21 Aug 2007 16:14:02 -0500 This year's Frenchtown Rendezvous will be held on Sunday, Sept. 16, at Fort Walla Walla Park. The event will begin at the Rotary Shelter with a potluck lunch at 11:30. At 12:30, there will be a formal discussion of plans and developments regarding the creation of a 50-acre interpretive park at the site of the old St. Rose Mission and cemetery between Walla Walla and Lowden. The rendezvous will then move to Fort Walla Walla Museum for a 2:00 pm living history presentation by important figures from the history of Frenchtown..........All of the Frenchtown Rendezvous activities are open to the public. For more information on Frenchtown and the efforts to preserve and interpret these historic lands, call Russ Bergevin, 509-525-2749 or Dan Clark, 509-522-0399. http://frenchtownpartners.zoomshare.com/1.shtml/392ccd9d70bbf6942f6e568a0612f28f_46a8bfd4.writeback Thu, 26 Jul 2007 10:37:56 -0500 Contacts for Frenchtown Historical Foundation: Russ Bergevin, President, 509-525-2749; Daniel Clark, Vice-President & Project Coordinator, 509-522-0399, clarkdn@charter.net; Mailing Address: PO Box 1222, Walla Walla WA 99362. http://frenchtownpartners.zoomshare.com/1.shtml/3dea3439df87b908e2c9e1c139d4dcd4_469695da.writeback Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:58:02 -0500 Request For Qualifications FRENCHTOWN HISTORICAL FOUNDATION NOTICE TO CONSULTANTS FRENCHTOWN INTERPRETIVE PARK The Frenchtown Historical Foundation solicits interest from consulting firms with expertise in planning and design. Consultants will be considered for the following project. PROJECT DESCRIPTION The work to be performed by consultant consists of preparing a master plan for the establishment and operation of an interpretive park on approximately 50 acres of land, including the site of the St. Rose of Lima mission and cemetery located on a key portion of the grounds of the Battle of Walla Walla, aka Battle of Frenchtown. The major elements of the master plan include: 1. An interpretive overlook 2. Historic cemetery restoration 3. Location and preliminary design of an interpretive center 4. Location and design of the historic mission church foundation 5. Walkways 6. Parking area 7. Fishing facilities 8. Restoration of native vegetation 9. Site maintenance and operation. SUBMITTAL Submittals should include the following information: Firm name; phone and fax numbers; email; website, if any; name of principal-in- charge and project manager; and number of employees in each firm proposed for the project. Submittals will be evaluated and ranked based on the following criteria: (1) key personnel, (2) firm experience with planning and design, including related projects, (3) approach to project, and (4) past performance/references. Please submit FOUR copies of your response to Frenchtown Historical Foundation, PO Box 1222, Walla Walla WA 99362, by 5:00 p.m. on August 1, 2007. Additional information available from Daniel Clark, project coordinator, Tel. 509-522- 0399. Frenchtown Historical Foundation encourages disadvantaged, minority, and women-owned consultant firms to respond. The Recipient, in accordance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 78 Stat. 252, 43 USC 2000d to 2000d-4 and Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, Department of Transportation, Subtitle A, Office of the Secretary, Part 21, Nondiscrimination in Federally-assisted programs of the Department of Transportation issued pursuant to such Act, hereby notifies all bidders that it will affirmatively ensure that in any contract entered into pursuant to this advertisement, disadvantaged business enterprises as defined at 49 CFR Part 23 will be afforded full opportunity to submit bids in response to this invitation and will not be discriminated against on the grounds of race, color, national origin, or sex in consideration for an award. Dates of publication: July 10, 2007 and July 17, 2007. http://frenchtownpartners.zoomshare.com/1.shtml/9ef6daf695fe3a79ed1886bb3f06bc54_463a1a01.writeback Thu, 03 May 2007 12:21:05 -0500 On April 30, 2007 the Walla Walla County Commissioners approved Frenchtown Road as the new name for what has previously been known as Ireland Road, located in the heart of the historic Frenchtown area west of Walla Walla. The name change to Frenchtown was proposed to the county by the Frenchtown Historical Foundation. Foundation president Russell Bergevin, who suggested the change, submitted consents from all property owners along the road. The group is planning a 50 acre interpretive park at the site of the historic St. Rose Mission and Cemetery, which is situated on key grounds of the four-day Battle of Walla Walla, also known as the Battle of Frenchtown. http://frenchtownpartners.zoomshare.com/1.shtml/b49fe911d689ae786681a68b4cbd2d63_460ec158.writeback Sat, 31 Mar 2007 15:15:20 -0500 A survey of the Battle of Frenchtown site is being done with an American Battlefield Protection program grant........ By Andy Porter of the Union-Bulletin....... LOWDEN - Long-buried bits from a violent slice of Walla Walla County's history were put on display Thursday........ The items, which included a 153-year-old dime and musket balls, were uncovered earlier this week by archaeologists looking for evidence of the 1855 Battle of Frenchtown...... ``In a nutshell, our work was to come out and survey the area and look for evidence of the battle,'' Stan Gough told members of the Frenchtown Historical Foundation as they met at the Claro Bergevin ranch on U.S. Highway 12...... Gough, director of Archeological and Historical Services at Eastern Washington University, and fellow team members had begun going over the battlefield area Monday. The survey is being done as part of a $35,000 National Park Service American Battlefield Protection program grant awarded to the foundation...... The 1855 battle between Oregon volunteers and members of local Indian tribes ranged over approximately 50 acres of ground between two pioneer cabins, one of which, the LaRoque cabin, was situated on the present-day Bergevin ranch...... While the survey team walked over the battle site, they concentrated on the area where they suspected the LaRoque cabin had been, going over the area with metal detectors Tuesday and excavating a trench in one spot...... Because the battle was a running fight spread over a large area, they knew the odds of finding items might be slim, Gough said. ``It's not like two large armies (clashing) that produce a lot of artifacts,'' he said. ``It's a real needle in a haystack. Luckily, we have the memory of the LaRoque cabin being built here.''..... Even so, what they had hoped to find at the LaRoque cabin site were signs of domestic habitation, such as clay pipes, beads or other items, not a ``battlefield signature'' Gough said. The items the survey found are ``a pretty good signature,'' Gough told foundation members. ``There's support for the fact that the LaRoque cabin was somewhere around here.''...... The dime was found buried between two trees at the site, Gough said. The items were generally covered by about three to five inches of earth. The survey team also uncovered ``pounds of iron'' in the form of old nails and other objects, shell buttons and even a small school medallion for penmanship...... Frank Munns, Bergevin family descendent and board member, said according to family history, his great-grandfather, Damase Bergevin, built a home directly in front of the site of the LaRoque cabin which helped preserve the integrity of the ground. ``The site was never farmed,'' he said. He said the 1854 coin, musket balls and beads were ``just like a storybook'' with regards to reaffirming the historical importance of the site. ``It's just like a miracle in the way that these artifacts were found in such a way to support the oral history,'' he said today....... But both Munns and Gough observed that any excitement over the finds should be tempered with the knowledge that what they recall was a violent event in which people fought and died. ``Even though we are excited about reinforcing our history, no battles are good battles,'' Munns said. ...... http://frenchtownpartners.zoomshare.com/1.shtml/1de7df57b6cd5973277dee3235961aa1_45f30636.writeback Sat, 10 Mar 2007 13:25:42 -0600 The Federal Highway Administration has awarded a National Scenic Byways Program grant for preparation of a master plan and cemetery restoration work at the historic Frenchtown site between the Whitman Mission and Lowden------- The $50,000 grant has been given to the Frenchtown Historical Foundation, a local non- profit group planning an interpretive center on approximately 50 acres of land on the site of the 1855 four-day fight known as the Battle of Walla Walla.or Battle of Frenchtown, which was also the site of the 1876 St. Rose of Lima Mission. ------- The group has previously been awarded a grant by the American Battlefield Protection Program of the National Park Service for preparation of a cultural resources survey and National Historic Register nomination for the battlefield. A contract has been signed with the Archeological and Historical Services program at Eastern Washington University to perform that work, which is currently under way. ------- The new grant will cover preliminary planning and design of all elements of the site, including an interpretive overlook, cemetery restoration, location and design of an interpretive center, restoration of the Mission church foundation, walkways, parking area, fishing facilities, revegetation of native grasses, and other plantings. Matching funds have been contributed to the project by the Washington Department of Transportation which will be used in part for construction of a fence around the perimeter of the historic cemetery, and also from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, which will be providing appropriate plantings on the cemetery site. The Frenchtown Historical Foundation will be hiring a consultant for the master plan, and expects to issue a request for qualifications early next month. ------- The successful grant application received support from a variety of regional officials, including U.S. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Gov. Chris Gregoire, Representatives Bill Grant and Maureen Walsh, the Walla Walla County Commissioners, and the Board of Trustees of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. ------- The Frenchtown settlement began prior to the 1836 arrival of Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, when French-Canadian employees of the Hudson Bay Company fur trading post at Fort Walla Walla on the Columbia River and their Indian wives began settling out in roughly the area between the current towns of Touchet and College Place. ------- More information on the Frenchtown project can be found on the web at www.frenchtownpartners.zoomshare.com, or by contacting the Frenchtown Historical Foundation's coordinator, Dan Clark, 509-522-0399, or its president, Russ Bergevin, 525-2749. 3-10-07 http://frenchtownpartners.zoomshare.com/1.shtml/6423b09102f9f3e3bdeb53e721f58904_449c1069.writeback Fri, 23 Jun 2006 11:01:45 -0500 The American Battlefield Protection Program of the National Park Service has announced a grant to the Frenchtown Historical Foundation for preparation of a cultural resources survey and National Register of Historic Places nomination for the heart of historic Frenchtown, where the Battle of Walla Walla took place in 1855 between Oregon volunteers and Indian forces. According to Russ Bergevin, Foundation president, "This grant will be a great help to our local Foundation in carrying out its mission of preserving and interpreting the site of the 1855 battle and the site of the St. Rose of Lima Mission and Cemetery, which was established in 1876 on the grounds of the battlefield." The battlefield and mission are located on Highway 12 between the Whitman Mission and Lowden adjacent to mile post 328, where there a historic marker has been placed at a highway turnout, and a monument and cross at the St. Rose cemetery can be seen on a hill to the north. For more information on these events or on Frenchtown Historical Foundation or Frenchtown/St. Rose Partners, contact Dan Clark, coordinator, at 509-522-0399, clarkdn@charter.net. 5-31-06 http://frenchtownpartners.zoomshare.com/1.shtml/c93a497281efdf1f03653bab829ff7d3_449c102c.writeback Fri, 23 Jun 2006 11:00:44 -0500 On Sunday afternoon, August 27, 2006, a number of historical figures from Frenchtown in the 1800's appeared at Fort Walla Walla Museum in Walla Walla in honor of the founding of St. Rose, including Andrew Pambrun, William McBean, Suzanne Cayuse Dauphin, Marcel Gagnon, Damase Bergevin, J.B.A. Brouillet, and others. http://frenchtownpartners.zoomshare.com/1.shtml/9f2c3c61d50074fdd88aa1b629f9bcee_449c0fff.writeback Fri, 23 Jun 2006 10:59:59 -0500 We are in the process of establishing historic archives for Frenchtown materials. We will be photographing and making materials available digitally as well as in other formats, for preservation for future generations. At our next meeting, the date for which will be announced, we will be inviting people to bring relevant materials for photographing. We will also be discussing preservation techniques for photographs, documents, and artifacts.