Frequent is the morning that a mist of saltwater is carried aloft over the dunes of Cape Henlopen to gently greet Pat Cooper as he starts the workday.
As administrator of Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes, Cooper’s job is one many wouldn’t view as work. He’s been blazing a career path through parks – through the great outdoors – since he was a kid, when scouting introduced him to camping.
He’s been working at Cape Henlopen State Park 15 years. For a man who only recently turned 50, Cooper can look back through hundreds of miles of trail dust and various park experiences.
“I spent five or six years, maybe a little longer, just touring the country working at National Park Service sites,” he said.
He grew up in Washington, D.C., and graduated from West Virginia University where he majored in park and forest management.
“I always knew that I wanted to do outside work. My parents were frustrated with the fact that I was 25 and still working temporary jobs. Full-time work was hard to get,” he said.
He’s worked in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, Zion National Park in Utah, on a fire crew based in Cody, Wyo., in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and in parks in Texas.
“I turned full-time working in Philadelphia at Independence National Historic Park. My last National Historic Park was Colonial, (Va.) then I got married,” said Cooper.
His wife, Margaret, (“Everybody calls her Meg”) is a native of New Castle. She’s a practicing attorney specializing in family law.
In 1987 Cooper got his first park job in Delaware, a ranger at Brandywine Creek State Park. Two years later he was assistant administrator at White Clay Creek State Park in Newark.
“After a couple of years the assistant’s position under James Greybeal opened and I came down here,” Cooper said.
He said his time spent working in Philadelphia is memorable. “It was kind of neat walking into Independence Hall in the middle of the night. Where the [Declaration of Independence] signing was, they have the original inkstand. When I worked evening shifts I had to meet the curator so he could put the inkstand in the safe.
“They took great care – put gloves on, put masks on – and I opened the safe. That’s pretty neat, knowing that it was 200-plus years old,” Cooper said.
His job of overseeing Cape Henlopen State Park’s nearly 8,000 acres of natural coastal environment also involves historical preservation.
“You have to use common sense in managing the outside, and you’ve got to think about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.”
Cooper says the park’s history as a military base – Fort Miles, commissioned in 1941 to protect the coast during World War II and still operational as a listening post during the Cold War – is important. “We like to tell the story about what it was. I’d like to say that in 20 years, with improvements to Fort Miles, we’ll be able to tell the story of what really happened here during the war and provide unique educational opportunities,” Cooper said.
He said the Fort Miles Museum being planned to tell the story – he’s one of the planning team members – is “very visionary.”
“It’s big but we’re taking small steps every year,” he said.
Cooper said overall, the fewer things that change in the park in the decades ahead, the better.
“We hope that in 20 years some of the same natural features that are here now will still be here. The challenge that we’ll have is the increased visitation we anticipate,” he said.
Although park visitor numbers were down in 2006 – about 1.8 million compared to a number that’s usually about 2 million – Cooper said the region’s growth would mean more visitors year-round.
The first 13 years he worked at the park, Cooper, his wife and two children lived in a home on the grounds. The family moved to a home in the Cape Region and Cooper now has a short commute.
“My kids' formative years were spent in this park. It was neat. It was more of a hands on approach for me – always in the park always at work.” He said living in the park sometimes gave the feeling of owning it.
“I still have feelings of ownership, like this is my park, but it really isn’t. Being away and coming back gives you a different perspective on things,” he said.
Cooper said most days on the job are fun and as long as he continues seeing it that way he doesn’t plan to be anywhere else.
“I get outside as much as I can. The advantage of this job over many other jobs is that I could never sit in a cubicle.”
Contact Henry Evans at hevans@capegazette.com
