From staff reports
The National Park Service (NPS) on Thuesday, Dec. 7 announced the selection of Laura Waller as the new superintendent of Reconstruction Era National Historical Park in South Carolina, effective January 14.
“We are pleased to welcome Laura back to the southeast region and the Low Country,” NPS South Atlantic-Gulf Regional Director Mark Foust said in a news release. “Her knowledge of American and South Carolina cultural heritage and experience forging meaningful partnerships will serve her well as superintendent for Reconstruction Era National Historical Park.”
“It’s a wonderful honor to be selected as superintendent of Reconstruction Era National Historical Park,” Waller said. “I’m excited to work with park staff and partners to continue to tell the story of a time of such extraordinary transformation in the United States and preserve those places that tell that story in Beaufort and beyond.”
Waller is currently the natural and cultural resources division manager at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. She began her NPS career as a student employee at Fort Pulaski National Monument in Savannah, Ga., while attending graduate school. She has since worked as a cultural resources specialist in the NPS National Capital Region, and returned to Fort Pulaski, where she served as the Integrated Resources Program manager before relocating to Michigan.
A South Carolina native, Waller is excited to return to her Lowcountry roots. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in History from the University of South Carolina and Master’s degree in History from Georgia Southern University’s Armstrong campus in Savannah. Waller and her husband Ryan have a one-year-old son, Sam, and two dogs.
