It was “one hellacious year” filled with “tumultuous
events.”

Those were the words of Linda Kaat, president of the Friends
of the Brandywine Battlefield as she described the last 12 months for the
Brandywine Battlefield Park.

Kaat made the comments while addressing members of the
Chadds Ford Business Association during their June lunch meeting.

She said ownership of the park and responsibility for park
operations remain unsettled.

It was June of last year when the Pennsylvania Historical
and Museum Commission voted to withdraw state operation of the 52-acre park on
Route 1 in Chadds Ford Township. In August the state closed the park for two
weeks before an agreement was reached through the office of State Sen. Dominic
Pileggi that allowed the Friends group to operate the park on a limited basis.

The state is still the property owner and landlord but, Kaat
said, “The state keeps us on a short lease.”

She said there can be no activities involving the use of
gunpowder, candles or food.

Kaat said state officials have told her that they believe
the economy will turn around and that the state will resume operations, but
she’s doubtful about that happening. Another possibility, though years away she
said, is having the park taken over by the National Park Service and run jointly with Valley Forge.

Kaat mentioned some positives that are going on, however.
She said the Friends now has 177 members, up 100 from a year ago, and that the
Summer History Camp is going strong. She said the weeklong camping sessions
have a 60 percent return rate.

Attendance at the park has been good, she added, and that
it’s encouraging to her seeing visitors come with history books.

She also said the park has been “blessed with donations.”

One area of attendance that is down, according to Kaat is
the number of school tours. To help offset that, she said, the Friends are
planning to go to schools.

While the status of the park’s ownership and operation are
unsettled, interest in the park continues. The Chadds Ford Civic Association
will hold the third of four benefit events for the park on Sunday, June 13.
Association members will be canoeing down the Brandywine Creek to raise money.
The Civic Association held a benefit lunch in April, a golf outing in May and
will host a trip to a Wilmington Blue Rocks game in August.

This past Saturday, June 5, the park held a free lecture
series featuring Loic Barnieu
speaking as the Marquis De Lafayette and author Alan Hoffman who translated the
book “Lafayette in America 1824-1825” by Auguste Levasseur who toured America
with Lafayette during his farewell tour.

Barnieu,
speaking in the first person as Lafayette, talked about the marquis dedication
to the concepts of freedom and liberty, and how he volunteered at 19 years old
to come to the American colonies to fight as a volunteer with Gen. George
Washington.

He
spoke on how Lafayette was wounded at Sandy Hollow while trying to organize
retreating colonial soldiers during the Battle of Brandywine, his eventual
return to France, the difficulties he had during the French Revolution and how
his relationship with Washington was so close that he named his son George
Washington Lafayette.

Hoffman
covered the latter part of Lafayette’s life from his farewell tour, his
reuniting with Gideon Gilpin in Chadds Ford when Gilpin was on his deathbed.

Hoffman
said he disputes the story of Lafayette using Gilpin’s house as a headquarters,
but thinks the young general probably did dine at the house the night before
the battle.

“A
friendly farmer could have provided some meals,” Hoffman said.

The
lectures were free, but there were donation boxes in the lecture area and in
the gift shop at the visitors’ center.