As the Museums Officer for East Lothian Council, which is responsible for
the day-to-day operation of the Muir Birthplace, I feel I ought to respond
to this, since the information in the letter is both misleading and
inaccurate.

The scheme to develop the Muir Birthplace was not "devised and approved in
total secrecy" -- the Trust itself includes representatives of the local
Community Council and Dunbar's John Muir Association, and plans for
development of the house had been under discussion since 1998.

Claiming that the plan is to "gut and destroy all three floors of this
historic listed building" is misleading at the very least, since it is
clearly meant to imply that the interior of the building is historic. It is
_not_, and it is _widely_known_ that it is not.

The interior of the building in fact dates from no earlier than 1980 (apart
from some of the roof trusses, which will not be touched in any case). The
"tower" will not be "packed with plasma screens, VDUs, computers and
exhibition panels" - there will be one plasma screen (used because it takes
less space than a conventional TV). The architect does not propose "that
tourists and school groups should climb this tower via an internal
staircase" as the staircase will be the existing staircase, and visitors
will not merely "peep out through wooden window openings, to peer at the
ruined interior walls of the Muir House, on which he will affix exhibition
panels." since the exhibition will be in and around the wooden structure,
but it will also include opportunities to see the original walls of the
building, and also to see out through the windows of the building to Dunbar
itself. The walls of the building are _all_ that remains from Muir's day.

I strongly suggest that List readers who are interested in the facts rather
than the hyperbole might care to check out the web site of the John Muir
Birthplace Trust at http://www.jmbt.org.uk/ , where they will find an
independent conservation architect's report on the building and background
on the development plans, and that of Dunbar's John Muir Association at
http://www.djma.org.uk/ where the background of consultation and discussion
is laid out.

Peter M Gray
Museums Officer
East Lothian Council



----- Original Message -----
From: "Lois Herr" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2001 8:28 PM
Subject: Proposed Interpretive Plan for John Muir's Home


I am sending this for a friend.  Please respond to the address listed at the
end of the message.  Lois Herr

Dear friends,
I apologise for sending you an unsolicited email, but our need is great, and
I
hope that you would want to help us save John Muir's historic birthplace in
Scotland, which is under threat of imminent destruction. As you may well be
aware, Muir spent some time in Illinois working in the carriage factory
where he
was temporarily blinded.

Please visit the website I have created at:
http://www.savejohnmuirhouse.org.uk - and see if you feel moved to help.

John Muir's house in Dunbar, Scotland, is one of the few sites of global
environmental pilgrimage, and is as valued much as Aldo Leopold's Sand
Counties
Shack, Thoreau's cabin at Walden Pond, or John Burroughs's cabin at
Slabsides.

John Muir House was built in 1780, and Muir as born there in 1838; it is a
truly
ancient building - created forty years before the death of Napoleon and some
time before the American Constitution was drafted.  An appalling
architectural
'renovation' scheme has been devised and approved in total secrecy, which
proposes to gut and destroy all three floors of this historic listed
building.
Nothing will be left but the walls, the roof and an empty stone void. In
this
eviscerated box, the 'radical' architect Richard Murphy proposes to install
a:
"free-standing, high-tech, timber framed tower", packed with plasma screens,
VDUs, computers and exhibition panels.
He proposes that tourists and school groups should climb this tower via an
internal staircase and peep out through wooden window openings, to peer at
the
ruined interior walls of the Muir House, on which he will affix exhibition
panels.

We regard this as brutal, heritage vandalism of the most appalling kind.
And we
need your help to stop it.

I append a few letters and articles for your information.  We have just nine
days left to lodge objections, but we are appealing to the Scottish
Government
to 'call-in' the planning application and instigate a full Public enquiry -
and
to stop this vandalism.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?
I hope you would help us oppose the destruction of John Muir's original
birthplace by:

a. Visiting the website and reading about the issues
b. Distribute this email to your members who are on email
c. Write a letter of objection in a personal, or an official capacity
e. Use your journal or other media to communicate this issue to your
membership
network

 I apologise for sending out a 'round robin' but I am 3000 miles away and
just
harvested names from your website. I am not normally in the habit of
cold-calling people, even if we share a common mission to conserve Nature.


Graham White
Save John Muir Campaign
Broxmouth Gardens
Broxmouth Park
DUNBAR EH42 1QW
Scotland, UK
+44 1368-863 478

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