Independence Park gets a new chief from Va.

Cynthia MacLeod, the former superintendent of the Richmond National Battlefield Park and Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site in Richmond, Va., has been named superintendent at Independence National Historical Park, the National Park Service announced yesterday.

MacLeod will succeed Dennis Reidenbach, who was named head of the park service's Northeast Region in September. Darla Sidles has served as acting superintendent at the park since then.

In announcing the appointment, Reidenbach highlighted MacLeod's ability to build relationships with independent and private organizations in support of park service efforts.

"Her skills are a particularly good match for the resources, the people, the community and the challenges that face Independence National Historical Park," Reidenbach said.

MacLeod, who has served as superintendent at Richmond since 1990, is trained as an architectural historian.

At Richmond, she managed both the Civil War battlefield park, which encompasses about 1,900 acres at nine sites, and the historical site commemorating Walker, an early-20th-century African American businesswoman who became the first woman to charter and serve as president of a bank.

At Richmond, MacLeod focused on resource preservation, interpretation and building rehabilitation, according to a park service statement. She began her career with the park service in Michigan in 1980 and served for a time in Philadelphia, where she managed tax-incentive programs for historic rehabilitation projects and conducted architectural surveys.

"I know and love Philadelphia," she said, "and I look forward to working with the people, partners and programs at Independence."

She will begin her new job in February.