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(From the Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, VA)
Mullins sells part of historic farm
Controversial Chancellorsville battlefield site to be developed by one of the nation's largest residential builders
By RUSTY DENNEN
Date published: 4/2/2004
Toll Brothers to build upscale homes
One of the nation's largest builders will soon begin putting up luxury homes on land that figured prominently in the Civil War Battle of Chancellorsville.
Toll Brothers Inc. has purchased a portion of John Mullins' land off State Route 3, where it intends to build 30 houses on 150 acres.
Other land acquisitions are in the works: The company says it will build up to 225 homes on the nearly 800-acre tract.
The property has been the focus of a fierce battle between preservationists and Mullins, who bought the land nine years ago as an investment and who has vowed to move ahead with development plans.
The subdivision will be called Chancellorsville Hunt and is already being advertised on Toll Brothers' Web site. The property's historical significance and proximity to the Chancellorsville battlefield will be a selling point, Webb Koschene, Toll Brothers' vice president, said yesterday following inquiries by The Free Lance-Star.
"We're especially excited about being able to offer our first community near a site of such enduring historic significance," he said in a written statement.
Toll Brothers plans to offer the the 30-lot section beginning in May. Lot sizes would average about 31/2 acres; house prices would start at $400,000.
The first section has been approved by Spotsylvania County; another 136-acre section is on the drawing board.
There's also a 56-acre commercial site on the tract. Mullins has been advertising pad sites there for several months.
Mullins' land, just east of the Chancellorsville portion of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, was part of nearly three days of fighting in the spring of 1863. But some parts of the tract are more historically significant than others.
For example, the Ashley-Orrock tract where the first sections of houses are planned was not part of the first day's fighting.
However, the 273-acre parcel is within the Lick Run Element where Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee crossed after that battle.
Part of Mullins' land does sit on acreage where the historically significant first-day fighting occurred on May 1, 1863.
This is not the first time that Toll Brothers has waded into a preservation battle. The Huntington Valley, Pa.-based firm was criticized last year for its plan to develop property at Valley Forge National Historical Park in Pennsylvania. The government wants to buy the land, but no agreement has been reached.
Toll Brothers has 40 residential communities in Virginia--in Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Frederick counties.
Mullins, who owns a local funeral service, has made several attempts to develop the 781 acres he bought in 1995 for $2.8 million.
In 1999 he withdrew a plan for a golf course, subdivision and office park. Last year, a plan to sell the land to a Northern Virginia developer who wanted to build a large mixed-use village called the Town of Chancellorsville fell through when the county refused to rezone the property.
Efforts to reach Mullins yesterday for comment on the latest plan were unsuccessful.
Mullins has taken some steps toward preservation. He went along with recommendations by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for an archaeological investigation to determine the boundaries of the Civil War-era Ebenezer McGee house and adjacent outbuildings, and agreed to move a road away from that preservation area.
He also agreed to place signs describing the events associated with the first day of fighting at Chancellorsville, including the Lick Run Element and the McGee house. And he agreed to maintain a visual easement between the McGee house site and Lick Run, a small stream that bisects the property.
Over the years, a coalition of preservation groups has worked to purchase some or all of the property.
Jim Campi, a spokesman for the Civil War Preservation Trust in Washington, said efforts to preserve the land will continue.
"We are looking forward to working with [Toll Brothers] in order to forge a compromise that will allow the most historic part of the property to be preserved and the remainder to be sensitively developed," Campi said.
In February, the trust listed the Chancellorsville battlefield as one of the 10 most development-endangered battlefields in the nation.
To reach RUSTY DENNEN: 540/374-5431 rdennen@freelancestar.com
-----------------
Courtney E. Shinaberry
Mullins sells part of historic farm
Controversial Chancellorsville battlefield site to be developed by one of the nation's largest residential builders
By RUSTY DENNEN
Date published: 4/2/2004
Toll Brothers to build upscale homes
One of the nation's largest builders will soon begin putting up luxury homes on land that figured prominently in the Civil War Battle of Chancellorsville.
Toll Brothers Inc. has purchased a portion of John Mullins' land off State Route 3, where it intends to build 30 houses on 150 acres.
Other land acquisitions are in the works: The company says it will build up to 225 homes on the nearly 800-acre tract.
The property has been the focus of a fierce battle between preservationists and Mullins, who bought the land nine years ago as an investment and who has vowed to move ahead with development plans.
The subdivision will be called Chancellorsville Hunt and is already being advertised on Toll Brothers' Web site. The property's historical significance and proximity to the Chancellorsville battlefield will be a selling point, Webb Koschene, Toll Brothers' vice president, said yesterday following inquiries by The Free Lance-Star.
"We're especially excited about being able to offer our first community near a site of such enduring historic significance," he said in a written statement.
Toll Brothers plans to offer the the 30-lot section beginning in May. Lot sizes would average about 31/2 acres; house prices would start at $400,000.
The first section has been approved by Spotsylvania County; another 136-acre section is on the drawing board.
There's also a 56-acre commercial site on the tract. Mullins has been advertising pad sites there for several months.
Mullins' land, just east of the Chancellorsville portion of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, was part of nearly three days of fighting in the spring of 1863. But some parts of the tract are more historically significant than others.
For example, the Ashley-Orrock tract where the first sections of houses are planned was not part of the first day's fighting.
However, the 273-acre parcel is within the Lick Run Element where Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee crossed after that battle.
Part of Mullins' land does sit on acreage where the historically significant first-day fighting occurred on May 1, 1863.
This is not the first time that Toll Brothers has waded into a preservation battle. The Huntington Valley, Pa.-based firm was criticized last year for its plan to develop property at Valley Forge National Historical Park in Pennsylvania. The government wants to buy the land, but no agreement has been reached.
Toll Brothers has 40 residential communities in Virginia--in Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Frederick counties.
Mullins, who owns a local funeral service, has made several attempts to develop the 781 acres he bought in 1995 for $2.8 million.
In 1999 he withdrew a plan for a golf course, subdivision and office park. Last year, a plan to sell the land to a Northern Virginia developer who wanted to build a large mixed-use village called the Town of Chancellorsville fell through when the county refused to rezone the property.
Efforts to reach Mullins yesterday for comment on the latest plan were unsuccessful.
Mullins has taken some steps toward preservation. He went along with recommendations by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for an archaeological investigation to determine the boundaries of the Civil War-era Ebenezer McGee house and adjacent outbuildings, and agreed to move a road away from that preservation area.
He also agreed to place signs describing the events associated with the first day of fighting at Chancellorsville, including the Lick Run Element and the McGee house. And he agreed to maintain a visual easement between the McGee house site and Lick Run, a small stream that bisects the property.
Over the years, a coalition of preservation groups has worked to purchase some or all of the property.
Jim Campi, a spokesman for the Civil War Preservation Trust in Washington, said efforts to preserve the land will continue.
"We are looking forward to working with [Toll Brothers] in order to forge a compromise that will allow the most historic part of the property to be preserved and the remainder to be sensitively developed," Campi said.
In February, the trust listed the Chancellorsville battlefield as one of the 10 most development-endangered battlefields in the nation.
To reach RUSTY DENNEN: 540/374-5431 rdennen@freelancestar.com
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Courtney E. Shinaberry
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