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Trust buys battlefield land
Central Virginia Battlefields Trust buys 93 acres of Wilderness battlefield, site of Grant's Overland Campaign
By CLINT SCHEMMER
The Free Lance-Star [Fredericksburg, Va.]
August 7, 2009
One of Fredericksburg's home-grown preservation groups has just secured rights to buy a key portion of the Wilderness battlefield.
The Central Virginia Battlefields Trust acquired an option on about 93 acres of historic ground in Spotsylvania County near the intersection of State Routes 3 and 20.
"This land looks much as it did in 1864, but we needed to move quickly to be able to afford to keep it that way," trust president Erik Nelson said.
The property, owned by the Atkins and Link families, is adjacent to the site of Wilderness Tavern south of Route 3, where the arm of Confederate Lt. Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was amputated after the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863.
A year later, thousands of Union troops crossed the farm on the Germanna Plank Road as Gen. Ulysses S. Grant pressed the army of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee south after the Battle of the Wilderness.
"The ground preserved by CVBT is the historic gateway to the Wilderness," Nelson said.
Traces of the historic roads that the troops trod remain well-preserved on the Link-Atkins tract, visible today to any visitor.
Purchase of the property will help preserve the nearby spot where the Plank Road and Orange Turnpike met near Wilderness Run, south of the modern-day intersection of Routes 3 and 20, Nelson said. The state highway department created that crossroad in the 1920s.
CVBT had been eyeing the tract for years but was spurred to act by the controversial proposal for a 240,000-square-foot retail center, anchored by a Wal-Mart Supercenter, near the northwest corner of the intersection. The Orange County supervisors will hear public comment on the proposed development Aug. 24.
Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park lies within a quarter-mile of the proposed Wal-Mart site, which has aroused national opposition from historians, lawmakers and thousands of others.
The park owns a swath of land at the southwest corner of Routes 3 and 20, adjoining the Link-Atkins property. On the west side of Route 20, near the intersection, the CVBT owns 19 acres in the vicinity of where Union commanders Grant and George Gordon Meade had their headquarters during the Wilderness battle.
The sellers of the Link-Atkins tract, two of whom live in the Fredericksburg area, were pleased that their farmland won't be developed, CVBT officials said.
Fredericksburg-area residents Johnny Mitchell and Enos Richardson, founding members of CVBT, negotiated with the family members on the deal.
The trust will pay $10,000 per acre for the parcel.
Part of the land is within the congressional authorized boundary of the park, which allows the National Park Service to buy the property.
Eventually, the protected terrain could provide an option for a new entry into the national park's part of the Wilderness battlefield that avoids the 20th-century intersection, CVBT said.
The Park Service has no plans for a new entrance there, park Superintendent Russ Smith said. "However, we just started our update to the park's general management plan, so now is the time to discuss such possibilities," he said.
An entrance near the Wilderness Tavern site would present major engineering issues but is worth considering, Smith said.
"If we could get visitors down into the historic intersection area, there certainly would be some interesting interpretive possibilities, as well as access alternatives for Ellwood," he said.
Ellwood, a nearby historic home off Route 20, functions as a de facto visitor center for the Wilderness battlefield.
The 350-acre Lyons Farm, next to Ellwood and the Link-Atkins parcel, is also historically significant and forms the scenic "viewshed" for visitors to Ellwood.
The national Civil War Preservation Trust praised CVBT and the Atkins family for their actions.
"The Central Virginia Battlefields Trust has once again demonstrated its unique ability to work with local landowners to preserve hallowed ground," CWPT spokesman Jim Campi said yesterday. "This latest acquisition underscores the preservation community's commitment to working with willing sellers to protect the Wilderness battlefield."
The national trust will provide CVBT with technical and financial support to seek federal and state grants that could help pay for the tract.
Eric
Trust buys battlefield land
Central Virginia Battlefields Trust buys 93 acres of Wilderness battlefield, site of Grant's Overland Campaign
By CLINT SCHEMMER
The Free Lance-Star [Fredericksburg, Va.]
August 7, 2009
One of Fredericksburg's home-grown preservation groups has just secured rights to buy a key portion of the Wilderness battlefield.
The Central Virginia Battlefields Trust acquired an option on about 93 acres of historic ground in Spotsylvania County near the intersection of State Routes 3 and 20.
"This land looks much as it did in 1864, but we needed to move quickly to be able to afford to keep it that way," trust president Erik Nelson said.
The property, owned by the Atkins and Link families, is adjacent to the site of Wilderness Tavern south of Route 3, where the arm of Confederate Lt. Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was amputated after the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863.
A year later, thousands of Union troops crossed the farm on the Germanna Plank Road as Gen. Ulysses S. Grant pressed the army of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee south after the Battle of the Wilderness.
"The ground preserved by CVBT is the historic gateway to the Wilderness," Nelson said.
Traces of the historic roads that the troops trod remain well-preserved on the Link-Atkins tract, visible today to any visitor.
Purchase of the property will help preserve the nearby spot where the Plank Road and Orange Turnpike met near Wilderness Run, south of the modern-day intersection of Routes 3 and 20, Nelson said. The state highway department created that crossroad in the 1920s.
CVBT had been eyeing the tract for years but was spurred to act by the controversial proposal for a 240,000-square-foot retail center, anchored by a Wal-Mart Supercenter, near the northwest corner of the intersection. The Orange County supervisors will hear public comment on the proposed development Aug. 24.
Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park lies within a quarter-mile of the proposed Wal-Mart site, which has aroused national opposition from historians, lawmakers and thousands of others.
The park owns a swath of land at the southwest corner of Routes 3 and 20, adjoining the Link-Atkins property. On the west side of Route 20, near the intersection, the CVBT owns 19 acres in the vicinity of where Union commanders Grant and George Gordon Meade had their headquarters during the Wilderness battle.
The sellers of the Link-Atkins tract, two of whom live in the Fredericksburg area, were pleased that their farmland won't be developed, CVBT officials said.
Fredericksburg-area residents Johnny Mitchell and Enos Richardson, founding members of CVBT, negotiated with the family members on the deal.
The trust will pay $10,000 per acre for the parcel.
Part of the land is within the congressional authorized boundary of the park, which allows the National Park Service to buy the property.
Eventually, the protected terrain could provide an option for a new entry into the national park's part of the Wilderness battlefield that avoids the 20th-century intersection, CVBT said.
The Park Service has no plans for a new entrance there, park Superintendent Russ Smith said. "However, we just started our update to the park's general management plan, so now is the time to discuss such possibilities," he said.
An entrance near the Wilderness Tavern site would present major engineering issues but is worth considering, Smith said.
"If we could get visitors down into the historic intersection area, there certainly would be some interesting interpretive possibilities, as well as access alternatives for Ellwood," he said.
Ellwood, a nearby historic home off Route 20, functions as a de facto visitor center for the Wilderness battlefield.
The 350-acre Lyons Farm, next to Ellwood and the Link-Atkins parcel, is also historically significant and forms the scenic "viewshed" for visitors to Ellwood.
The national Civil War Preservation Trust praised CVBT and the Atkins family for their actions.
"The Central Virginia Battlefields Trust has once again demonstrated its unique ability to work with local landowners to preserve hallowed ground," CWPT spokesman Jim Campi said yesterday. "This latest acquisition underscores the preservation community's commitment to working with willing sellers to protect the Wilderness battlefield."
The national trust will provide CVBT with technical and financial support to seek federal and state grants that could help pay for the tract.
Eric
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