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Ellwood may get major restoration
August 24, 2007 12:35 am
Restoration of Ellwood is among more than 200 projects announced yesterday to rejuvenate national parks.
BY KAREN BOLIPATA
Historic Ellwood Manor in eastern Orange County and a three-dimensional map of the Fredericksburg battlefield will benefit from a public-private partnership announced yesterday.
The initiatives in the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park are among 201 projects in 116 national parks.
National Park Service Director Mary Bomar and Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne announced "National Park Centennial Challenge" yesterday at Yosemite Valley.
If Congress approves the projects, it would fund President Bush's $3 billion initiative to rejuvenate America's national parks.
The initiative aims to prepare the parks for the centennial of the National Park Service in 2016. A key part of the federal program involves matching funds raised by private organizations.
For example, Ellwood would receive $240,000 in federal money for restoration. Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield already has raised $275,000 for the project, said Caroline Elstner, chair of the friends organization's Ellwood committee. That's more than the required matching amount.
"This is a wonderful opportunity," said Russ Smith, Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania park superintendent. "After years of austerity, it's really encouraging to hear some good budget news."
The money will renovate Ellwood's first floor, which includes the headquarters of Gouverneur Warren, a Union general who used the house during the Battle of Wilderness in 1864.
Renovations will begin in November and may take two years to complete, Elstner said. The project, which will cost $496,500, was already slated to begin before the announcement of federal grants. "With the extra money, we'll be able to do a lot more than we initially had planned to do," Smith said.
Through donations, $40,000 will be raised for a proposed $80,000 virtual map of Fredericksburg battlefield that may be featured at a battlefield visitor center or online. "We'll be re-creating for visitors something there's no way they can get on their own," said John Hennessy, chief historian of Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park.
Unlike sites such as Gettysburg, which is mostly intact, much of the Fredericksburg battlefield has been lost to development, he said. Through the map, visitors will be able to explore the site as it originally stood.
Some projects Smith submitted weren't approved for review as part of the Centennial Challenge, including a $15 million land acquisition request by Civil War Preservation Trust. The nonprofit trust sought the money for endangered sites around the nation. For now, that project has been put on hold to be reviewed later, Smith said.
Grants will be used in 2008 for approved projects.
Karen Bolipata: 540/374-5000, ext. 5661
Email: kbolipata@freelancestar.com
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Copyright 2007 The Free Lance-Star Publishing Company.
Online at: http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/F...8242007/311353
August 24, 2007 12:35 am
Restoration of Ellwood is among more than 200 projects announced yesterday to rejuvenate national parks.
BY KAREN BOLIPATA
Historic Ellwood Manor in eastern Orange County and a three-dimensional map of the Fredericksburg battlefield will benefit from a public-private partnership announced yesterday.
The initiatives in the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park are among 201 projects in 116 national parks.
National Park Service Director Mary Bomar and Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne announced "National Park Centennial Challenge" yesterday at Yosemite Valley.
If Congress approves the projects, it would fund President Bush's $3 billion initiative to rejuvenate America's national parks.
The initiative aims to prepare the parks for the centennial of the National Park Service in 2016. A key part of the federal program involves matching funds raised by private organizations.
For example, Ellwood would receive $240,000 in federal money for restoration. Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield already has raised $275,000 for the project, said Caroline Elstner, chair of the friends organization's Ellwood committee. That's more than the required matching amount.
"This is a wonderful opportunity," said Russ Smith, Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania park superintendent. "After years of austerity, it's really encouraging to hear some good budget news."
The money will renovate Ellwood's first floor, which includes the headquarters of Gouverneur Warren, a Union general who used the house during the Battle of Wilderness in 1864.
Renovations will begin in November and may take two years to complete, Elstner said. The project, which will cost $496,500, was already slated to begin before the announcement of federal grants. "With the extra money, we'll be able to do a lot more than we initially had planned to do," Smith said.
Through donations, $40,000 will be raised for a proposed $80,000 virtual map of Fredericksburg battlefield that may be featured at a battlefield visitor center or online. "We'll be re-creating for visitors something there's no way they can get on their own," said John Hennessy, chief historian of Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park.
Unlike sites such as Gettysburg, which is mostly intact, much of the Fredericksburg battlefield has been lost to development, he said. Through the map, visitors will be able to explore the site as it originally stood.
Some projects Smith submitted weren't approved for review as part of the Centennial Challenge, including a $15 million land acquisition request by Civil War Preservation Trust. The nonprofit trust sought the money for endangered sites around the nation. For now, that project has been put on hold to be reviewed later, Smith said.
Grants will be used in 2008 for approved projects.
Karen Bolipata: 540/374-5000, ext. 5661
Email: kbolipata@freelancestar.com
--------------------------------------------
Copyright 2007 The Free Lance-Star Publishing Company.
Online at: http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/F...8242007/311353
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