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Civil War center disburses remainder of grant money
Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
October 1, 2006
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ROANOKE--The Center for Civil War Living History has put itself out of business, distributing two final grants from a $500,000 fund for preservation of battlefields and other historic sites.
The center's treasurer, Chris Caveness, announced last week that the center had disbursed all of the money from a fund donated by media mogul Ted Turner. Caveness, an avid Civil War re-enactor, helped negotiate the deal with Ted Turner Productions that led to the Roanoke center's creation five years ago.
Turner's donation was in return for re-enactors' organizations providing some 4,000 extras for the huge battle scenes in "Gods and Generals," his film based on the novel depicting the Civil War up to the Battle of Gettysburg.
The center has given money to preservation efforts at eight locations in Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia and Kentucky. All required matching donations from other sources.
The last two grants were $64,000 to buy land or easements for battlefields at Cross Keys and Port Republic in the Shenandoah Valley and nearly $35,000 to the Jubal A. Early Preservation Trust to aid in restoration of the Confederate general's Franklin County home.
In helping groups acquire land for preservation, "we tied strings to the property so re-enactors would be able to do Civil War living-history exhibits, setting up camps the way the soldiers lived and doing re-enactments" of battles, Caveness said.
A large re-enactment that charges admission for spectators is lucky to make a couple of thousand dollars, Caveness said.
"This allows us to pursue our hobby in a more professional way with land we've bought," he said.
The center's largest grant was $122,500 to purchase land at the McDowell battlefield site in Highland County. The battle was the site of Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's first significant victory as an independent commander in the 1862 Valley Campaign, Caveness said.
"It's one re-enactors really like," he said. "It's way out there, like being in a time tunnel."
Eric
Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
October 1, 2006
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ROANOKE--The Center for Civil War Living History has put itself out of business, distributing two final grants from a $500,000 fund for preservation of battlefields and other historic sites.
The center's treasurer, Chris Caveness, announced last week that the center had disbursed all of the money from a fund donated by media mogul Ted Turner. Caveness, an avid Civil War re-enactor, helped negotiate the deal with Ted Turner Productions that led to the Roanoke center's creation five years ago.
Turner's donation was in return for re-enactors' organizations providing some 4,000 extras for the huge battle scenes in "Gods and Generals," his film based on the novel depicting the Civil War up to the Battle of Gettysburg.
The center has given money to preservation efforts at eight locations in Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia and Kentucky. All required matching donations from other sources.
The last two grants were $64,000 to buy land or easements for battlefields at Cross Keys and Port Republic in the Shenandoah Valley and nearly $35,000 to the Jubal A. Early Preservation Trust to aid in restoration of the Confederate general's Franklin County home.
In helping groups acquire land for preservation, "we tied strings to the property so re-enactors would be able to do Civil War living-history exhibits, setting up camps the way the soldiers lived and doing re-enactments" of battles, Caveness said.
A large re-enactment that charges admission for spectators is lucky to make a couple of thousand dollars, Caveness said.
"This allows us to pursue our hobby in a more professional way with land we've bought," he said.
The center's largest grant was $122,500 to purchase land at the McDowell battlefield site in Highland County. The battle was the site of Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's first significant victory as an independent commander in the 1862 Valley Campaign, Caveness said.
"It's one re-enactors really like," he said. "It's way out there, like being in a time tunnel."
Eric