(1) Brewer Family Donates 6 Acres for Battle of Kinston Park - Kinston Free Press

 (2) Competition Mounting for Gettysburg-Area Casino Bid - York Daily Record

 (3) Commission Plans for Civil War Sesquicentennial - Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

 (4) Editorial: Saving Historic Landscapes - Chattanooga Times Free Press

 (5) Civil War Flags May Face Their Toughest Battle Yet - Associated Press

 (6) Kirby to Leave Petersburg Battlefield for Gettysburg Post - Petersburg Progress-Index

 (7) Backers Look to Fort Monroe as a National Park - Norfolk Virginian Pilot

 (8) A 'Civil War Williamsburg' on the Rapphannock? - Culpeper Star-Exponent

 (9) Civil War Preservation: 2009 a Good Year for Saving History - Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star

(10) Pa. Gaming Law Clears Legislature, LeVan Wil File Application - Gettysburg Times

(11) Wal-Mart and the Civil War ­ The Atlantic Monthly

(12) Legacy Parks Foundation Purchases 70 Acres from Battle of Knoxville - WBIR-Knoxville

 

--(1)  Brewer Family Donates 6 Acres for Battle of Kinston Park -----------------------------------------------------

Brewer Family Donates 6 Acres for Battle of Kinston Park
By David Anderson
1/13/2009
Kinston Free Press (NC)
http://www.kinston.com/news/kinstonians-61296-former-brewer.html

The 6-acre site at the intersection of U.S. 258 South and U.S. 70 East is known to generations of Kinstonians as the former home of the No. 1 Knott's Tobacco Warehouse - but it had a much different function about 150 years ago.
During December 1862, Confederate forces were rushing pell-mell across the Neuse River bridge to get back into Kinston before Union forces destroyed it during the First Battle of Kinston in the Civil War.
But, in the confusion, about 400 troops did not make it across. The Northern troops quickly surrounded them and took them prisoner.
More than a century later, landowner and Kinston native Billy Brewer stood with local scholar Lonnie Blizzard at the same site discussing the battle.
"We sold tobacco there for 40 years and didn't know we were on sacred land," said Brewer, 88, who owned and operated the warehouse with his other family members.
He also recently learned that his great-grandfather, Alfred H. Hobgood, fought during the Civil War
Brewer, along with his wife Marsha and several of his children, grandchildren and great-granddaughter, stood in the Kinston-Lenoir County Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday to announce the transfer of that site to the Historical Preservation Group.
"Grandma and Granddaddy have always been interested in the history of Lenoir County," said Brewer's granddaughter, Mary Beth Terry of Kinston.
Jane Phillips, president of the HPG, said her group has acquired about 135 acres of land where various aspects of the First Battle of Kinston took place. The group has also preserved 58 acres of the 1865 Battle of Wyse Fork battlefield.
The majority of the First Battle of Kinston land is FEMA buyout property in the Rivermont and Meadowbrook communities, owned by Lenoir County and leased by the HPG.
"This is a significant part of the battlefield, and we're so very pleased and thankful to this family for their generosity," Phillips said of the Brewer family donation.
Lyle Holland, head of the Battlefield Commission - which is under the HPG umbrella - said Kinston served as the "first line of defense" for Eastern North Carolina following the Union's occupation of New Bern early in the war.
"That was part of the line of defense from keeping the Union from getting into the interior of the state," he said.
Holland said the HPG has received a $30,000 grant from the National Park Service to develop an "interpretive planning project" for the First Battle of Kinston. The grant is administered by the American Battlefield Protection Program.
Joe and Maria Brent with the Versailles, Ky., research firm Mudpuppy and Waterdog - who have worked on other "heritage projects" for the HPG - will begin working on the project this month, Holland said.
Two community meetings are scheduled to take place within the next six months to hear residents' views on the current state of the battlefield interpretation and how it could be improved.

Return to Top

--(2)  Competition Mounting for Gettysburg-Area Casino Bid -----------------------------------------------------

Competition Mounting for Gettysburg-Area Casino Bid
By Erin James
1/13/2010
York Daily Record (PA)
http://ydr.inyork.com/ci_14183721

A Western Pennsylvania resort is the first to submit its application for a single Category 3 gaming license since state lawmakers legalized table games last week and voted to reopen the application process for the final resort license.
Nemacolin Woodland Resort and Spa plans to house the casino in a former Woodlands World outdoor store on Route 40, if the license is approved.
But it has potential competition from at least three other parties, including the partnership of a Gettysburg businessman and a former state representative who want to convert a Cumberland Township, Adams County, hotel into a resort casino with 600 slots machines and 50 table games.
David LeVan and Joseph Lashinger have also announced their intention to apply for the license. But because lawmakers voted to give potential applicants a 90-day window, the application for Mason-Dixon Resort & Casino near Gettysburg will probably not be submitted until late March or early April. The clock started running a week ago.
There's simply no need to rush, LeVan spokesman David La Torre said.
"Mason-Dixon won't rush its application simply so we can say we were first," La Torre said. "We're going to be very thoughtful with our application and present a case that it's in Pennsylvania's best interest to prevent the placement of another casino in Western Pennsylvania."
Nemacolin is about 40 miles south of Pittsburgh in an area that La Torre characterized as already "clustered" with casinos. He said LeVan and Lashinger intend to argue that Pennsylvania stands to gain much more by awarding a gaming license to their project, about five miles from downtown Gettysburg and two miles from the Maryland border.
La Torre said Nemacolin would further saturate the Western Pennsylvania casino market. The Rivers Casino and the Meadows Racetrack & Casino are about 25 miles apart near Pittsburgh, and two West Virginia casinos are within an hour of both, he said.
According to La Torre, the Rivers has performed below projections since opening in August.
Nemacolin was one of two original applicants for a Category 3 license in 2006 but dropped those plans because state gaming regulators wouldn't relax rules restricting admission to customers and guests of the resort.
Since his first proposal in 2005-06, LeVan has argued that an Adams County casino could capitalize on the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., markets. That proposal failed to win the approval of the state Gaming Control Board, largely because of significant opposition to the site's close proximity to the Gettysburg Battlefield.
LeVan and Lashinger also face competition from a hotel near Reading and another near the Poconos. Those applicants - the Reading Crowne Plaza Hotel in Wyomissing and the Fernwood Hotel & Resort in Bushkill - have already been deemed eligible by the Gaming Control Board, though the board has not yet deemed either suitable. Suitability is the last step in a process the board conducts on applications before it makes a licensing decision.

Return to Top

--(3)  Commission Plans for Civil War Sesquicentennial -----------------------------------------------------

Commission Plans for Civil War Sesquicentennial
By Lena Mitchell
1/11/2010
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal (MS)
http://nems360.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Commission+plans+for+Civil+War+Sesquicentennial%20&id=5512277&instance=secondary_stories_left_column

Members of the governor-appointed Mississippi Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission expect to lay out plans for the state's commemoration and begin publicizing this year.
However, the group has met only once, with a second meeting in Corinth aborted in November by lack of a quorum.
With state Legislature starting the 2010 session last week, the commission will need lawmakers to act quickly to allocate funding for its work, something it did not do when it authorized the commission last year.
Without that funding it may be left to individual cities and communities to beef up their ongoing Civil War events to highlight that historic period.
"The Legislature put together the commission but did not fund it in any way," said Kristy White, executive director of the Corinth Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.
"The route between Corinth and Vicksburg is a naturally significant corridor, so we've decided to work together and do some cooperative things like an itinerary for motor-coach and car tours. We don't have a formal agreement, but these are things we can market at some of the Civil War consumer shows and other places."
Corinth is a pivotal Civil War site in Northeast Mississippi as the focal point for the Battle of Shiloh.
That connection between Corinth and Shiloh has brought significant financial support through federal and state appropriations.
In the past six or seven years the Siege and Battle of Corinth Commission has established the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center and the Corinth Contraband Camp; bought significant amounts of battlefield acreage; and has secured funding to begin restoring the Verandah-Curlee House Museum, used as military headquarters for both Confederate and Union generals during the war.
During the same period, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the Mississippi Department of Transportation have provided significant funding to restore the Old Corinth Depot to house the Crossroads Museum and the Railway Express Building as headquarters for the Corinth Area CVB.
The interpretive center and contraband camp are both managed by the National Park Service as units of Shiloh National Military Park, and plans are to bring the Verandah-Curlee House Museum under NPS management as well.
A project to update the orientation film at the visitors center is a priority for the 2012 commemoration events at Shiloh, said Superintendent Woody Harrell. A new orientation film for Corinth's interpretive center is nearing completion and is planned to premiere April 6, 2012.
"The film is 52 years old and somewhat outdated, and people have talked about doing a replacement for a number of years," Harrell said.
"We've taken entrance fee money for about seven years and put together enough to tackle the project of making the film. In December we executed a contract with a film company. They'll begin preparing the script and doing all the other work between now and April 2011. Then they'll do the filming at the same time of the year as the battle occurred, and have another 12 months for post-production like editing, developing the music score and so forth."
The contract calls for a cost of about $390,000 to $400,000 to complete the project, Harrell said.
The Brices Crossroads Battlefield in Baldwyn is represented on the state commission by Executive Director and Curator Edwina Carpenter.
"One of our goals is to demonstrate to the public the opportunities to learn about history and the opportunities Brices Crossroads brings to Baldwyn," Carpenter said.
"By 2011, the sesquicentennial of Brices Crossroads, we should have three new interpretive pull-off areas here, a brand new trail and a pull-off site and interpretation of the Battle of Tupelo, increasing awareness of the public about the battles fought in this area."
New construction also is set to get under way at the Brices Crossroads Visitors Center, adding a wing to interpret the Battle of Tupelo.
"The Brices Crossroads National Battlefield Commission received a grant for this work and purchased property in Tupelo also," Carpenter said.
The 150th anniversary of the Battle of Brices Crossroads will be June 10, 2014, and will undoubtedly draw thousands more re-enactors than do the regular biennial re-enactments, she said.
The Mississippi Civil War Trails project also continues to develop, with the work at the Brices Crossroads Museum and Interpretive Center the final piece of construction work to be completed at Trails sites, said Jim Woodrick of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, which manages the $6.2 million project.
The sites will become part of The Civil War Preservation Trust's Civil War Discovery Trail.
Plans for commemoration events at the Okolona Battlefield have not been decided yet, said spokeswoman Patsy Gregory. However, a book released in November chronicling the Battle of Okolona has sparked great interest.
"We are real excited," Gregory said. "It's the first book written about the battle, written by a man who moved from Virginia to this area to research it. He had a book signing (recently) and more than 50 people came to get a book. I've had even more inquiries about it since then."
The Civil War is an ongoing topic of interest even when no significant commemoration events are planned, and Corinth Area CVB's White thinks the interest will continue to heighten as the sesquicentennial dates come closer.
White recently hosted a writer for the AAA magazine who visited Vicksburg, Brices Crossroads, Corinth and Shiloh.
"There is always a lot of interest in the Civil War and people are interested in traveling to the sites of those history-making events," White said. "Any mention we get in the Triple A magazine or any other national publication will help us tremendously."

Return to Top

--(4)  Editorial: Saving Historic Landscapes -----------------------------------------------------

Editorial: Saving Historic Landscapes
Chattanooga Times Free Press
1/11/2010
Chattanooga Times Free Press (TN)
http://www.tfponline.com/news/2010/jan/11/saving-historic-landscapes/?opiniontimes

The lovingly preserved Civil War battlefields in and near Chattanooga are undisputed treasures, but they are reminders, as well, that not all sites connected to that pivotal event in U.S. history are similarly protected. More than 30 acres of Civil War battlefield land are lost to development every day.
Those losses do not occur without a fight. The efforts to protect the landscape so Americans today and in the future can visit and study there often are lively and hard-fought. That they are not always successful does not diminish the importance of the battle. Every success is a victory that adds additional acreage to the nation's holdings of historic land.
The Civil War Preservation Trust, which willingly and effectively partners with local and state groups, is the country's foremost advocate of protecting land associated with Civil War battles. Its efforts are wide-ranging. Last year, it was successful in campaigns to permanently protect 2,777 acres at 20 battlefields in five states. Included in that total were 643 acres at Davis Bridge in Hardeman County and 5 acres at Parkers Crossroads in Henderson County in Tennessee. Additional acreage in Florida, Minnesota, Mississippi and Virginia was saved for posterity as well.
Over the years, the CWPT has protected more than 29,000 acres of battlefields at 109 sites in 20 states. Included in that total, according to a CWPT spokesman, is 36 acres in the Chattanooga area. That's an admirable record.
The effort to preserve Civil War battlefields is an old one, initially begun by veterans of the conflict and then taken up by others. The Chickamauga Battlefield south of Chattanooga was among the first to be preserved. Its dedication was attended by thousands of men who were once bitter enemies but who willingly joined the campaign to preserve the place where they fought and many of their compatriots died.
Preserving the nation's historic landscapes is hard and necessary work that has not always enjoyed widespread support. That, fortunately, is changing. Many states and the federal government now appropriate money for the preservation of historic battlefields and other sites. It is a wise use of public funds.

Return to Top

--(5)  Civil War Flags May Face Their Toughest Battle Yet -----------------------------------------------------

Civil War Flags May Face Their Toughest Battle Yet
By Chris Carola
1/10/2010
Associated Press (NAT)
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world_us/20100110_Civil_War_flags_may_face_their_toughest_battle_yet.html

They made it through Shiloh, Antietam, and Gettysburg, but many of the Civil War battle flags in the nation's state-owned collections might not survive the budget battles being waged in some statehouses.
Preservation work on deteriorating banners carried in some of the war's bloodiest battles has been eliminated, scaled back, or ignored by state budget planners focused on finding money for basics such as education, health care, and transportation.
In New York, home to the nation's largest state-owned collection of Civil War battle flags, money for a preservation project is being cut from Gov. David Paterson's proposed budget. Indiana's funding for flag conservation has been returned to the state's general fund. Ohio hasn't provided government funding for its 400-plus Civil War battle flags in nearly a decade.
Another recent budget casualty is Pennsylvania's allocation for maintaining the battle-flag collection it preserved in the 1980s.
"Thank goodness we did it back then," Ruthann Hubbert-Kemper, executive director of the Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee, said of the project, which conserved all of the Keystone State's nearly 400 Civil War battle flags.
The lack of funding for flag preservation could hurt efforts to promote the 150th anniversary of the Civil War next year.
Battle flags are commonly used in Civil War exhibits, but usually only after lengthy preservation work that can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Staging publicity-generating events using the flags may be more difficult in the run-up to the Civil War sesquicentennial in 2011, advocates say.
"This isn't the time to be cutting this. It's the time to be increasing it, because it will be bring in tourism dollars," said Ed Norris of Lancaster, Mass., head of the battle-flag preservation committee for the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.
The total number of battle flags in state-owned collections isn't clear, but it's likely several thousand, only a fraction of which have been preserved. Some have deteriorated into mere fragments and fringe, victims of neglect or exposure to light, heat, and humidity.
"Time is the enemy," Hubbert-Kemper said.
With New York facing a budget deficit in the billions of dollars, the state is dropping its $100,000 annual funding for flag preservation, parks agency spokesman Dan Keefe said.
Civil War buffs and historians consider battle flags, especially those damaged by shot and shell, to be among the most compelling artifacts to survive the war. Flags marked a regiment's location on the battlefield, and flag bearers made prominent targets. Some banners are stained with blood.
"There are many flags that were carried in battle heroically by soldiers who died in doing so," said Christopher Morton, assistant curator at the State Military Museum in Saratoga Springs, where many of New York's flags are stored.
In the South, several states rely on donations from reenactment groups and descendants of Confederate soldiers to fund flag preservation.
The Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Va., is home to the largest Civil War battle-flag collection in the South, with more than 500.

Return to Top

--(6) Kirby to Leave Petersburg Battlefield for Gettysburg Post -----------------------------------------------------

Kirby to Leave Petersburg Battlefield for Gettysburg Post
By Patrick Kane
1/10/2010
Petersburg Progress-Index (VA)
http://progress-index.com/news/kirby-to-leave-petersburg-battlefield-1.536164

Bob Kirby is heading back in time to a new job. After nearly a decade leading Petersburg National Battlefield, Kirby is headed north to lead the nation's most famous Civil War site, Gettysburg National Military Park. Kirby accepted the new position on Thursday.
"It has been one of the joys of my life to work in this park and to be a part of the greater Petersburg area," Kirby said Saturday.
"It's a tremendous challenge. It's an icon park. It's a huge honor to be asked to be superintendent of a nationally-significant cultural resource," he said of Gettysburg. He will begin the new position in March.
Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle in the Civil War, with 51,000 dead or wounded. A Confederate invasion on July 1, 1863 was pressed back by Union forces and became the turning point of the war. In November of that year, President Abraham Lincoln gave the famed Gettysburg Address at the establishment ceremony of the Gettysburg National Cemetery.
Today, the park is one of the nation's most famed historic sites. A $135 million visitor's center was completed in 2008. Other facilities include the 17-acre Soldiers' National Cemetery and the 6,000-acre battlefield. Kirby will also oversee the Eisenhower National Historic Site, the president's former home and farm.
He was first assigned to Petersburg as acting superintendent in 2000, and became the official leader in 2001. Since then, many plans have turned into reality.
"It's been a wonderful opportunity for me because I got to start getting the general management plan going," Kirby said "I've been here long enough to begin fulfilling many of the concepts in the planning process."
Work to stabilize the bluffs at Appomattox Manor in City Point, a new visitor contact station at Five Forks in Dinwiddie and plans to purchase the Southside Station in Petersburg have progressed on his watch. A proposal to add 7,238 acres to the park passed the House of Representatives in December and is awaiting a decision by the Senate.
"For a park our size, it's been pretty unique. We've got such a great staff in the park, so we're able to handle these large and complex projects," Kirby said.
He also credits his staff for improving educational programs for local adults and students and expanding information about the Civil War experiences of women and African-Americans.
"He was my mentor," said Chris Calkins, manager of Sailor's Creek Battlefield in Amelia County. Kirby hired Calkins as chief of interpretation at Petersburg and the two worked closely together on plans.
"He taught me a lot. I don't think I could do (Sailor's Creek project) if not for Bob's help," Calkins said. "The Tri-Cities has a lot to thank Bob for."
"That's the crown jewel," Calkins said of the new position.
Kirby started his career with the National Park Service in 1974 as a ranger at Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco. He helped get facilities up and running at Lowell, Massachusetts and served as assistant superintendent of Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, which spans New Jersey and Pennsylvania before coming to Petersburg.
"The scale of operations is bigger in Gettysburg," Kirby said. He will have about 85 full time people, plus seasonal employees, compared to 38 full and part-time people in Petersburg. He will also work closely with the Gettysburg Foundation, a nonprofit.
"They are a co-player in the management and operations of the park. That's something new," Kirby said.
Dennis R. Reidenbach, NPS northeast regional director, said in a statement that Kirby was the right person for the job.
"As we look ahead to the 150th anniversary of the conflict, Bob is the right individual to oversee both the best known Civil War park in the national park system, and to manage a significant presidential site," he said.

Return to Top

--(7) Backers Look to Fort Monroe as a National Park -----------------------------------------------------

Backers Look to Fort Monroe as a National Park
By Kate Wiltrout
1/9/2010
Norfolk Virginian Pilot (VA)
http://hamptonroads.com/2010/01/backers-look-fort-monroe-national-park

It can take years - and multiple acts of Congress - to add a new national park to the lineup that includes Yosemite and the Grand Canyon.
A legislative effort to create a park honoring Harriet Tubman, for instance, began in 2000 and only now is nearing completion. Even asking the National Park Service to study a potential addition requires congressional approval, and those studies often take years to complete.
None of that scares Bill Armbruster, executive director of the Fort Monroe Federal Area Development Authority.
Armbruster is leading the effort to have at least part of the Army base - including its moated stone fort - designated as a unit of the national park system when the state assumes control of the 570-acre property in late 2011.
He has been busy since Nov. 19, when the authority's board voted unanimously to pursue national park status.
In December, Armbruster went to Washington to talk to local legislators about sponsoring a resolution supporting that goal.
Clark Pettig, a spokesman for Rep. Glenn Nye, whose district includes Fort Monroe, said Nye plans to introduce a resolution within a month supporting park service involvement.
Armbruster got Gov. Timothy M. Kaine to invite Jonathan Jarvis, director of the Park Service, to tour Fort Monroe, and hopes to host a meeting with Jarvis and members of the congressional delegation in the coming months.
Armbruster envisions negotiations later this year among the park service, the state and the state-appointed authority. His timeline calls for having Congress implement the legislation in the first half of 2011.
"We have moved rapidly, and I think it took some folks by surprise," Armbruster said Thursday. "We wanted to keep that momentum going, particularly before the Kaine administration left."
In the meantime, he has worked to brief Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell's team and said he's confident that McDonnell supports a park service role.
He noted that as attorney general, McDonnell has overseen the legal ramifications of the base's pending transfer to state ownership.
The transfer date - Sept. 30, 2011 - is a major motivator.
"We want to have this thing done by the time the Army leaves, and have the National Park Service ready to take on that management responsibility," Armbruster said.
To help achieve that goal, he has the assistance of a three-member task force that includes John Reynolds, former deputy director of the park service.
Reynolds spent time as interim director of the Presidio, a former Army base in San Francisco that's jointly managed by the park service and The Presidio Trust.
He thinks the Presidio is a good model for Fort Monroe. With the money generated from renting out its buildings, it is on track to become a self-sustaining entity.
Reynolds said the current leaders of the park service embrace forming partnerships with other entities and finding new ways to manage historic assets.
"I call it the new National Park Service, or the 21st-century National Park Service," Reynolds said.
He's confident the service will embrace a role at Fort Monroe.
"They believe very deeply that this is a very important part of America's story," Reynolds said.

Return to Top

--(8)  A 'Civil War Williamsburg' on the Rapphannock? -----------------------------------------------------

A 'Civil War Williamsburg' on the Rapphannock?
By Allison Brophy Champion
1/8/2010
Culpeper Star-Exponent (VA)
http://www2.starexponent.com/cse/news/local/article/civil_war_williamsburg/50065/

Union forces clashed with Confederates in two separate fights at Rappahannock Station - the wartime name for modern-day Remington - in August 1862 and November 1863.
A major crossing here was the Orange & Alexandria railroad bridge, which the Yankees burned in October 1863, the Library of Congress records.
Both sides wanted control of the vital waterway at the site and many died fighting for it.
Now, a local developer wants to return the place to its roots with the establishment of Culpeper Crossing, a Civil War-themed tourist destination on 14 acres of wooded, riverfront land adjoining the battlefield.
Bob Currier, in addition, has already placed a much larger parcel of actual battlefield into permanent conservation easement.
"We need a Civil War Williamsburg," said the Remington resident, whose family has owned 100-plus acres at Rappahannock Station for more than a century. "It will be the only thing like it - on a battlefield where trenches are still intact."
Located about five miles north of the more famous village at Brandy Station - the site of North America's largest cavalry engagement in June 1863 - Remington sits about half a mile from the Rappahannock River in Fauquier County, though a portion of it sits within the border of Culpeper County.
Currier, who has a background as a builder, plans to get started on his "reproduction Civil War town" on the Culpeper side of the river this spring.
Besides an 18-room bed and breakfast and a museum, the secluded, riverfront development will include shops, a church, restaurant and live theater - the potential for up to 20 buildings in all, according to Currier.
He also plans to incorporate other periods of history relevant to the area including a Native American village, French and Indian War fort and Revolutionary War attractions.
Currier said he's found hundreds of arrowheads and two dozen stone axes on the property. He wants to offer wildlife exhibits and the arts at Culpeper Crossing as well.
The Virginia Department of Historic Resources sees the possibilities.
"Your concept for Culpeper Crossing offers an exciting opportunity to present the rich history of this area in an engaging format and setting," wrote DHR director Kathleen Kilpatrick in a letter to Currier last year. "We look forward to working with you to develop a sensitive and important new asset for Virginians and the nation."
She encouraged "the use of local building tradition to link Culpeper Crossing with the cultural heritage of its location." It's something Currier remains committed to doing as he moves forward, having ordered bronze statues of Gens. George Meade (Union officer from Pennsylvania) and Robert E. Lee of Virginia, who met in Remington.
Civil War soldiers who fought in Culpeper - believed to be the most marched upon county during the war - surely would never have guessed the history-themed recreation that awaits the river land at Rappahannock Station.
One letter in Currier's collection of correspondence drafted in this area from that time stands out especially.
"I hope the time is not too distant when all who live may see this war ended and peace flow again in one unbroken stream through all our valleys - from east to west and from north to south," wrote John M. Lovejoy of the 121st New York Regiment, stationed near Brandy Station in 1864.

Conservation easements
Currier wants his family's land to remain unbroken by rampant development, which has crept closer to Culpeper's battlefield sites in recent years.
And so about a year ago, he placed 189 acres of Rappahannock Station battlefield - adjoining Culpeper Crossing - into permanent conservation easement, meaning it's going to stay as is forever.
He admitted that his foremost reason for pursuing the conservation easements through the DHR was for the money - easement holders can sell the tax credits they receive for cash. Currier did just that, getting about $3 million for the tax credits.
According to the terms of the easement designation, the land can never be subdivided and it carries strict limits, for perpetuity, on very limited development.
Currier credited family friend Sandra Stevens, an easement consultant from McLean, for helping him navigate the complicated process.
"What she is doing has dramatically affected the county," he said of other easement projects Stevens worked on last year, including battlefield land in Brandy Station.
"I wouldn't have gotten through it without her."
Property value
Stevens, who has a background in lobbying, began her easement consulting business with Currier back in December of 2008.
"I did his and decided this was something I love doing," she told the Star-Exponent in a recent interview. "It gives me an appreciation for the value of people's property and how they feel about it."
Successfully obtaining easement status is a complicated process, Stevens said, that spans about nine months. In Virginia alone, she said, there are 34 different land trusts, including DHR, the Civil War Preservation Trust and Piedmont Environmental Council, that hold properties in easement.
It's an altruistic motive to put your land into easement, Stevens said, but these days many folks are doing it for the money too ­ to save the family farm.
She said she has thousands more acres in Culpeper County "in the pipeline" for easement designation.
The benefit to the county of historic easements is open space preservation, Stevens said.
"The state of open land in the county right on U.S. 29 has definitely changed," she said. "We won't be having overpasses and congested traffic areas like it would have been if had been developed as originally planned," Stevens said, referring to the previously planned large development at Willow Run, property that she helped put into easement in 2009.
Wendy Musumeci, the DHR's easement program coordinator, said her department holds 1,175 acres in historic conservation easement in Culpeper County.
Of those, 641 acres were added last year, she said, noting, "Future generations have to abide by these land restrictions."
Culpeper County Planning Director John Egertson, speaking for himself and not the county, said conservation easements are a positive thing for the county because they maintain its overall rural character.
On the other hand, he noted, conservation easements could be detrimental if they prevented development in areas intended for growth, like the county's technology zone next to the Daniel Technology Center.
"As for the various easements which have put into place to date, I am supportive of them all."
Union soldier W.H.B. Dudley, camping near "Rapperhannac Station" in September of 1863 did not feel so supportive of the other side.
"We had a nice cav fight," he wrote to his nephew George Payson. "We drove the rebels about 15 miles; they did run, tore up things good. I could see lots of dead rebels."

Return to Top

--(9) Civil War Preservation: 2009 a Good Year for Saving History -----------------------------------------------------

Civil War Preservation: 2009 a Good Year for Saving History
By Clint Schemmer
1/7/2009
Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star (VA)
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2010/012010/01072010/519262

For many people, 2009 is a year they want to forget. But for the country's top Civil War preservation outfit, the past year shines.
Even as the nation confronted its worst economic straits since the Great Depression, the Civil War Preservation Trust posted its second-largest annual tally for battlefield land taken out of harm's way.
Some 2,777 acres at 20 battlefields in five states were protected. That's almost double the size of all 11 units of Richmond National Battlefield combined, or a shade less than half the acreage of Gettysburg National Military Park.
"It's been just phenomenal," CWPT President James Lighthizer said in an interview yesterday. "If you'd asked me at the beginning of the year if we could pull that off, I never would have thought it possible."
Much of the impetus for 2009's successes came from Virginia's unprecedented financial commitment to save Civil War sites, Lighthizer said. That bipartisan project, which provided $5.2 million in state funds that CWPT and other groups matched 2-1, was spearheaded by Gov. Tim Kaine; House Speaker Bill Howell, R-Stafford; and state Sen. Edd Houck, D-Spotsylvania.
Understanding that Virginia's challenge grant was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, CWPT members "dug deep in their pockets" and gave to the trust's Virginia Legacy Fund to meet the state match, Lighthizer said.
Virginia's appropriation was the most generous contribution to battlefield pres-ervation ever made by a state government. That was fitting, Kaine has said, given that the commonwealth witnessed the majority of the Civil War's largest and most significant battles.
"I normally have a pretty low threshold for hyperbole," Civil War historian and author Robert K. Krick, a Fredericksburg resident, said yesterday.
"But CWPT had a wonderful year in a time when the economy was down and giving for many things was down. They took the opportunities that were presented to them and did just a fabulous job of acquiring important things."
Kathleen Kilpatrick, director of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, praised the cooperation of landowners, residents, organizations and "government leaders at all levels."
"There is so much to celebrate in these remarkable accomplishments, even as we prepare for the hard work ahead," she said.
Nationally, CWPT purchased $38 million worth of battlefield land in Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida and Minnesota last year, paying fair market prices.
"Being able to put $15 million into Virginia for land preservation was very significant," Lighthizer said. "Virginia was the primary focus of our efforts last year, and CWPT staff spent much of its time in the state."
In all, CWPT--partnering with the commonwealth, local preservation groups and the federal government--saved 1,934 acres in Virginia in 2009. In the Fredericksburg area, that land includes key portions of the Chancellorsville, Wilderness and Trevilian Station battlefields.
Lighthizer credited the Fredericksburg-based Central Virginia Battlefields Trust for taking the lead to save the 94-acre Link property at the Wilderness battlefield in Spotsylvania County.
"But this year, it wasn't just about acreage," Lighthizer said. "We've bought very high-quality history and real estate, places important to telling the stories of the Civil War."
Part of the trust's strategy is achieving "critical mass" at individual battlefields by stitching together smaller parcels. In 2009, for example, it worked with the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation to save 209 acres at Third Winchester that creates a 576-acre preserve, and added land in eastern Henrico County to protect 1,650 contiguous acres at the Glendale and Malvern Hill battlefields.
The nation's terrible economic situation actually helped, Lighthizer said.
"We were able to take advantage of the worst recession in generations," he said. "In September 2008, when the roof fell in, we immediately went to full-armor battle stations and tightened our expenses.
"The recession didn't lower land prices, but it held them down. And we sustained and improved our revenue by 8 percent. We were able to hold steady and move forward in a year when most nonprofits moved backward."
Another of 2009's big successes--congressional extension of the American Battlefield Protection Program--will pay dividends for years to come, he said.
Congress authorized $9 million, the largest single-year sum in the National Park Service program's history, making up for ground lost when the program's renewal was in limbo.
"That was huge, and is enabling us to do some things that wouldn't be possible otherwise," Lighthizer said.
Small and nimble, CWPT can move much faster than the government to acquire land. That helps landowners willing to sell their property for preservation, trust officials said.
With 55,000 members, the trust is the nation's largest nonprofit battlefield preservation organization. It was created 10 years ago by the merger of the Fredericksburg-based Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites and the Civil War Trust, headquartered in Hagerstown, Md.
The trust's best year was 2001, when it saved a total of 2,881 acres.

Return to Top

--(10)  Pa. Gaming Law Clears Legislature, LeVan Wil File Application -----------------------------------------------------

Pa. Table Games Law Clears Legislature, LeVan Plans to File Application
By Scot Andrew Pitzer
1/7/2010
Gettysburg Times (PA)
http://www.gettysburgtimes.com/articles/2010/01/07/news/local/doc4b45d1076a81c241186261.txt

Gettysburg businessman David LeVan called the state's passage of casino table game regulations Wednesday "good news for Adams County."
The bill was finalized by the Pa. House and Senate, and Gov. Ed Rendell has promised to sign the paperwork, citing a revenue shortfall.
Overall, the bill aims to legalize games like black jack and roulette at state casinos, and reopen the gaming application process to groups like Mason Dixon Resort and Casino, led by LeVan and business partner Joseph Lashinger.
"The gaming industry has given back to communities by working with local charities, creating thousands of jobs, and providing millions for economic development projects that have allowed municipalities to do important public works and infrastructure improvements without raising property taxes," said LeVan. "We intend to do the same for the people of Adams County."
Once Gov. Ed Rendell signs the bill, the state's Gaming Control Board will reopen the application process for three months for new Category III "resorts" licenses.
LeVan is prepared to file an application, as he hopes to transform the Cumberland Township-based Eisenhower Inn and Conference Center into an exclusive slots resort.
He has secured an option to purchase the 100-acre property, located two miles north of the Maryland border and five miles from Gettysburg.
The Eisenhower Inn is located along Business 15 in southern Adams County on land that is already home to commercial and recreational development.
"The facility that he's looking at is a beautiful and well-maintained facility," Adams County Commissioner George Weikert said in a recent radio interview.
"It is very under-utilized and underachieving, financially," continued Weikert. "It would be good to revitalize that facility in some way, and this is Mr. LeVan's idea of bringing that back into prosperity."
Over the last six weeks, LeVan has touted jobs, tax revenues and economic development as factors that differentiate his project from competitors.
As of Nov. 2009, Pennsylvania gaming has produced more than $221 million in revenues for host communities and counties, he explained.
"Mason-Dixon Resort and Casino will be the largest economic-development project in the history of Adams County. That means new jobs and new opportunities for area residents," LeVan said in a statement, noting that unemployment "has topped eight percent, and jobs are badly needed."
LeVan called the employment opportunities "substantive, career-oriented jobs."
"Make no mistake," said the Battlefield Harley Davidson owner, "it's our intent to see as many of these jobs filled by Adams County residents as possible."
A call to No Casino Gettysburg spokeswoman Susan Star Paddock was not immediately returned Wednesday.
Opponents of the Cumberland Township plan have cited the project's proximity to the 6,000-acre Gettysburg National Military Park, and heritage tourism.
LeVan has pointed out that, unlike other Pennsylvania casinos, his proposed facility is the only project that would tap into the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan market.
Also, according to the legislation, Cumberland Township and Adams County would each receive two percent of Mason-Dixon's net slots gaming revenue and one percent of net table-games revenue.
LeVan has told county and Cumberland leaders that they can expect at least $1 million in annual revenues.
State law authorized casinos in 2004, and since then, no Category III "slots resorts" have opened.
One license has been awarded, to a group in Valley Forge, but that project is under litigation.
Two groups have filed applications for the state's lone remaining Category III license, which are awarded to existing hotels and accompanying resorts.
That license now has more value, under the table game law.
LeVan and a group from Nemacolin in Western Pennsylvania are reportedly interested in the remaining license, as well as up to four other developers.
LeVan previously applied for a Category II license - for a standalone slots parlor in Straban Township - but that project was denied by the state's Gaming Control Board in 2006.

Return to Top

--(11)  Wal-Mart and the Civil War -----------------------------------------------------

Wal-Mart and the Civil War
By Ta-Nehisi Coates
1/5/2009
The Atlantic Monthly (NAT)
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/201001/civil-war-walmart

Last August, I went slightly mad while driving through central Virginia. The roads around Richmond are sprinkled with markers delineating the region's singular place in American history-and particularly Civil War history, my latest obsession. It took all I had not to swerve off the road every time a sign celebrating Gabriel Prosser or Stonewall Jackson's arm came into view. To the chagrin of my family members who were in tow, my efforts at self-control rarely succeeded.
Our first day in Virginia was providence itself. Half-lost, we were wending our way through back roads when we happened upon New Market Heights. A century and a half ago, regiments of the USCT-United States Colored Troops-had engaged a Confederate force there, and won 14 Medals of Freedom.
I pulled our rental car to the side of the road, and treated my son and nephew to an awkward impromptu lecture on the bravery of Sergeant Major Christian Fleetwood and Private Charles Veale. It was only mildly successful-I had to talk over SUVs loudly whizzing past, and there really wasn't much to see. Parts of the battlefield had been destroyed by housing developments. Other portions, owned by the county, are closed to the public. I ordered the kids out of the car and had them read the marker aloud, in unison. They squirmed around and gave mediocre waves as I snapped pictures.
In my lifetime, I have floated through all manner of geekdom-comic books, sci-fi, sports, medieval history, video games. The Civil War, with its swashbuckling heroes, its staggering toll, and its consequence of emancipation, is the culmination of an unorthodox intellectual journey. Galactus and Charlemagne are charming, but if not for Fleetwood and Veale, I might not exist. By the time I stumbled upon New Market Heights, I'd read about the battle in at least three books. But I had come to Virginia to move beyond books and render my journey through the "late unpleasantness" in 3-D. Books about everything from the caliber of every cannon fired to post-traumatic stress disorder to Civil War cuisine can't adequately capture the actual conditions under which the soldiers lived and died; they can't convey, say, the spatial reality of being caught between gunfire from two sides. Any lesson on the Battle of the Crater isn't complete until you've been to Petersburg and seen the crater for yourself. Civil War sites are the classrooms of history.
Unfortunately, at New Market Heights, the classroom was closed. The Civil War Preservation Trust annually presents a list of 25 battlefields that are "endangered" and "at risk" because of sprawl and development. (Last year's included New Market Heights.) But the battlefield where the war between preservation and commerce now rages most ferociously is the Wilderness, in Orange County, Virginia, where in May of 1864, the two armies took 28,000 casualties, some of them wounded men who were incinerated in a forest fire.
Soon, the Wilderness may also be known for everyday low prices, thanks to Walmart's plans to put a new store at the site's very doorstep. The fight has pitted locals in search of decent value ("Go find a shirt in Orange," someone told the local paper. "You can't") against preservationists from Virginia and elsewhere, including the historian James McPherson and the actor Robert Duvall, a descendant of Confederate patriot Robert E. Lee.
The intersection of Routes 20 and 3, where Walmart hopes to build, holds special significance. "It's at that exact place where 100,000 Union soldiers go south," says Rob Nieweg of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. "They were ordered to turn right and continue on to Spotsylvania Courthouse and the Bloody Angle, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg, and ultimately, Appomattox and the end of the Civil War. It's the best place in America to stand and understand the average Union soldier's experience, at that moment, knowing that what he fought for wasn't wasted."
In September, the National Trust joined a coalition of preservationists filing suit to prevent Walmart from going forward. Walmart contends that the battlefield entrance is actually a mile away, and notes that it's been in discussions about the store with the community for more than a year. "This whole process has been going on for nearly 18 months," Keith Morris, a spokesperson for Walmart, told me. "It has been a meticulous process that's been thoroughly vetted and evaluated through public hearings, and we were approved almost unanimously by the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors."
Even if the preservationists prevail, the future of the Wilderness will still be in doubt. The land is zoned for commercial development. The current fight recalls the battle, 15 years ago, when preservationists stopped Disney from building a theme park near the Manassas battlefield, in Northern Virginia, only to see the area overtaken by residential sprawl.
On our last day in Virginia, I drove my family out to the Wilderness. By then we'd seen the Petersburg battlefield, where the war drew to its bloody close, and Shirley Plantation, a sprawling estate along the James River, once tended by slaves. But the sheer emptiness of the Wilderness's grassland and forest made it more haunting. A ranger sitting under a canopy directed us to various portions of the park, because we'd just missed the tour. We walked up a dirt road into the woods, and saw earthworks and trenches that had been preserved for close to 150 years. Across from there, the ranger told us, you could see an open field that Union soldiers had charged across, only to be cut down by Confederates concealed in the woods and protected by fortifications. For a fleeting moment, I could actually imagine the smell of gunpowder and sweat in the August heat, and the sense that death awaited.
Afterward, we drove out Orange Plank Road, east of Grant's path as he marched toward Richmond; we turned onto Route 3, and after a few miles saw an assortment of big-box stores blooming out of the horizon. We grumbled some about the spoilage of development-and then stopped at Cracker Barrel for breakfast.

Return to Top

--(12)  Legacy Parks Foundation Purchases 70 Acres from Battle of Knoxville -----------------------------------------------------

Legacy Parks Foundation Purchases 70 Acres from Battle of Knoxville
By Emily Stroud
12/30/2009
WBIR-Knoxville (TN)
http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=109231&provider=topStories

"When the economy is as bad as it is, we've been able to raise $1.4 million to buy a piece of land," Carol Evans said.
Evans is Executive Director of the Legacy Parks Foundation and is impressed with the people who live in East Tennessee.
What a piece of land it is--breathtaking views of downtown Knoxville and the Tennessee River.
Wednesday, the Legacy Parks Foundation purchased 70 acres of river bluff property in South Knoxville. It is the first piece in an urban corridor that will stretch from Ijams Nature Center to Alcoa Highway.
Thursday was the deadline for buying the wooded property across the river from the University of Tennessee. Legacy Parks bought it Wednesday and preserved the Armstrong Hill Battle Site.
"So now you have these four battle sites that overlook the city," Evans explained as she pointed to the ridge tops in South Knoxville.
The River Bluff Wildlife Area was once slated for condominium development, but it will soon provide postcard views for the public.
"From Ijams Nature Center to Alcoa Highway, you have a thousand acres of urban forest, 10 city parks, 3 civil war forts, this battle site, and you already have greenways and trails within that system, so what we're trying to do is help connect those," Evans said.
Legacy Parks will turn over the property to the city of Knoxville, which will secure it, clean it, and open it to the public in about 6 months.
"On this property there's also 2 caves, 2 ponds," Evans said. "So it just has all these really beautiful natural assets."
Knoxville Parks and Recreation Director Joe Walsh agrees that the property is a real gem. "Great hiking trails, great overlook," he said. "It will be a nice asset, not just for South Knoxville, but the whole city."
And it will be an asset for a whole lot more than the city of Knoxville.
"That's what people come to see, and so it really is important to tourism in our community to have these sort of areas protected and open," Evans said.
"There is no finer park in the city," Walsh said. "Just within a mile of downtown Knoxville. It is just a diamond in the rough here, and we're just so very fortunate to be able to receive this."
Legacy Parks is still about $100,000 short of the full purchase price for the property. Donations so far have ranged from $20 to $100,000.

Return to Top