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PRING HILL — The Civil War Preservation Trust closed this week on a $2 million purchase to protect 84 acres of the Spring Hill Battlefield.
The purchase from General Motors LLC was possible through private donations and a federal matching grant from the American Battlefield Protection Program, an arm of the National Park Service.
“The completion of this landmark transaction is great cause to celebrate,” said trust president James Lighthizer.
The land is adjacent to 100 acres already protected around Rippavilla Plantation. Its purchase brings the trust’s total of preserved acreage in Spring Hill to 194. Statewide, it has preserved more than 29,000 acres.
Lighthizer said that accomplishment makes the city a “true destination for anyone seeking to understand the critical Franklin-Nashville Campaign of 1864.”
The city’s battlefields made the trust’s annual list of endangered Civil War battlefields in 2008 and 2009 and made the Tennessee Preservation Trust’s list of endangered historic sites in 2007 and 2009.
The trust announced its plans to buy the land in September at Rippavilla where Sen. Lamar Alexander praised the undertaking as a potential boon for heritage tourism in the Volunteer State during the Civil War sesquicentennial.
Lighthizer thanked individuals and organizations that helped make the purchase possible, including the American Battlefield Preservation Program and Tennessee Historical Commission. He also thanked GM.
“Every person who will walk these fields to learn about what transpired here owes a debt to the corporate leaders at GM, who placed a priority on seeing this land set aside for future generations of Americans,” he said.
The trust will work with Rippavilla to open the land to the public and develop interpretation tools for visitors.
The purchase from General Motors LLC was possible through private donations and a federal matching grant from the American Battlefield Protection Program, an arm of the National Park Service.
“The completion of this landmark transaction is great cause to celebrate,” said trust president James Lighthizer.
The land is adjacent to 100 acres already protected around Rippavilla Plantation. Its purchase brings the trust’s total of preserved acreage in Spring Hill to 194. Statewide, it has preserved more than 29,000 acres.
Lighthizer said that accomplishment makes the city a “true destination for anyone seeking to understand the critical Franklin-Nashville Campaign of 1864.”
The city’s battlefields made the trust’s annual list of endangered Civil War battlefields in 2008 and 2009 and made the Tennessee Preservation Trust’s list of endangered historic sites in 2007 and 2009.
The trust announced its plans to buy the land in September at Rippavilla where Sen. Lamar Alexander praised the undertaking as a potential boon for heritage tourism in the Volunteer State during the Civil War sesquicentennial.
Lighthizer thanked individuals and organizations that helped make the purchase possible, including the American Battlefield Preservation Program and Tennessee Historical Commission. He also thanked GM.
“Every person who will walk these fields to learn about what transpired here owes a debt to the corporate leaders at GM, who placed a priority on seeing this land set aside for future generations of Americans,” he said.
The trust will work with Rippavilla to open the land to the public and develop interpretation tools for visitors.
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