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One clairification point, Petersburg National Battlefield is interested in the South Side Train Station. The Union Station (early 20th century) is not a part of the park's expansion hopes.
No funds to fix Civil War graves
BY PATRICK KANE
STAFF WRITER
04/09/2008
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DINWIDDIE — The headstones at Poplar Grove National Cemetery will lie flat for a few more years than planned. Restoration of the cemetery, along with the rehabilitation of the Bonaccord Building in Hopewell, were left out from the latest five-year National Park Service construction funding plan in late March.
National Park Service officials had hoped to conduct a major $2.3 million rehabilitation of the cemetery, founded as a resting ground for Union Civil War casualties in the South. More than 6,000 soldiers, with only about a third identified, rest there.
“We don’t like to lose. We are very distressed by the fact that these very important projects are being bumped off the list,” said Bob Kirby, Superintendent of Petersburg National Battlefield Park.
Local park service officials said they received the annual “Green Book” budget in March, and found that only one of their three projects was funded. The battlefield park’s units include City Point in Hopewell and Five Forks and Poplar Grove in Dinwiddie.
The big problem is an immediate, striking feature of the cemetery: Flat headstones. The park administrator decided to cut and set flat all headstones in 1934 to ease lawn mowing. Over the years, they have sunk into the soil and become tangled in tree roots.
The neglected cemetery came to the forefront in February, when a mock trial was conducted by the park service to determine who rested in one grave. A panel of judges decided that Confederate Sgt. Ivy Ritchie of Albemarle, N.C., was buried there, not a Union Sgt. J. Richie of New York, as the stone was marked.
Now, Anthony Way of North Carolina’s Sons of Confederate Veterans Ivy Ritchie Camp 1734, is back fighting for the Poplar Grove rehabilitation.
“I’ve been e-mailing senators and congressmen and everyone I can think of in Washington,” he said, including the head of the National Park Service, President Bush and first lady Laura Bush.
“I think it stinks,” he said. “It’s just a shame, considering we’ve got soldiers fighting all over the world now and they can’t find money to restore a national cemetery.”
“I’d like to bring some attention to it because I feel like our national parks are our national treasures. As much money as they [Congress] waste, they can spend some money restoring these treasures back to their original splendor,” Way said.
Having worked with Kirby’s staff on the project plans and the mock trial, Way acknowledged their labors.
“I know they’ve done a lot of hard work on this,” he said.
Donald E. Wells, commander of the Sons of Union Veterans Col. James D. Brady Camp 63, was another supporter of the rehab project.
“I think we owe it to the men who are buried there,” he said of fixing the gravestones. “It was disgraceful to cut the stones and bury them in the ground in the first place. It’s quite a disappointment.”
The other project dropped, Kirby said, was the Bonaccord Building. They hoped to spent $2.8 million to turn that building into the visitor’s contact station and turn Appomattox Manor into a historic home. Funding for fiscal year 2010 was pulled, and Kirby said it will have to compete against other projects nationwide again.
One project did remain on the current list. Because of severe erosion at City Point, they will conduct a second round of stabilization measures.
The possible purchase of Union Station in Petersburg will not be affected, Kirby explained, because the money was not coming from the same budget. It could be paid for out of the Centennial Challenge fundraising drive or congressional earmarks, he said.
Kirby promised work will continue on Poplar Grove with the funding they already have.
“We’re going to march ahead,” he said, including conducting an environmental assessment through the state preservation office and U.S. Fish and Wildlife office in October.
Kirby said they have accomplished five of their last seven projects, including cleaning up earthen fortifications and the first phase of the bluffs stabilization.
“We’ve done very well for a park this size,” Kirby said.
With ancestors who served on both sides during the Civil War, Wells wants to see Poplar Grove back on the funding list soon.
“We have a responsibility to soldiers of all wars. If the parks service doesn’t feel that they should correct this mistake made in 1934, all veterans should be concerned,” he said.
Way agrees, citing concern for the men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan today.
“The soldiers today are in danger of falling into obscurity if the nation can’t recognize the soldiers of the past. It’s an important landmark for us to save,” he said.
• Patrick Kane may be reached at 722-5155 or pkane@progress-index.com.
©The Progress-Index 2008
Online at: http://www.progress-index.com/site/n...d=462946&rfi=6
No funds to fix Civil War graves
BY PATRICK KANE
STAFF WRITER
04/09/2008
Email to a friendPrinter-friendly
DINWIDDIE — The headstones at Poplar Grove National Cemetery will lie flat for a few more years than planned. Restoration of the cemetery, along with the rehabilitation of the Bonaccord Building in Hopewell, were left out from the latest five-year National Park Service construction funding plan in late March.
National Park Service officials had hoped to conduct a major $2.3 million rehabilitation of the cemetery, founded as a resting ground for Union Civil War casualties in the South. More than 6,000 soldiers, with only about a third identified, rest there.
“We don’t like to lose. We are very distressed by the fact that these very important projects are being bumped off the list,” said Bob Kirby, Superintendent of Petersburg National Battlefield Park.
Local park service officials said they received the annual “Green Book” budget in March, and found that only one of their three projects was funded. The battlefield park’s units include City Point in Hopewell and Five Forks and Poplar Grove in Dinwiddie.
The big problem is an immediate, striking feature of the cemetery: Flat headstones. The park administrator decided to cut and set flat all headstones in 1934 to ease lawn mowing. Over the years, they have sunk into the soil and become tangled in tree roots.
The neglected cemetery came to the forefront in February, when a mock trial was conducted by the park service to determine who rested in one grave. A panel of judges decided that Confederate Sgt. Ivy Ritchie of Albemarle, N.C., was buried there, not a Union Sgt. J. Richie of New York, as the stone was marked.
Now, Anthony Way of North Carolina’s Sons of Confederate Veterans Ivy Ritchie Camp 1734, is back fighting for the Poplar Grove rehabilitation.
“I’ve been e-mailing senators and congressmen and everyone I can think of in Washington,” he said, including the head of the National Park Service, President Bush and first lady Laura Bush.
“I think it stinks,” he said. “It’s just a shame, considering we’ve got soldiers fighting all over the world now and they can’t find money to restore a national cemetery.”
“I’d like to bring some attention to it because I feel like our national parks are our national treasures. As much money as they [Congress] waste, they can spend some money restoring these treasures back to their original splendor,” Way said.
Having worked with Kirby’s staff on the project plans and the mock trial, Way acknowledged their labors.
“I know they’ve done a lot of hard work on this,” he said.
Donald E. Wells, commander of the Sons of Union Veterans Col. James D. Brady Camp 63, was another supporter of the rehab project.
“I think we owe it to the men who are buried there,” he said of fixing the gravestones. “It was disgraceful to cut the stones and bury them in the ground in the first place. It’s quite a disappointment.”
The other project dropped, Kirby said, was the Bonaccord Building. They hoped to spent $2.8 million to turn that building into the visitor’s contact station and turn Appomattox Manor into a historic home. Funding for fiscal year 2010 was pulled, and Kirby said it will have to compete against other projects nationwide again.
One project did remain on the current list. Because of severe erosion at City Point, they will conduct a second round of stabilization measures.
The possible purchase of Union Station in Petersburg will not be affected, Kirby explained, because the money was not coming from the same budget. It could be paid for out of the Centennial Challenge fundraising drive or congressional earmarks, he said.
Kirby promised work will continue on Poplar Grove with the funding they already have.
“We’re going to march ahead,” he said, including conducting an environmental assessment through the state preservation office and U.S. Fish and Wildlife office in October.
Kirby said they have accomplished five of their last seven projects, including cleaning up earthen fortifications and the first phase of the bluffs stabilization.
“We’ve done very well for a park this size,” Kirby said.
With ancestors who served on both sides during the Civil War, Wells wants to see Poplar Grove back on the funding list soon.
“We have a responsibility to soldiers of all wars. If the parks service doesn’t feel that they should correct this mistake made in 1934, all veterans should be concerned,” he said.
Way agrees, citing concern for the men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan today.
“The soldiers today are in danger of falling into obscurity if the nation can’t recognize the soldiers of the past. It’s an important landmark for us to save,” he said.
• Patrick Kane may be reached at 722-5155 or pkane@progress-index.com.
©The Progress-Index 2008
Online at: http://www.progress-index.com/site/n...d=462946&rfi=6