(1) Editorial: A Fitting Facility for Five Forks Battlefield - Petersburg Progress-Index
(2) Communities Struggle with Growth While Preserving the Past - WVIR NBC-29
(3) Trust Targets Historic Parcel - Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
(4) Officials: Tactical Regrouping Will Save Battlefield - Culpeper Star-Exponent
(5) Memorial Planned at Civil War Battle Site - Springfield News Leader
(6) Group Says City Owes $250,000 for Preservation - Chattanooga Times Free Press
(7) Pecos Park Renovates 200-year-old Trading Post - Santa Fe New Mexican
(8) Battlefield Question Placed on Hold - Roanoke Times
(9) Manassas Set to Fund Civil War Events Culpeper Star Exponent
(10) Commission Sends Schools History Lesson - Media General News Service
(11) Cooperating on a Civil War Site - Charleston Post and Courier
(12) Official Says Civil War Events Are Drawing Crowds - Huntington Herald-Dispatch
--(1) Editorial: A Fitting Facility for Five Forks
Battlefield -----------------------------------------------------
Editorial: A Fitting Facility for Five Forks Battlefield
Petersburg Progress-Index
11/17/2009
Petersburg Progress-Index (VA)
http://www.progress-index.com/2.420/a_fitting_facility_for_five_forks_battlefield
The Petersburg National Battlefield recently opened a major
new addition that will significantly expand the ability to tell
the story of one of the pivotal battles during the Civil War.
Last month, the National Park Service unveiled a new $3 million
visitor contact station at the Five Forks Battlefield. The 2,400-square-foot
center offers much more exhibit space than the previous center,
and a new 8-mile trail system allows visitors a chance to see
the battlefield by foot, bicycle or horse.
It took decades of effort to first secure the battlefield itself
and then to build a visitors center. In 1962, federal legislation
was passed to obtain ownership of the battlegrounds. But it wasn't
until 1989 that the National Park Service became the new owner.
It took about 19 years to for the new visitors center to become
a reality.
Much of the credit goes to Chris Calkins, former chief of interpretation
at Petersburg National Battlefield and now park manager of Sailor's
Creek Battlefield Historical State Park. He was instrumental in
securing the battlefield grounds as federal property and a strategic
planner for the visitor center,
In some ways, the Five Forks Battlefield and visitor contact center
is Calkins legacy. But in greater ways, the battlefield is the
legacy of all of us. "This is our legacy, and it is our legacy
that we have to worry about," Calkins said. "Preserving
the battlefields is very important to me."
The importance of the new facilities at the battlefield, and the
fact the battlefield is part of the National Park Service, cannot
be understated.
The Battle of Five Forks, often referred to as the "Waterloo
of the Confederacy," occurred on April 1, 1865, when Union
troops under the command of Gen. Philip Sheridan attacked Confederate
soldiers being led by Gen. George Pickett. Gen. Robert E. Lee,
commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, had ordered Pickett
to "Hold Five Forks at all hazards."
The area, located at the intersection of White Oak Road and Court
House Road in Dinwiddie County, was all that was left between
the Union troops and the South Side Railroad, Petersburg's remaining
supply line. With all supply lines cut off, the Confederate troops
eventually had to surrender Petersburg as well as Richmond. Eight
days later, Lee surrendered his entire army to Grant at Appomattox
Courthouse and the Civil War was over.
The Five Forks Battlefield is critical to understanding the Civil
War. It was that battle, more than any other, that can be called
the beginning of the end of a long, four-year national nightmare.
Petersburg National Battlefield Superintendent Bob Kirby said
visitors can finally feel welcome at the Five Forks unit. "More
battles of the Civil War were fought in Virginia than in any other
state," Kirby said. "And most of those battles were
fought in Dinwiddie County."
Now visitors to Dinwiddie County's Five Forks Battlefield have
facilities that are worthy of the history that occurred there.
--(2) Communities Struggle with Growth While Preserving
the Past -----------------------------------------------------
Communities Struggle with Growth While Preserving the Past
By Stacia Harris
11/17/2009
WVIR NBC-29 (VA)
http://www.nbc29.com/Global/story.asp?S=11524191
The ongoing fight over the new Walmart Supercenter in Orange County,
not far from the Wilderness battlefield, highlights a big problem
in Virginia. History and business bumping into each other.
NBC29's Stacia Harris has this look at what communities are doing
to grow their future without losing their past.
In the Shenandoah Valley, the town of New Market is right next
to a major Civil War battlefield. The battle of New Market was
fought on May 15 1864. Virginia Military Institute cadets fought
and died alongside confederate soldiers. In that battle, union
forces lost.
Beth Stern with the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation
helps protect 10 battlefields, including New Market, in 8 counties
in the valley.
Stern stated, "I think these places speak to us across the
years. All the fighting Americans fought one another, killed one
another, that story speaks to us."
The foundation works to not only keep development off core sections
of battlefield land, but to also acquire the tracts of land that
played a role in the fighting. But every city, no matter how big
or small needs business and housing options to keep and attract
people. So is it possible to preserve a town's history and also
grow the economy?
New Market Town Planner Chad Neese says yes. Neese said, "We
want to find a way to bring goods and services to town, without
destroying its character."
Back in 2007, the town of New Market wanted to expand their boundaries,
using input from citizens, preservationists and others the town
drew up a growth plan. In part, it spelled out where new housing
would go, and where new business could set up shop.
Neese stated, "You've got to look at preserving your history
so you'll have something to sell to tourists but also have to
look at creating jobs to keep people in the area."
According to the plan, most of the town's growth is directed towards
downtown and east towards the mountains.
Neese said, "What that does is limit the impact that can
occur around the battlefield like unsightly signs and billboards,
things of that nature."
There is land zoned for development near the battlefield along
Interstate 81 but any development is supposed to be sparse.
Neese said, "Coming up with a plan ahead of time is great,
it gives you the opportunity to meet with developers and say this
is how we've discussed the land, this is how we'd like it developed."
Interstate 81 runs beside New Market and cuts through the New
Market Battlefield as well as many other battlefields in the Valley.
Like many modern highways Interstate 81 parallels a much older
and heavily traveled route, Highway 211.
Stern stated, "Troops moved along roadways, the path of least
resistance if possible."
So the same roads and rivers troops traveled along nearly 150
years ago are still popular for growth and travel today. Meaning
in many cities and counties battlefield and other historic tracts
of land are up for grabs.
Rick Britton is a historian and author based in Charlottesville.
"The danger of development is once they are developed they
are gone forever." Britton stated. "As more and more
people move into Virginia and towns get larger, they move into
previously rural areas that includes battlefield areas."
Many battlefields like New Market aren't in immediate danger because
they've become a money maker for the town. Britton said, "In
the town of New Market you have a locality that understands the
tourist money being brought into town because of historic sites."
Stern stated, "There is this myth that battlefield preservation
and economic development are incompatible. I think what we would
say is they are the same thing."
Many preservation groups like the one in the Valley rely on money
from Congress, larger preservation groups and private donations
as well to buy battlefield land directly or work out a conservation
easement deal with the current land owner.
--(3) Trust Targets Historic Parcel -----------------------------------------------------
Trust Targets Historic Parcel
By Rusty Dennen
11/17/2009
Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star (VA)
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/112009/11172009/508158
A key piece of the Chancellorsville Battlefield associated with
Confederate Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's 1863 flank
attack is the next acquisition target of a Civil War preservation
group.
The Civil War Preservation Trust yesterday announced a $2.1 million
campaign to buy 85 acres, known as the Wagner Tract, along State
Route 3 east of Wilderness Church.
The property includes 2,000 feet of frontage on the north shoulder
of historic Orange Plank Road and lies within Chancellorsville
Battlefield.
There, on May 2, 1863, Jackson led the flanking maneuver during
bloody fighting that turned the tide of the battle in favor of
the South.
"This land is arguably one of the most historically significant
pieces of hallowed ground CWPT has ever saved, and we have just
got to get it," said James Lighthizer, the organization's
president.
Historian Robert K. Krick said yesterday that preservationists
have been talking to Frank Wagner, a Fredericksburg veterinarian,
for several years about acquiring the land.
"This is a big one. I'm prone to say this is the second-most-important
[battlefield] land in the country" behind a tract on the
Richmond battlefield, Krick said.
"We've taken the initiative because this is so stunningly
important."
Timing is crucial, CWPT spokesman Jim Campi added. The Washington,
D.C.-based preservation group is seeking $708,300 from the Virginia
Civil War Historic Site Preservation Fund which expires in December.
CWPT hopes for another $500,000 from the federal Transportation
Enhancement Program.
The remainder will come from donations from CWPT members.
The trust has preserved other significant land at Chancellorsville,
including 215 acres where the battle raged on its opening day.
The purchase price for that was $4 million.
The Battle of Chancellorsville began May 1, 1863, and lasted almost
three days. It was considered Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's
greatest victory.
Lee divided his army in the face of superior Union forces, sending
Jackson on his 12-mile flanking march around the Army of the Potomac.
After the Confederate rout of the Union 11th Corps, Jackson was
accidentally shot by his own men and died five days later.
The Fredericksburg area has been a prime focus for CWPT's preservation
efforts.
Three years ago, in its biggest purchase ever, CWPT bought Slaughter
Pen Farm for $12 million. The 216 acres east of Fredericksburg
on Tidewater Trail links critical components of the Battle of
Fredericksburg.
Other major CWPT acquisitions in Virginia: 1,708 acres at Trevilian
Station in Louisa County, for $1.9 million; Glendale in Henrico
County, 566 acres for $5.6 million; Third Winchester in the Shenandoah
Valley, 431 acres, $5.8 million.
For an interview by Robert Krick on the site, civilwar.org/video/bob-krick-at-the-wagner-tract.html
More by Robert Krick on Jackson's flank attack, civilwar.org/battlefields/chancellorsville/chancellorsville-histo
ry-articles/flankattackkrick.html For a map of the property, civilwar.org/battlefields/chancellors
ville/maps/flankattackmap.html
--(4) Officials: Tactical Regrouping Will Save Battlefield
-----------------------------------------------------
Officials: Tactical Regrouping Will Save Battlefield
By Nate Delesline
11/16/2009
Culpeper Star-Exponent (VA)
http://www2.starexponent.com/cse/news/local/article/official_tactical_regrouping_will_save_battlefield/47132/
After losing an initial bid to stop retail giant Walmart from
building a store near the Wilderness Civil War battlefield, preservation
groups and those opposing the project must take a critical look
at themselves if they hope to achieve their mission, one official
says.
Speaking to Friends of Wilderness Battlefield on Saturday during
the group's annual meeting, Russell P. Smith, superintendent of
the Fredericksburg-Spotsylvania National Military Park, also said
the matter is broader than the controversy between the Wilderness
and the often-maligned Arkansas-based retailer.
"We learned a lot of lessons," he said. "The conclusions
that I've drawn go well beyond any single major discount retailer."
The controversy reached a crescendo in August, when the Orange
County Board of Supervisors approved a special use permit allowing
Walmart to construct a 138,000-square-foot store near Routes 3
and 20. The National Trust for Historic Preservation and six individuals
have joined the FoWB in a lawsuit, challenging the supervisors'
decision in Circuit Court. A February hearing date is set for
the matter.
Smith said one of the paradigms that must change is the perception
that land must either be preserved forever or totally opened to
development. Another, he said, is that the federal government
should automatically purchase a tract of land if it has significant
historical value.
Neither of those all-or-nothing lines of thought is practical
or realistic, said Smith. Instead, he said legislators, preservation
groups, communities and private individuals must unite to craft
solutions that take into account the unique aspects of each situation.
He also said schools have not always made it a priority to educate
kids - and the community - about the historical significance of
places like the Wilderness, where the armies of Generals Robert
E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant met in 1864.
"Kids shouldn't grow up in this area and not know that they're
living near or on a nationally significant battlefield,"
adding that funding for such programs is often hard to obtain.
"We're going to rely more on the Friends and other organizations
to get out there and beyond our boundaries and tell those stories
in the schools, to get kids in the area to understand that where
they live is really important - it's really quite significant
to the entire country."
About 65 people attended the organization's annual meeting Saturday
at Lake of the Woods Church in Locust Grove. Guests included two
University of Vermont graduate students who are studying the Wilderness
Walmart controversy.
Other guests included Sen. Edd Houck, D-17th and Del. Ed Scott,
R-30th. Both men praised the work of the Friends and assured the
group that land use issues haven't dropped off the radar in Richmond
or Washington.
Houck, the event's key speaker, said Gov. Tim Kaine should be
recognized for fulfilling his promise to preserve 400,000 acres
of open space. He also said federal stimulus money has been essential,
allowing the state to continue support of land use issues despite
ongoing budget shortfalls.
"Your outreach to Sen. Houck, to me, to others in the legislature
is clearly paying dividends," Scott said. "I'm glad
to join with you today and I'm proud to be a member of your organization
and I look forward to continuing to work with you."
--(5) Memorial Planned at Civil War Battle Site -----------------------------------------------------
Memorial Planned at Civil War Battle Site
By Susan Redden
11/15/2009
Springfield News Leader (MO)
http://www.news-leader.com/article/20091115/NEWS01/911150354/Memorial-planned-at-Civil-War-battle-site
"I've been by here hundreds of times, and I never knew about
this."
That sentence, or some variation, was repeated Wednesday by many
of those who gathered at a Civil War battle site a few miles north
of Joplin.
A ceremony was held at the location -- near the intersection of
Peace Church and Fountain roads -- as the first step in an effort
to make sure those who died there are recognized and remembered.
Joplin and Jasper County officials, local historians and others
gathered to announce that the five-acre tract had been purchased
and would be developed as a historic site to commemorate the battle
at the Rader Farm, where on May 18, 1863, a regiment of black
soldiers was ambushed and killed by Confederate guerrillas.
Organizers chose Veterans Day to announce the purchase, made possible
through a $25,000 donation by Joplin attorneys Ed and Alison Hershewe.
Joplin Mayor Gary Shaw credited the couple for the gift, saying
"they agreed, without hesitation" when he asked for
their help.
The mayor's help in lining up a public-private partnership to
acquire the site came at the urging of Vince Lindstrom, executive
director of the Joplin Convention and Visitors Bureau. Lindstrom
said he learned about the site soon after he arrived in Joplin
from Brad Belk, director of the Joplin Museum Complex.
"I felt like it was something we should recognize, and that
we should do it before 2011," Lindstrom said, noting the
sesquicentennial anniversary of the start of the Civil War.
The site will mark Jasper County's "first venture into the
parks system, and we hope it's just the start," added Darieus
Adams, an associate county commissioner who worked with the group
on the purchase.
The crowd listened intently as Steve Cottrell, a Carthage resident
and Civil War researcher and writer, told the story of the detachment
of 40 members of the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry who
had come to the area foraging for food. They began gathering corn
at the Rader Farm near the village of Sherwood when they were
ambushed by a guerrilla band of about 70 Southern sympathizers.
Fifteen black soldiers were shot and killed. Most of the regiment's
white escorts escaped on horseback, though three were chased down
and also killed.
The next day, Union reinforcements arrived and found the soldiers'
bodies, which had been mutilated.
On orders from the regiment's white commander, the bodies were
placed inside the Rader house and burned, along with the body
of a Southern sympathizer who was shot after he was found nearby.
The commander also ordered nearby communities, including Sherwood,
burned to the ground.
With a population of about 250, Sherwood in 1863 was Jasper County's
third largest community. After it was burned to the ground, it
was never rebuilt.
The 54th, immortalized in the 1989 movie "Glory," is
often thought of as the first black fighting regiment during the
Civil War.
The 1st Kansas regiment was made up of slaves turned soldiers,
recruited the previous summer from Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas
and Indian Territory. Though the unit had been officially mustered
into the Army earlier that year at Fort Scott, Kan, it already
had seen action in 1862 north of Fort Scott and in Bates County.
Cottrell concluded his remarks Wednesday by reading the names
of the soldiers killed in the ambush.
Belk said plans call for the property to be secured.
"Then we'll learn more about its history by an archaeological
dig of the site," he said. "Then, the site will be nominated
for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.
"We plan to landscape it and erect a memorial for future
generations. So when they drive by, they'll know what happened
here."
--(6) Group Says City Owes $250,000 for Preservation
-----------------------------------------------------
Group Says City Owes $250,000 for Land Preservation
By Cliff Hightower
11/15/2009
Chattanooga Times Free Press (TN)
http://www.tfponline.com/news/2009/nov/15/group-says-city-owes-it-250000/
The Trust for Public Land says Chattanooga's capital improvement
budget is $250,000 short of what the city promised to help preserve
land on Stringer's Ridge, but city officials deny they ever made
a hard-and-firm commitment to provide the money.
Rick Wood, executive director of the nonprofit land preservation
trust, said the city promised $150,000 last year and $350,000
this year. The 2009-10 capital improvement budget shows a commitment
of $100,000.
"It puts us in a bind," Mr. Wood said Wednesday.
Richard Beeland, spokesman for Mayor Ron Littlefield, said the
city is doing what it can given budget constraints.
"It is an extremely difficult year," he said. "Everybody
has been cut. Unfortunately, we're only able to offer $100,000
at this time."
The Trust for Public Land acquired 92 acres atop Stringer's Ridge
in December 2008. It borrowed almost $2.5 million from its national
organization in its quest to save the land from being overdeveloped.
Stringer's Ridge is a backdrop to downtown Chattanooga's skyline
and was the site of Union artillery emplacements during the Civil
War.
Mr. Wood asked the city in October 2008 for $500,000. The City
Council in November approved a resolution for $150,000, records
show. But there never was any written agreement committing an
additional $350,000, city officials said.
"Was it a formal resolution? No," Mr. Wood said. "Was
it a firm commitment? Yes."
Councilman Andraé McGary raised the issue in a committee
meeting last week. City Council members plan to discuss specifics
of the capital improvement budget Tuesday.
Mr. McGary said that if the city makes deals with private entities,
there should be a clear understanding of what could happen if
the city doesn't live up to the bargain.
In this case, the Trust for Public Land may have to sell at least
five acres for development, he said.
"The options are not pretty," Mr. McGary said.
Parks and Recreation Administrator Larry Zehnder said he understood
that the trust requested $500,000 and the city agreed to $150,000.
"I don't think there were any additional promises made for
the $350,000," he said.
Councilwoman Sally Robinson said she believes the city made a
commitment for the additional $350,000. She said a suggestion
to spread the cost over two years hadn't been fully discussed.
"I don't know what we're going to do to make good on our
end of the promissory note," she said.
Mr. Wood said he did not know how the Trust for Public Land would
react if the city wants to make separate payments.
"I have to answer to a board I owe money to," he said.
--(7) Pecos Park Renovates 200-year-old Trading Post
-----------------------------------------------------
Pecos Park Renovates 200-year-old Trading Post
By Staci Matlock
11/14/2009
Santa Fe New Mexican (NM)
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/SantaFeNorthernNM/Pecos-National-Historic-Park-renovates-200-year-old-trading-pos
Historic preservation specialist Jeff Brown is hoping his work
crews won't find the spot where legs and arms are buried at Pecos
National Historical Park.
The appendages would be those amputated from Civil War soldiers
in 1862 at a makeshift hospital housed in Kozlowski's Trading
Post east of Santa Fe.
Finding the bony remains, while exciting, would slow down Brown's
current project: a six-year renovation of the almost 2-century-old
stage stop and tavern. The low-slung pink stucco building with
faded turquoise trim along N.M. 63 was a popular stop on the Santa
Fe Trail for decades.
Brown and crew will restore the adobe-and-pine building to its
look from the 1940s and '50s, when E.E. "Buddy" Fogelson
and his actress wife, Greer Garson, used the trading post as headquarters
for their Forked Lightning Ranch.
The historic character of the building and any usable original
materials will be preserved, but it will be upgraded to house
administrative offices and a place to greet visitors.
"A lot of people see the trading post first, before the visitors
center," said Christine Beekman, chief of interpretation
at the park.
Along with restoring the old trading post, Pecos National Historical
Park plans to open 3,000 acres east of the building along the
Pecos River, long closed to the public except for special occasions.
The Pecos National Historical Park protects the ruins of Pecos
Pueblo, a historic Catholic church and the site of the Civil War
battle of Glorieta Pass. The original room of the trading post
dates to 1810, according to a plaque posted on the building by
Daughters of the American Revolution.
When Polish immigrant Martin Kozlowski left the Army after five
years fighting Apaches, he moved into the old building near Pecos
Pueblo in 1858. He needed some room for 10 children he and his
wife would eventually raise there.
Some building materials came from the nearby old church at the
Pecos Pueblo ruins.
The stage stop was located at a prime spot, near a creek and along
the old Santa Fe Trail. It became a popular stopover for weary
travelers headed to Santa Fe.
In 1862, the Union Army set up headquarters at the trading post,
anticipating a run-in with Confederate soldiers on their way to
Fort Union from Santa Fe. During the battle and for a couple of
months afterward, "they treated the sick and wounded right
out there in the courtyard," Beekman said.
No one has figured out where the amputated limbs were buried.
Kozlowski figured into the valley's colorful past in many ways.
Kozlowski's claim to 160 acres and the trading post were shaky,
according to G. Emlen Hall in his book Four Leagues of Pecos:
A Legal History of the Pecos Grant.
Kozlowski and another landowner were sued by U.S. Attorney T.B.
Catron in 1873, claiming they had violated a federal law at the
time preventing non-Indians from settling on pueblo land grants
and owed $1,000 each.
Catron's claim against Kozlowski became part of a pueblo land
case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the trader ultimately
retained the land he claimed, Hall said.
The trading post later served as a ranch office for rodeo producer
Tex Austin, who added corrals, sheds, barns, a tennis court and
a polo field to Kozlowski's stage stop and turned it into a trading
post.
He hired architect John Gaw Meem to design his main ranch house
on a bluff overlooking the Pecos River in what would become one
of Meem's signature projects. Austin lost the ranch to debt and
committed suicide in 1938.
Texas oilman and rancher Fogelson bought the spread in 1939, and
it became a center for socializing after he married Garson a decade
later.
Fogelson raised Santa Gertrudis cattle on the ranch. Garson inherited
half the ranch after Fogelson died and sold it to The Conservation
Fund in 1991, which donated the land and buildings to the National
Park Service.
Once the ranch was no longer operating, the trading post fell
into disrepair.
So far, Brown and his crews haven't found any buried treasure,
but when they removed the old pinewood floors from the trading
post, they uncovered about 100 years worth of mouse poop. Termites
and moisture had damaged a lot of flooring.
Much will be saved and laid down again on either a concrete slab
or wood framing. The rest will be filled in with matching wood
flooring.
"The appearance will be exactly as it was before even though
you can't see what's underneath," Brown said.
New heating and cooling systems will be installed underneath the
floors so they're not visible in the historic structure. Electrical
wiring and plumbing will be replaced but old fixtures will remain.
The original flat, dirt roof and a small gable roof on top will
be repaired in 2011.
Next summer, the crew will rehabilitate and restore old windows
and doors and put them in again.
The restoration project could be finished in a year, Brown said,
but the $1.5 million for the project is coming in phases.
"That's why it will take longer than it should," said
Brown, who has worked for 20 years in historic preservation with
the National Park Service.
--(8) Battlefield Question Placed on Hold -----------------------------------------------------
Battlefield Question Placed on Hold
By Laurence Hammack
11/12/2009
Roanoke Times (VA)
http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/225977
As work on the state's first commercial wind farm enters a winter
lull in Highland County, so do the regulatory proceedings related
to the most recent complaint against the project.
A hearing before the State Corporation Commission, which would
have examined the wind farm's encroachment on a nearby Civil War
battlefield, has been postponed indefinitely.
The delay was requested by the Virginia Department of Historic
Resources, which in August complained that Highland New Wind Development
had failed to consult with the agency about the project's effect
on the Camp Allegheny battlefield.
Just across the West Virginia line from a mountain ridge where
19 turbines are planned, the battlefield has become the latest
cause for opponents who have been fighting the wind farm since
2004.
Some of the 400-foot towers will be visible from the battlefield
"and will likely have a negative impact" on a site that
is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the Department
of Historic Resources has maintained in SCC filings.
Meanwhile, site preparation and road building that began in August
will soon halt for the winter.
Construction of the turbines -- which developers say will generate
enough electricity to power about 12,000 homes -- is slated to
begin in the spring.
The SCC approved the project two years ago. The current question
before the commission is whether Highland New Wind is cooperating
with the Department of Historic Resources to address its concerns,
which was a condition of the state's approval.
In a motion to continue a hearing that had been scheduled for
Tuesday, an attorney for the state agency wrote that it has recently
received written reports from the developers, including a visual
impact study.
State officials then requested additional information from the
National Park Service, which they expect will assist them in evaluating
the developer's reports.
Since the complaint was filed in August, scheduled hearings before
the SCC have been postponed at least twice. But at the request
of the Department of Historic Resources, the hearing set for Tuesday
was "continued generally."
It was unclear how long it may take before the state is ready
to proceed; officials with the agency could not be reached for
comment this week.
"The bottom line for us is we feel like we are going to continue
to work with DHR to make sure this issue is addressed," said
Frank Maisano, a spokesman for the developers. "This is an
important issue, but I don't think it's as important as the opponents
have made it out to be."
The developers have said the wind turbines will have a minimal
effect on Camp Allegheny, which is about two miles away. Opponents,
who argue the turbines will mar the county's scenic beauty, counter
that the distance is less and the effect greater.
Rick Webb, a Highland County resident who opposes the project,
said the viewshed study provided by Highland New Wind deals only
with the turbines on Red Oak Knob and not the ones on Tamarack
Ridge, which is closer to the battlefield.
Additional issues remain, Webb said. Among them: the question
of whether some of the turbines might be built just across the
state line, and thus be subject to regulation by West Virginia
agencies; the project's effect on wetlands, birds and bats; and
uncertainties about who will invest in the $80 million project.
"This is far from over," Webb said.
--(9) Manassas Set to Fund Civil War Events -----------------------------------------------------
Manassas Set to Fund Civil War Events
By Keith Walker
11/12/2009
Culpeper Star Exponent (VA)
http://www2.starexponent.com/cse/news/state_regional/article/manassas_set_to_fund_civil_war_events/46928/
Members of the Manassas City Council like the idea of commemorating
the 150th anniversary of the First Battle of Manassas so much
that they're ready to give up $100,000 to make it happen in 2011.
The battle, fought July 21, 1861, was the first major engagement
of the Civil War.
Creston M. Owen, chairman of the board of Virginia Civil War Events
Inc., was before the board Monday asking for the money.
Owen's outfit of volunteers is poised to begin organizing the
nine-day commemoration that is set to include a Blue and Gray
Ball at the Candy Factory, a re-enactment of the First Manassas
battle, breakfast with the troops and concerts on the lawn of
the Manassas Museum and at the battlefield.
Owen told the council that it's time to get started if the aim
is to educate and attract the crowds that will generate income
and put the area on the map.
"We're only 18 months away. If we don't start beating the
drum now, we won't get people here," Owen told the council.
Councilman Mark Wolfe called the appropriation an investment.
"The citizens out there can very well question why we would
spend $100,000 ... an absolutely legitimate question particularly
in these economic times, but the answer to that is we don't have
much choice," Wolfe said."This is a once-in-a-lifetime,
God-given chance for our community to stage something that can
give and give and give."
Wolfe said the commemoration of the sesquicentennial could be
epic if done correctly.
"If we pull this off right, we're going to create a Super
Bowl-type event with all the publicity, all the notoriety and
all the money that comes from that scale of an event," he
said.
Owen told the council that he is looking for money elsewhere to
supplement the city's contribution.
"I believe we have pretty good support from the county. We're
making a formal request to them for a quarter of a million dollars,
and from all indications at this point, it looks like we're going
to get that support," Owen said.
Owen has also met with the Prince William delegation of the Virginia
General Assembly seeking another $1 million from the state.
"They are very excited about what we're doing," he said
of the delegation members.
Councilman Marc T. Aveni pointed out that the council's unanimous
vote Monday night only authorized an initial disbursement of $50,000.
Giving out the remainder of the money would be contingent on the
county committing to its portion, Aveni said.
Councilman J. Steven Randolph called the commemoration a "natural."
"Not only are we historically a central point, we're a central
point geographically to draw people to Manassas," he said.
Councilman Jonathan L. Way, who described himself as a "fiscal
fuddyduddy," said he voted to spend the money because the
city needed to look to the future.
"This is a wonderful project. We need always to have something
grander than ourselves - looking ahead - where we're trying to
improve and develop the city," Way said.
Owen, who expects to organize tour packages to bring people from
surrounding areas on trains and buses, said he hopes 250,000 people,
including re-enactors and their families, show up over the nine
days of the commemoration.
Tourists who visit national battlefield parks spend an average
of $48.65 per person, per day, according to the Civil War Preservation
Trust.
Owen said that if 100,000 people show up over the nine days of
the event, that would pump roughly $43 million into the local
economy.
"Of that, 24 percent is spent on lodging, 27 percent on food
and beverage, 26 percent on shopping and 8 percent on admissions
to museums and stuff like that," Owen said.
--(10) Commission Sends Schools History Lesson -----------------------------------------------------
Commission Sends Schools Civil War History Lesson
By Karin Kapsidelis
11/10/2009
Media General News Service (NAT)
http://www2.godanriver.com/gdr/news/state_regional/article/commission_sends_schools_civil_war_history_lesson/15403/
More than 2,000 DVDs explaining the causes, conflicts and consequences
of the Civil War have been mailed to all public schools in Virginia.
The three-hour history lesson was produced by a member of the
Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission
who led the nation's centennial commemoration.
"In the centennial, if we made a big mistake it was that
we overlooked the young. We can't do that again," said James
I. Robertson, a history professor at Virginia Tech who in 1961
was appointed executive director of the U.S. Civil War Centennial
Commission. "A nation that forgets the past has no future."
Robertson has worked as executive producer of "Virginia in
the Civil War: A Sesquicentennial Remembrance" for the past
2 1/2 years. The program, divided into nine 20-minute segments
that can be shown independently, has been sent to elementary,
middle and high schools.
The Virginia Center for Civil War Studies at Virginia Tech produced
the program in partnership with Blue Ridge PBS and the Virginia
Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission.
Public library systems will receive a free copy of the DVD, which
also will be sold for $20 on the commission's Web site.
It examines the war from multiple perspectives, such as the role
slavery played in dividing the nation.
"We show history with its warts as well as its beauty marks,"
Robertson said.
President John F. Kennedy named Robertson to change the direction
of the U.S. commission after centennial events became more of
a celebration than a commemoration.
The Virginia commission that is planning events marking the 150th
anniversary from 2011 to 2015 is taking a different approach.
"Race, Slavery and the Civil War: The Tough Stuff of American
History" is the topic of its next signature conference, to
be held Sept. 24 at Norfolk State University.
The commission, meeting yesterday in Richmond, received word that
it has received a $950,000 grant from the National Endowment for
the Humanities to finance two more projects.
The Virginia Historical Society will get $500,000 for a traveling
exhibit that will open in Richmond in February 2011. The remaining
$450,000 will be used for the Civil War 150 HistoryMobile, a high-tech
exhibition geared toward students that will travel Virginia by
tractor-trailer.
In other action yesterday, the commission approved granting $262,226
to the Library of Virginia for a digital legacy project that will
scan privately held Civil War manuscripts such as letters and
diaries.
With the increasing mobility of society, such original documents
are in danger of being lost, said Lyndon H. Hart, director of
the library's description services branch.
The 150th commemoration may be the last opportunity to find information
from "people who knew people who knew people" involved
in the war, he said.
--(11) Cooperating on a Civil War Site -----------------------------------------------------
Cooperating on a Civil War Site
By Edward C. Fennell
11/5/2009
Charleston Post and Courier (SC)
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/nov/05/cooperating-on-civil-war-site/
The Civil War lasted four years.
In another civil war of sorts, the town of James Island and the
city of Charleston have been battling in the courts for 16 years
over an island steeped in Civil War history.
And ironically, it appears the combatants might soon be cooperating
over, of all things, the Civil War.
The town is negotiating the purchase of a roughly triangle-shaped
lot on Fort Johnson Road adjacent to Patriot's Plantation subdivision
for an interpretive park to include markers, maps and monuments
illuminating the area's Civil War ties.
The tract, which until recently was being grazed on by goats,
is adjacent to a small, densely wooded spot that holds the remains
of Redoubt No. 3, an earthen wall and gorge built by Confederate
forces in an effort to defend Charleston from Union invasion.
What's unusual about the plan is that the tract that James Island
wants to buy is in the city of Charleston on a part of the island
that was annexed by the city. The town's vision for the park hinges
on cooperation with the city, something unexpected, considering
the town and city are engaged in a series of fiercely fought courtroom
battles in which the very existence of the town is at stake.
Both James Island Mayor Mary Clark and Charleston Mayor Joe Riley
say they can work together on the park project, even while their
lawyers prepare for what's expected to be a decisive showdown
in the S.C. Supreme Court.
Clark said preserving the rich history of James Island and illuminating
the public about it is one area in which the two municipalities
should cooperate. She said she's met with city officials "to
work out the details" for the park and last week met with
the developers' group that owns the tract.
The small, densely wooded site on which the remains of the redoubt
stand will stay in the hands of its owners, the S.C. Battleground
Trust, but will be adjacent to and viewed from the acreage the
town wants to buy, Clark said.
Riley said the city will do all it can to see that the park materializes.
"As soon as we heard about it, we were very supportive,"
Riley said. "It will be a great thing for the neighborhood."
The park will be instrumental in town plans for the Civil War
sesquicentennial, the 150th anniversary observance, which Clark
said will include battle reenactments, ceremonies, forums and
other events.
She said sesquicentennial events on James Island are in the formative
stages, but the island plans to commemorate in 2010 the Dec. 20,
1860, signing of the Articles of Secession, which declared South
Carolina no longer part of the Union.
Many other events will be remembered, including the firing of
the first shot of the war on April 12, 1861, when guns at Fort
Johnson on James Island blasted away at Fort Sumter.
"James Island is right in the middle of Civil War history.
This whole island was a battlefield," said Clark, herself
"a great-granddaughter-in-law of an Articles of Secession
signer." Her late husband's great-grandfather, Ephraim Mikell
Clark, was a signer to the articles, she said.
Clark said a price hasn't been agreed to for the land the town
wants to purchase using a portion of the $1.5 million it has remaining
for green space development.
Beth Hill, whose Five Oaks Court home is near Redoubt No. 3, said
she hopes the town's plan will preserve the historic artifact
for future generations. "It needs to be protected. It's part
of our history," she said.
Currently, the redoubt is separated from the neighborhood by a
wooden fence, but bottles and cans among the thick foliage beside
and atop the redoubt attest to the fact that it has visitors.
The town and the city each control parts of James Island. There
are about 22,000 James Islanders in the town, slightly fewer in
the city's part of the island. Part of the island is in neither
municipality.
Clark has accused Riley of "invading" the island via
annexations and has compared the town's efforts to survive his
legal challenges to those of patriots who chased King George from
the newly formed nation. "We don't want to be a colony of
the city of Charleston, pure and simple," she has been quoted
as saying.
Riley has contended that the city's challenge of the town's existence
is based upon government efficiency, and he maintains that dividing
the island between a town and a city divides its citizens and
dilutes their resources and efforts at self-determination.
Voters on part of James Island in 1992 approved forming a town,
which incorporated in 1993. Charleston sued, claiming state law
was not followed. The court eventually ruled in Charleston's favor.
The town was abolished, but a second incorporation vote gave birth
to a new town. Charleston again challenged and in 2004 again won
in the state Supreme Court.
Voters a third time approved a town, incorporated it in 2006,
and Charleston's third suit followed. The state Circuit Court
this year ruled in the town's favor, and the city has appealed
to the Supreme Court.
--(12) Official Says Civil War Events Are Drawing Crowds
-----------------------------------------------------
Tourism Official Says Civil War Events Drawing More People
By Dave Lavender
11/5/2009
Huntington Herald-Dispatch (WV)
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/x744717145/Tourism-official-says-state-events-drawing-more-people
Some people say the Civil War will never really be over.
Here in West Virginia -- the only state birthed in the Civil War
-- that's a good thing.
Right behind its seasonal brochures pumping the Mountain State's
renowned ski season and whitewater rafting, Civil War brochures
are the West Virginia Division of Tourism's most popular.
And that fervor to embrace, visit and promote the state's Civil
War past keeps growing.
Last year, at least 16 percent of all overnight visitors to the
Mountain State stopped by historic sites, according to a recent
survey, said Justin Gaull, a marketing specialist with the Division
of Tourism.
That number is much higher for daytrippers. Those numbers are
bound to go up as the state ramps up its Civil War and heritage
tourism marketing efforts by recently hooking into the Civil War
Trails, another effort to link up travelers with the state's more
than 20 Civil War sites listed on the National Register of Historic
Places.
This fall is a great example of the continually growing economic
benefits of Civil War heritage tourism, Gaull said.
In the Eastern Panhandle, Harper's Ferry has been hosting anniversary
events marking John Brown's Raid. Here in Cabell County, Guyandotte
celebrates its 20th Civil War Days Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 7
and 8, looking to draw in re-enactors from New York to Florida
and as many as 6,000 spectators over the weekend.
"If you look at Civil War Days and if we think of the economic
benefits of not only the 400 re-enactors coming but all the family
and people coming in to watch, that really is a great economic
impact on the area," Gaull said. "I don't think there's
been a huge growth in new events, but I think there is a surge
in the popularity of them. I think they are growing in the number
of attendees and of interest."
Gaull said the Civil War Trails program, which collects Civil
War events and sites in Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia
and West Virginia, has been successful in drawing tourists, most
significantly in the bordering state of Virginia.
"There is a big market for us in West Virginia to tap into,"
Gaull said. "We have a lot of stories that haven't been revealed
to Civil War travelers like they have in other states."
Gaull said the state already is marketing the Mountain State's
sites nationally in such publications as American Heritage magazine,
as well as additional niche Civil War-related advertising.
The state is already promoting for 2011 (the war's 150th anniversary)
and then 2013, the 150th anniversary for the state of West Virginia.
Gaull said tourism officials are working with Tyson Compton, the
new executive director of the Cabell-Huntington Convention and
Visitors Bureau, to get the area's historically significant sites
listed in the state's info now being disseminated on the Civil
War Discovery Trail and the Civil War Trails Web sites. Among
them are the Jenkins Plantation in Greenbottom and the Z.D. Ramsdell
House in Ceredo, both on the National Register of Historic Places.
Right now, no local sites are mentioned on those Web sites, and
Civil War Days is not even mentioned as an event in West Virginia's
2009 Official State Travel Guide.
Gaull said there couldn't be a better time to promote since heritage
tourism nationwide is seeing a spike.
"Overall there is an increase in things like heritage-based
tourism," Gaull said. "People are looking for things
that are interesting but that are low cost and that doesn't require
a high admission price. Heritage tourism is something that is
really appealing to that group."
Recognition of that fact is growing locally.
In addition to such permanent heritage tourism hotspots as Heritage
Farm Museum and Village, and the Gen. Jenkins Plantation, there
also have been several re-enactments from the newest, the fourth
annual Battle of Barboursville (set for July 2010), and the more
established re-enactments at Hurricane's Valley Park in March
re-enacting Scary Creek, and Guyandotte's November Civil War Days.
Linda Miller, an area Civil War buff, who first came out to watch
Civil War Days after finding out her great-great grandfather fought
in the battle, has been one of those fervent volunteers spreading
the love of history.
Miller joined the nonprofit group of volunteers that puts on the
annual event about six years ago, and now is one of the volunteers
that has also organized the third annual Battle of Barboursville,
a Civil War Re-enactment to be held July 16 to 18, 2010.
That event has grown from about 75 re-enactors the first year
to more than 150 last summer.
The crowd has blossomed to about 500 spectators this past year
on Saturday and 700 on Sunday.
"My dream is to see the lake surrounded with units,"
Miller said of Barboursville's Lake William. "That is my
dream. I hope that it eventually happens. That is what I am hoping
for."
Miller said she, like many who work Guyandotte, are carrying on
the torch of history for many of those volunteers who have died,
such as John Lavery, a local historian who died at Civil War Days
a few years ago of a heart attack.
"West Virginia was born out of the Civil War, and that is
why I think that is so important for people to learn about their
stories of the state and the county," Miller said.