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SVBF Praises Frederick Example
By Hillary Copsey
The Winchester Star Saving historic battlefields is a little like teaching a child. Both take patience and partnerships.
Frederick County’s preservation efforts prove this combination works, according to Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation Executive Director Howard J. Kittell.
The foundation made an example of the county’s successful endeavors at a national conference last month in Tennessee hosted by the American Battlefield Protection Program.
Rich in Civil War history, the county and Winchester have saved several battlefields since 2001, including those at Cedar Creek, Kernstown, and Stephenson’s Depot.
Partnerships — both obvious and unlikely ones — lie at the root of each saved battlefield.
Bringing the community together makes a preservation project more than just history, Kittell said. People connect to the land and its story.
“[The battlefields] are all local resources,” Kittell said. “There’s a community pride in the resource.”
But with partnership also comes compromise.
“Probably not everyone is as happy as they would be working by themselves,” Kittell said. “But if you worked by yourself, you wouldn’t get anything done.”
Frederick struggled sometimes in making difficult compromises and drawing in unlikely partners, but saved the most critical pieces of land.
The 108 acres saved at Stephenson’s Depot, in Stonewall District Supervisor Lynda J. Tyler’s district, might be the most extreme illustration of Frederick’s success.
In 2001, the land — critical to the Second and Third Battles of Winchester — nearly was lost when The Shockey Cos. suggested an industrial park on the site, Kittell said.
The rezoning failed, but not before lawsuits were filed and arguments became nasty.
Foundation representative John D. Hutchinson called the ordeal the “Stephenson’s Depot debacle” in his presentation to national preservationists.
“Name-calling and polarization were the order of the day,” Hutchinson wrote.
But two years later, The Shockey Cos. became a preservation partner at Stephenson’s Depot.
“It’s a compromise between two extremes,” Kittell said. “The development still is going to happen, but not on the battlefield.”
In a new rezoning application, the developer made the battlefield a historic easement amid a 2,800-home subdivision. County supervisors approved the request by a narrow margin; the battlefield was saved.
During the rezoning process, an e-mail calling for Tyler’s removal from the Board of Supervisors was circulated, citing her support of the subdivision.
“But [the deal] saved every inch of core battlefield,” Tyler said. “You have to save what’s most meaningful ... You can’t save it all. I would love to save it all, but that’s not realistic.”
The area continues to perfect the partnering formula.
County officials are planning a large celebration for the 140th celebration of the Civil War campaigns of 1864. Also, Tyler said, discussions continue concerning the possible preservation of additional acreage around Third Winchester.
Meanwhile, the city nearly has completed the sale of Fay’s Spring to the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation.
By Hillary Copsey
The Winchester Star Saving historic battlefields is a little like teaching a child. Both take patience and partnerships.
Frederick County’s preservation efforts prove this combination works, according to Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation Executive Director Howard J. Kittell.
The foundation made an example of the county’s successful endeavors at a national conference last month in Tennessee hosted by the American Battlefield Protection Program.
Rich in Civil War history, the county and Winchester have saved several battlefields since 2001, including those at Cedar Creek, Kernstown, and Stephenson’s Depot.
Partnerships — both obvious and unlikely ones — lie at the root of each saved battlefield.
Bringing the community together makes a preservation project more than just history, Kittell said. People connect to the land and its story.
“[The battlefields] are all local resources,” Kittell said. “There’s a community pride in the resource.”
But with partnership also comes compromise.
“Probably not everyone is as happy as they would be working by themselves,” Kittell said. “But if you worked by yourself, you wouldn’t get anything done.”
Frederick struggled sometimes in making difficult compromises and drawing in unlikely partners, but saved the most critical pieces of land.
The 108 acres saved at Stephenson’s Depot, in Stonewall District Supervisor Lynda J. Tyler’s district, might be the most extreme illustration of Frederick’s success.
In 2001, the land — critical to the Second and Third Battles of Winchester — nearly was lost when The Shockey Cos. suggested an industrial park on the site, Kittell said.
The rezoning failed, but not before lawsuits were filed and arguments became nasty.
Foundation representative John D. Hutchinson called the ordeal the “Stephenson’s Depot debacle” in his presentation to national preservationists.
“Name-calling and polarization were the order of the day,” Hutchinson wrote.
But two years later, The Shockey Cos. became a preservation partner at Stephenson’s Depot.
“It’s a compromise between two extremes,” Kittell said. “The development still is going to happen, but not on the battlefield.”
In a new rezoning application, the developer made the battlefield a historic easement amid a 2,800-home subdivision. County supervisors approved the request by a narrow margin; the battlefield was saved.
During the rezoning process, an e-mail calling for Tyler’s removal from the Board of Supervisors was circulated, citing her support of the subdivision.
“But [the deal] saved every inch of core battlefield,” Tyler said. “You have to save what’s most meaningful ... You can’t save it all. I would love to save it all, but that’s not realistic.”
The area continues to perfect the partnering formula.
County officials are planning a large celebration for the 140th celebration of the Civil War campaigns of 1864. Also, Tyler said, discussions continue concerning the possible preservation of additional acreage around Third Winchester.
Meanwhile, the city nearly has completed the sale of Fay’s Spring to the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation.