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Local trust taps federal grant to help save Wilderness tract
April 24, 2010 12:36 am
BY CLINT SCHEMMER
The Fredericksburg-based Central Virginia Battlefields Trust has just been awarded its first federal grant in 14 years of preservation work, for a keystone parcel on the Wilderness battlefield.
The trust will apply the $328,000 toward purchase of what it is calling Wilderness Crossroads, otherwise known as the Atkins property, near the intersection of State Routes 3 and 20.
The 93-acre tract in Spotsylvania County figured in both the Civil War battles of Chancellorsville and the Wilderness. It abuts the Wilderness portion of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.
CVBT, one of the nation's top battlefield preservation groups, still needs to raise some $200,000 toward the property's $950,000 purchase price.
Last winter, it received $95,000 for its undertaking from the national Civil War Preservation Trust and $317,000 from a state fund championed by former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, House Speaker Bill Howell and state Sen. Edd Houck.
"This is good news, but we still have to raise quite a bit of private money," CVBT Executive Director Jerry H. Brent said yesterday.
"It's not as if the federal government is coming in and paying off the mortgage on this property. It's not like we've been made whole. It was the trust that took the initiative to acquire this land, and is responsible for the bank note."
The federal money will come in a one-to-one matching grant, which leverages private and state contributions toward the purchase.
A development controversy compelled CVBT to buy it now. Orange County has approved a Walmart-anchored retail center behind the 7-Eleven store along Route 3, on a tract kitty-corner from the CVBT property. National and regional preservation groups and local residents are suing the Orange Board of Supervisors over its decision.
"Walmart's going in gave a sense of urgency to protecting that other corner," Brent said. "We decided to move aggressively because of the threat of further development at that intersection, and because of the historic importance of the site."
CVBT's Wilderness Crossroads tract adjoins the site of Wilderness Tavern, where Confederate Lt. Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's arm was amputated after the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863.
The following May, during the Battle of the Wilderness, the Union Army established field hospitals, camps and artillery parks there. Thousands of federal troops marched across the CVBT tract to engage Confederate troops along Brock Road and later as Gen. Ulysses S. Grant pressed Gen. Robert E. Lee's army south toward Spotsylvania Court House. The road that Grant's troops followed is still visible there today.
On the west side of Route 20, CVBT owns 19 acres in the vicinity of where Union commanders Grant and George Gordon Meade had their headquarters during the 1864 battle. Since 1996, the trust has saved more than 896 acres on the Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House battlefields.
U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., congratulated CVBT yesterday on its efforts at the Wilderness.
"As America prepares for the 150th anniversary commemoration of the Civil War, it is more important than ever that we preserve these landmarks for future generations to learn about the history of our nation," he said. "I have fought for funding for these sites because they offer a myriad of benefits, serving as tourist attractions and outdoor classrooms while also spurring economic growth in local communities."
Webb introduced the Civil War Battlefield Preservation Act in the Senate. President Obama signed the measure last year, reauthorizing the American Battlefield Protection Program for another five years.
cvbt.org bit.ly/battlepreserve
Clint Schemmer: 540/368-5029
Email: cschemmer@freelancestar.com
-----------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2010 The Free Lance-Star Publishing Company.
Online at: http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2...4242010/543511
April 24, 2010 12:36 am
BY CLINT SCHEMMER
The Fredericksburg-based Central Virginia Battlefields Trust has just been awarded its first federal grant in 14 years of preservation work, for a keystone parcel on the Wilderness battlefield.
The trust will apply the $328,000 toward purchase of what it is calling Wilderness Crossroads, otherwise known as the Atkins property, near the intersection of State Routes 3 and 20.
The 93-acre tract in Spotsylvania County figured in both the Civil War battles of Chancellorsville and the Wilderness. It abuts the Wilderness portion of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.
CVBT, one of the nation's top battlefield preservation groups, still needs to raise some $200,000 toward the property's $950,000 purchase price.
Last winter, it received $95,000 for its undertaking from the national Civil War Preservation Trust and $317,000 from a state fund championed by former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, House Speaker Bill Howell and state Sen. Edd Houck.
"This is good news, but we still have to raise quite a bit of private money," CVBT Executive Director Jerry H. Brent said yesterday.
"It's not as if the federal government is coming in and paying off the mortgage on this property. It's not like we've been made whole. It was the trust that took the initiative to acquire this land, and is responsible for the bank note."
The federal money will come in a one-to-one matching grant, which leverages private and state contributions toward the purchase.
A development controversy compelled CVBT to buy it now. Orange County has approved a Walmart-anchored retail center behind the 7-Eleven store along Route 3, on a tract kitty-corner from the CVBT property. National and regional preservation groups and local residents are suing the Orange Board of Supervisors over its decision.
"Walmart's going in gave a sense of urgency to protecting that other corner," Brent said. "We decided to move aggressively because of the threat of further development at that intersection, and because of the historic importance of the site."
CVBT's Wilderness Crossroads tract adjoins the site of Wilderness Tavern, where Confederate Lt. Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's arm was amputated after the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863.
The following May, during the Battle of the Wilderness, the Union Army established field hospitals, camps and artillery parks there. Thousands of federal troops marched across the CVBT tract to engage Confederate troops along Brock Road and later as Gen. Ulysses S. Grant pressed Gen. Robert E. Lee's army south toward Spotsylvania Court House. The road that Grant's troops followed is still visible there today.
On the west side of Route 20, CVBT owns 19 acres in the vicinity of where Union commanders Grant and George Gordon Meade had their headquarters during the 1864 battle. Since 1996, the trust has saved more than 896 acres on the Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House battlefields.
U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., congratulated CVBT yesterday on its efforts at the Wilderness.
"As America prepares for the 150th anniversary commemoration of the Civil War, it is more important than ever that we preserve these landmarks for future generations to learn about the history of our nation," he said. "I have fought for funding for these sites because they offer a myriad of benefits, serving as tourist attractions and outdoor classrooms while also spurring economic growth in local communities."
Webb introduced the Civil War Battlefield Preservation Act in the Senate. President Obama signed the measure last year, reauthorizing the American Battlefield Protection Program for another five years.
cvbt.org bit.ly/battlepreserve
Clint Schemmer: 540/368-5029
Email: cschemmer@freelancestar.com
-----------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2010 The Free Lance-Star Publishing Company.
Online at: http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2...4242010/543511