--(1) Recession Forces Historians to Make Do -----------------------------------------------------
Recession Forces Historians to Make Do
By James Hannah, Associated Press
2/1/2009
Associated Press
http://www.newarkadvocate.com/article/20090201/NEWS01/902010332
COLUMBUS -- The Civil War flag that was brandished by the 42nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry is wrapped tightly around its pole. It's a delicate task to unfurl the almost 150-year-old banner without it crumbling.
Yet, the humidity-raising chamber used to loosen the material consists of a homemade aluminum frame covered with a plastic-like film. It was built with parts from Lowe's that cost less than $500. The work is being done in a warehouse and in a homemade chamber instead of with state-of-the-art equipment costing as much as $20,000.
With the recession tightening its grip, budgets being cut and donors drying up, preservationists are scaling back on restorations.
In Missouri , efforts to buy well-known works by home-state artists have been cut back. A fundraising campaign to help preserve Native American art in Montana is grinding to a standstill.
Money still is being given for conservation but not at the levels that are necessary, said Eryl Wentworth, executive director of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works.
"It's so distressing to me because it's shortsighted," she said. "We lose our history. We lose a portion of our culture, our memory."
Authorities estimate 4.8 billion artifacts are in U.S. archives, libraries, museums and historical societies, but one in four institutions have no controls to protect against temperature, humidity and light.
According to a 2005 survey by Heritage Preservation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, 13.5 million historic objects, 153 million photographs and 4.7 million works of art needed immediate care.
Lawrence Reger, president of Heritage Preservation, said publicity about the survey generated increased support for the care of collections so they are available for future generations.
"Unfortunately, the current recession has all but brought this to a standstill," Reger said.
The Ohio Historical Society is trying to preserve much of the Ohio Adjutant General's battle flag collection -- 552 flags carried in five wars. Most earlier preservation was carried out in the 1960s and to date, only 18 flags have been preserved using updated, more costly techniques paid for largely by private funds.
Soldiers who hoisted Civil War flags in battle were fat targets for the enemy.
"Men knew it was very likely they were going to die when they were carrying them," said James Strider, the society's director of historic preservation.
Historical societies and museums around the country are being squeezed.
A state budget deficit of $4 billion in Illinois cost the Historic Preservation Agency a conservator and curator who were instrumental in prioritizing artifacts that need to be conserved. They include a three-wheeled wood and leather baby buggy that belonged to David Davis, who was appointed by Abraham Lincoln to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"There are literally hundreds of items in our collections at any particular moment that need repair or conservation, and without staffing the list will continue to grow," said spokesman David Blanchette.
The State Historical Society of Missouri has backed away from an aggressive plan to buy paintings of famous Missouri artists Thomas Hart Benton and George Caleb Bingham. It risks losing the artwork to other buyers.
"It's extremely challenging to try to raise money when virtually everybody is impacted in some way by the recession," said Gary Kremer, the society's executive director.
The Yellowstone Art Museum , home to historic American paintings as well as modernist and abstract expressionist art, has been trying to raise money for more than two years to build a preservation facility. About $1.8 million of a required $2.8 million has been collected.
Robyn G. Peterson, executive director of the Billings , Mont. , museum, said the museum has no funds in its annual $1 million budget for preservation. Many artworks, such as Plains Indian beadwork, are being stored in a vault that is "full to bursting."
Pete Sepp, spokesman for the National Taxpayers Union, said historic preservation has to be subject to budget priorities.
"Preserving the past is important, but if governments don't start spending and borrowing less, there won't be much of a future left for our kids to enjoy," Sepp said.
The Ohio Historical Society has seen its budget shrink by 13 percent in the past eight years. The society has laid off its preservation staff.
With all of its storage space filled and no money to expand, the society is going through its collections to decide what not to keep. It virtually has stopped accepting donations of artifacts.
Many of the society's artifacts are stored in warehouses without adequate climate and pest control. The warehouses sit about a mile from the historical center where artifacts are displayed. Moving collections back and forth risks damaging them.
Mark Hudson, executive director of the Historical Society of Frederick County ( Md. ), said when public and private funding shrinks, museums and historical societies often focus on exhibits that draw paying patrons.
"When you're faced with having to pay electric bills or laying off staff, things like conservation treatments can take the back seat very quickly," Hudson said.
--(2) Texas, Vermont Politicians Join Orange Wal-Mart Battle -----------------------------------------------------
Texas, Vermont Politicians Join Orange Wal-Mart Battle
By Clint Schemmer
1/31/2009
Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star (VA)
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/012009/01312009/442901
The so-called "Wilderness Wal-Mart" in Orange County is catching grief from both North and South--and elected officials on both ends of the political spectrum.
U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, a conservative Republican from eastern Texas , has expressed to Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott his "profound disappointment" about the giant retailer's plan to build a Supercenter beside the Civil War battlefield. In a letter written last week, he urges Scott to give the matter "immediate reconsideration."
Meanwhile, lawmakers in Vermont --a haven for independent-minded Democrats--are holding hearings on the issue. Vermont troops suffered their worst casualties of the war in the Battle of the Wilderness, turning back a Confederate attack that threatened to split the Union Army.
The Vermont Senate and House are considering whether to ask Wal-Mart to move the store farther from the entrance to Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park , according to Howard Coffin, a Civil War historian and author who lives in Montpelier , the state capital.
Wal-Mart is proposing to build a 139,000-square-foot store atop a ridge less than a quarter mile from the park, on commercially zoned land.
Nationally significant Civil War sites, "such as the tract of land for your proposed development, are not where commercial development needs to be in America ," Poe wrote Scott. "They should be set aside and untouched for present and future generations of Americans to visit so as to never let them forget the past and the lessons they taught."
Poe noted that the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission, established by Congress to study the historical significance of such places, "defined your proposed land for development as part of The Wilderness [battlefield]. There are countless other locations your company could look at for your development in this region."
Poe's legislative director, Alan Knapp, said in an interview yesterday that Poe hopes Wal-Mart will relocate away from the battlefield and the intersection of State Routes 3 and 20.
"The right thing to do is for Wal-Mart to exercise its higher corporate responsibility, even if the land is zoned accordingly and the final decision is up to the Orange County supervisors," Knapp said. "We're asking for them to step back and reconsider."
Scott has not yet responded to Poe's letter, he said.
Knapp said the Wilderness has a special place in the hearts of Texans, whose modern-day service members revere the courage of the state's troops fighting at the Wilderness on May 5-6, 1864, and throughout the Civil War. Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee praised the Texans' actions in the Virginia battle.
Russ Smith, superintendent of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Park , welcomed Poe's intervention and the ongoing discussions among Vermont legislators.
"They are expressions from entirely different places showing people's interest across the country in these national treasures we have here," Smith said.
"I know that Orange County has some difficult decisions to make. And in making those decisions, they need to have this information."
--(3) Fort Worth Museum Paying for to Redo of Civil War Diorama -----------------------------------------------------
Fort Worth Museum Paying for Arizona School to Redo Civil War Diorama
By Mike Lee
1/29/2008
Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX)
http://www.star-telegram.com/state_news/story/1171536.html
A Fort Worth museum will soon be home to an Arizona high school’s Civil War diorama that was involved in a nationally publicized dispute.
After fighting more than a year for the return of their diorama from an Austin museum where it was heavily damaged, students at Highland High School are re-creating their intricate display of the last Civil War fight, the Battle of Palmetto Ranch.
The Texas Civil War Museum in Fort Worth has commissioned the $25,000 makeover. The museum is paying for all of the materials, including models of 450 foot soldiers, 200 horses, horsemen, and 20 cannons and other artillery pieces.
Museum founder Ray Richey said he expects the new diorama to be finished by the end of the year and then put on display, ending what might be called the second battle of Palmetto Ranch.
Glen Frakes, a high school history teacher in Gilbert , Ariz. , has been building intricate dioramas in his classes for 35 years. His students have depicted everything from the Alamo to battles in Vietnam . The projects usually involve dozens of students and take thousands of hours to build.
Frakes had a special relationship with the Military Forces Museum at Camp Mabry in Austin , which is headquarters for the Texas Army National Guard. His students built five dioramas for the museum, often spending years on research and construction.
The Palmetto Ranch diorama depicted a May 12-13, 1865, battle between Union infantry and Confederate cavalry along the Rio Grande near Brownsville . The Confederates held off the Union troops for two days, only to learn that Gen. Robert E. Lee had surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, 1865.
When the diorama arrived at the Military Forces Museum last spring, the newly hired museum director, Jeff Hunt, pronounced it historically inaccurate. The original model included an erroneous backdrop of mountains and too many dead bodies.
Frakes, a former Marine who saw combat in Vietnam , said Hunt destroyed the work after hours and without consulting any staff.
"How could any man who calls himself a curator do that and not be challenged?" he said.
Hunt didn’t return calls seeking comment; a base spokesman said the diorama was dismantled and stored. It has since been reassembled and put back on display, Col. Bill Meehan said. No action was taken against Hunt.
Frakes said about 150 students are working on the new diorama. But the last one took three years to build, and all but two of the students who worked on it have graduated.
--(4) Preservation Efforts Continue at Shepherdstown -----------------------------------------------------
Preservation Efforts Continue at Shepherdstown
By Naomi Smoot
1/27/2009
Martinsburg Journal (WV)
http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/514989.html
A local preservation group could be one step closer to saving a property that they say was part of a Civil War battlefield.
Members of the U.S. Senate approved a measure known as the Omnibus Public Lands Bill earlier this month, and the legislation is now awaiting approval from the House of Representatives. The bill, among other things, authorizes a resource study for a property that is believed to be the site of the 1862 Battle of Shepherdstown.
The study aims to determine the national significance of the site, as well as the suitability and feasibility of including it in either Harpers Ferry National Historical Park or Antietam National Battlefield.
"It's the first step that the federal government takes," said Edward Dunleavy, president of the Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association.
In recent years, Dunleavy's group has been fighting to preserve the property, which is currently slated to become home to a 152-unit housing development known as Far Away Farms.
As a part of the effort, group members met with U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., nearly three years ago to tell him about their efforts to preserve the site.
"He took an interest in it," Dunleavy said of Byrd.
The Senator later introduced a bill in an attempt to help save the historic property, and noted in an April 2008 news release that he was excited have a chance to aid in the group's efforts.
" West Virginia is home to many great landmarks that are a significant part of our nation's history," Byrd said. "I am pleased to be working with the Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association to help initiate this National Park Study."
Dunleavy said that once the study is complete, the National Park Service could consider expanding the boundaries of either Harpers Ferry National Historical Park or Antietam National Battlefield to include the property. After that, he said the land would have to be purchased, but only if there is a willing seller.
"It has nothing to do with eminent domain," Dunleavy said. "The National Park Service does not use eminent domain."
But attorneys representing Far Away Farms' developer say the property's owners maintain their right to use the land as they see fit.
"In West Virginia people still have the right to own their property and do with it what they want," said Nathan Cochran, an attorney from the law office of Richard Gay. "We don't believe it should be taken from them without their consent."
Cochran said the office also disputes the property's historic significance, and noted that a ruling issued in Jefferson County Circuit Court maintained that the property did not meet the definition of historic as outlined in the county's ordinances.
"We do not believe that this property is within the core area of that battlefield," Cochran said.
But Dunleavy and other members of the Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association disagree, and recently announced their intentions to team up with West Virginia University to conduct a historic resource study of the property.
--(5) Keedysville Man Almost Trashed Paper Signed by Lincoln -----------------------------------------------------
Keedysville Man Almost Trashed Paper Signed by Lincoln
By Ike Wilson
1/27/2009
Frederick News-Post (MD)
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=85687
While cleaning his mother's garage last fall, Charles Willis Collins stumbled on his great-great-grandfather's 1864 army discharge papers signed by President Abraham Lincoln.
Collins, of Keedysville, was about to throw out an old two-drawer file cabinet.
"I was told it was empty, but before I made the toss on the pile I decided to see if there was anything inside."
He pulled out the bottom drawer first and saw the top drawer was opening also.
"I got down on my knees and looked at what was causing this to happen. I then noticed what appeared to be a waxed covered tube in the bottom drawer standing on end."
Collins recognized the find as an old document tube.
I opened the metal cap and saw that there were documents inside. I pulled the first document out. It was my dad's master's degree. The next document made me excited and horrified at the same time."
It was Collins' great-great-grandfather's discharge paper from the Union Army.
"As I unrolled it even further, I saw the signature of Abraham Lincoln. I was horrified because it was almost thrown away, and I was touching a document that was over 140 years old with my bare hands."
The discharge belonged to Prt. James Nolan of the 171st Ohio National Guard. Nolan was Collins' mother's great-grandfather, who came to America from Dublin , Ireland , in 1860.
Nolan settled in Ohio , joined the Ohio National Guard and served in the 6th Ohio Cavalry during the Civil War, Collins said.
Collins knew he first had to restore the document so he took it to conservators Richard and Vicky Kornemann at The Museum Sho p Ltd in downtown Frederick .
When the shop received it, the brittle document had tears, folds and stains, and had been rolled tightly for a long time, Vicky Kornemann said.
"To relax the paper, high evaporation chemicals, which do not affect the signature, were applied and the document was put under pressure," Richard Kornemann said. "Because paper has a 'memory,' it kept rolling back up so this procedure had to be repeated several times."
The Kornemanns then deacidified the paper, mended the tears and treated the stains, he said.
Finally, they framed the document using an acid-free mat board and ultraviolet filtering glass, Vicky Kornemann said.
"It's been fully restored and preserved for all times," Collins said. "The document is 100 percent better than when I brought it in there."
Collins said he now has three options.
First, he could donate the document to President Barack Obama for his presidential museum. Obama had shown an affinity for Lincoln throughout his political life and is from Illinois , as Lincoln was, Collins said.
Second, he could send a digital photo to Sotheby's for an appraisal of Lincoln 's signature and sell the paper to the highest bidder to get money for his 78-year-old mother who is on a fixed income.
His third option would be making a permanent loan to a museum for display. When the museum no longer wanted to display the document, it would be returned to Collins' family.
The family has a long history of service, he said. His grandfather Willis James Nolan served in both world wars, receiving a battlefield commission in France in WWI. He retired a lieutenant colonel.
"As for me, I have been deployed twice since 9/11, " Collins said. "I recently ended my service with the Maryland National Guard as first sergeant of a cavalry company."
--(6) Harbor to Give Up Historic Secrets -----------------------------------------------------
Harbor to Give Up Historic Secrets
By Brian Hicks
1/24/2009
Charleston Post and Courier (SC)
http://www.charleston.net/news/2009/jan/24/harbor_give_up_historic_secrets69446/
It is one of the largest and most important battlefields in the country, a place where the scattered relics of war have lain hidden for more than a century.
But soon, some of the secrets of Charleston Harbor might finally be revealed.
The South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of South Carolina has been awarded a grant from the National Park Service to map the wrecks hidden beneath the water, the sand and the silt.
As part of the American Battlefield Protection Program, state archaeologists will use a $28,000 grant to begin mapping the shipwrecks and torpedoes left behind after the Civil War.
The information will be used to protect the wrecks from dredging and development, and give historians a more complete scope of the site where the Civil War began, a harbor that endured a years-long blockade.
"They want to study all battlefields, and we're taking it to the next level, to the naval battlefield," said James Spirek, deputy state underwater archaeologist. "We'll be looking at blockade runners, Union ironclads and some of the Confederate defenses."
Spirek said the work will begin in the spring with archaeologists using magnetometers, side-scan sonar and some divers to locate specific wrecks. Right now, researchers are compiling historical records and previous discoveries to help map their search.
These remains tell the story of the war. There's the Keokuk, a 677-ton Union ironclad allegedly buried in the sand off Morris Island; the blockade-runner Mary B owers, a side-wheel steamer that sank off the Isle of Palms late in the war; and the Patapsco, a Union Monitor-class ironclad, sunk by a Confederate mine in the channel between Forts Sumter and Moultrie in the final months of the war.
Spirek hopes to put a pinpoint on 31 wrecks from Castle Pinckney to the waters off Charleston 's barrier islands.
"A lot of these wrecks, we already know where they are generally," Spirek said. "But we don't have modern GPS coordinates, and some of our locations are as much as 800 yards off."
According to old maps, some of the resting places for these ships are now on land, beneath the beaches, wedged into sandbars.
Knowing where they are will help protect them when dredging projects or developments are planned.
To protect against looters, there will be two versions of SCIAA's final report: one for the Park Service and one for the general public that will give only general description of wreck sites.
The location of shipwrecks owned by the United States is not subject to Freedom of Information Act requests.
Jonathan Leader, the state archaeologist, said that Charleston Harbor is the scene of much of South Carolina 's history, and documenting the events that shaped it, and the state, is important work. These shipwrecks tell that story.
"When you're talking about harbors of importance in this country, Charleston is right up there," Leader said.
--(7) Handwritten Lincoln Speech to Be Auctioned -----------------------------------------------------
Handwritten Lincoln Speech to Be Auctioned
1/23/2009
Agence France-Presse (NAT)
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i_QRn8FAyk422qYJW2pwVLbWDRwg
WASHINGTON , DC - The original handwritten copy of a speech given by Abraham Lincoln in 1864 calling for the United States to unite in the midst of its Civil War will be auctioned in New York , according to Christie's auction house.
The rare manuscript will go under the hammer on February 12, the bicentenary of the birth of the US president who abolished slavery.
"Now that the election is over, may not all, having a common interest, reunite in a common effort, to save our common country?" Lincoln said at the White House on November 10, 1864, shortly after his re-election.
The sale could break the record three million dollars Christie's obtained in 2002 for the sale of another Lincoln speech, his last public address, said Christie's vice-president Chris Coover, a manuscript specialist.
"We are confident it's going to attract some active bids," Coover told AFP when the four handwritten pages were exhibited in Washington Thursday.
The auction house estimates the manuscript will fetch between three and four million dollars.
"Honest Abe" has garnered increasing public interest in the wake of President Barack Obama's repeated references to Lincoln, his personal hero.
Obama has reached back repeatedly to the symbol of slavery's end and national healing, another lanky lawyer from Illinois who surmounted doubts about his political inexperience to win the presidency at a time of great crisis.
Lincoln mania "is at a fever pitch," Coover said. Obama "is a great admirer of Lincoln and he knows his speeches."
The text is written in Lincoln 's large and even script, with a few corrections, on large and heavy sheets of white paper. It is not signed as it was only intended for his use when he spoke before a large crowd from a White House window. Some words are underlined.
A rural library in New York state has owned the text since 1928 and decided to sell it to construct a new building. The text has only been shown publicly once before in 1976, for a single day.
"In any future great national trial, compared with the men of this, we shall have as weak, and as strong; as silly and as wise; as bad and good," Lincoln said in his speech two days after his re-election, calling for unity in a country still divided by the Civil War.
"Let us, therefore, study the incidents of this, as philosophy to learn wisdom from, and none of them as wrongs to be revenged."
Coover acknowledged the distinct parallels between Lincoln 's time and today.
"The nation faces a crisis today also, even if it's not the same kind, and Obama has called for reconciliation," he said.
--(8) Sense Civil War Turmoil Over 133 Pastoral Acres -----------------------------------------------------
Sense Civil War Turmoil Over 133 Pastoral Acres
By Katherine Gotthardt
1/22/2009
Northern Virginia News and Messenger (VA)
http://www.insidenova.com/isn/community/from_us/nokesville_bristow_brentsville/article/sense_civil_war_turmoil_over_133_pastoral_acres/28475/
Standing in Bristoe Station Battlefield Heritage Park , picturesque silo in the background, you might never know you were standing on hallowed ground.
The park faces Bristow Road . To the left, a miniature city of new homes stares at a busy Va. 28 and shopping plaza. In front, earth movers plunge into cleared land, preparing the way for a new cut-through to Va. 28.
And yet, on this 133-acre preserved site in western Prince William County , in August 1861, the Confederates set up Camp Jones . Measles and typhoid fever killed many until the Confederates left in February 1862.
Through the Battlefield, the Orange and Alexandria Railroad provided the main source of supply delivery. On Aug. 26, 1862, Confederate generals Stonewall Jackson and J.E.B. Stuart captured Bristoe Station and wrecked two Union supply trains at the site. On Aug. 27, CS Division Commander Richard Ewell fought Gen. Joseph Hooker in what is now known as the battle of Kettle Run at Bristoe Station.
In 1863, Confederate Commander A.P. Hill ambushed Gen. G.K. Warren's commanding Federal II Corps. Ultimately, Federal soldiers under Warren defeated Hill's forces.
One hundred and fifty-two years later, David M. Born, historic programs coordinator and site manager, rolls these facts off the tip of his tongue. When asked how he remembers it all, Born laughed, "My head is filled with all kinds of trivia."
But that trivia is the history of Bristow, the budding community off Nokesville, Linton Hall, Wellington , Bristow and Devlin Roads, Nokesville Road now called "Route 28."
Born is well equipped to utilize what he calls "trivia." An agricultural and history major, Born self-studied environmental science. "I've always been interested in history," he said. "I advocate for scientific history like anthropology and archeology." He also serves as site manager for Manassas ' Ben Lomond Historic Site.
In Bristoe, poles have been installed on the 2.75 miles of trails, marking points of interest. As site development continues, a kiosk with self-tour pamphlets will be available. Placards will eventually replace the posts, providing visitors with histories of each spot. Speed of progress depends on the budget.
Not many people, especially newer residents, know about the Bristoe Battlefield since it just opened in October 2007. In 2006, 27 acres of the land were acquired from development company Centex under a proffer agreement. The county purchased an additional six acres.
Bristoe Station Battlefield Heritage Park has a lot to offer: local national and Civil War history and wildlife. Yet the park budget could be cut anywhere from 10 to 30 percent, which might include staff. Right now, only 12 employees serve as guides, historians, site managers and administrators.
"We feel in the History Preservation Division we ought to save as much as we can because eventually, it won't be here anymore," Born said.
--(9) More Planned for Wilderness -----------------------------------------------------
More Planned for Wilderness
By Clint Schemmer
1/17/2009
Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star (VA)
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/012009/01172009/439646
The Wilderness battlefield may gain another new neighbor.
A landowner next to Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park proposes to build medical offices and a wholesale nursery on part of his property across from the Civil War-era site of Wilderness Tavern near the Spotsylvania-Orange county line.
Dr. David Pagan, a dental specialist who lives on a 146-acre farm on State Route 3 beside Fox Chase subdivision in western Spotsylvania County , wants to develop part of his land. He envisions a three-suite, 12,000-square-foot medical complex styled after old farm buildings, and a satellite facility for Bennett's Creek Nursery, a large wholesale grower based in Suffolk .
"We're trying to make the farm productive without doing a big project or creating an eyesore," Pagan said in an interview. "We didn't want a subdivision or a strip mall. We're trying to be sensitive in the way this is designed, to fit what the county wants. We don't want to upset the community."
Pagan's farm is on the east side of Wilderness Run, across from the 50-acre site where Wal-Mart proposes to build a retail center anchored by a 138,000-square-foot SuperCenter. The proposal has drawn criticism from preservationists.
Pagan's consultant, E.D. Lewis and Associates of Richmond, designed his proposed development to shield it from the view of Route 3 motorists and Fox Chase homeowners. Careful use of natural topography and tree plantings would screen the office buildings, made to resemble a farmhouse, a cattle barn and a tool shop, from sight, said Gary Lee Scottow, a landscape architect with E.D. Lewis.
The 4-acre office site would be set back from Route 3 behind an earthen berm and trees, and would be at a distance of four football-field lengths from the nearest home in Fox Chase, Scottow said. The growing beds, seasonal hoop houses and office for Bennett's Creek Nursery would occupy about 13 acres behind the medical buildings. In the future, the nursery might expand north onto acreage farther from Route 3.
E.D. Lewis analyzed elevations, viewing angles and the prospect from the Wilderness Tavern site to minimize the development's visual intrusion on the rural landscape, Scottow said. Wilderness Tavern was where surgeons amputated the arm of Confederate Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson after he was wounded by his own troops after the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863.
Nearly two dozen area residents had their first look at the proposal Thursday night during a community meeting that Pagan and Bennett's Creek Nursery hosted at Wilderness Community Church . They sought to get residents' feedback before filing a rezoning request with the county.
Residents questioned Scottow and county planners, expressing concerns about traffic, the historic landscape, potential sprawl and the nursery's water usage in an area that relies on wells and recently suffered a drought.
County planners noted that by-right development of the farmland, which would not require rezoning, would yield about 10 single-family houses. The medical offices and nursery would create less traffic and water demand than a small subdivision, Scottow said. The nursery, which would tap a new pond, would recycle its runoff and use miserly drip irrigation, he said.
Chancellor District Supervisor Hap Connors, while not taking a position for or against the proposal, praised Pagan's efforts to preserve the rural landscape.
"I really think Dr. Pagan has gone well out of his way to create a very interesting and unique project," Connors said yesterday. "I want to commend him for that, because not many people would go to that extra effort. He certainly is listening, and is very aware of the sensitivities involved and the issues that were raised last night."
Pagan's daughter Lauren is married to Matt Sawyer, the son of Bennett's Creek President Wayne K. Sawyer, so the nursery distribution center serving the region's landscapers and retail garden centers would be a local family business, the elder Sawyer said.
Without increasing the need for schools or public utilities, the nursery would generate about $86,000 in yearly tax revenue, Scottow estimated.
--(10) Senate Passes Preservation Bill -----------------------------------------------------
Senate Passes Preservation Bill
By Clint Schemmer
1/16/2009
Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star (VA)
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/012009/01162009/439490
U.S. Sen. Jim Webb and his Senate colleagues have just breathed new life into America 's most important effort to save its Civil War battlefields.
The Senate yesterday passed a bill introduced last year by Webb, D-Va., to re-authorize the national program that has protected more than 14,000 acres of battlefields endangered by sprawl and development. In Virginia alone, the program has preserved some 6,600 acres of historic landscape.
"The preservation of our nation's Civil War battlefields has held a special place in my life for many years," Webb said yesterday afternoon.
"For me, these hallowed grounds--where 620,000 Americans sacrificed their lives to fight in the Civil War-- have special, personal significance. Ancestors of mine fought on both sides during the war. It's not every day you can visit these battlefield sites and have an immediate, direct connection with your ancestors."
"We must preserve these sites so that future generations might see and touch the very places where so many sacrifices were made, by soldiers and civilians alike," he said.
Russ Smith, superintendent of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park , said the program is vital to the National Park Service's mission.
"[It] has transformed our park," Smith said. "More than 400 acres of battlefield land at Chancellorsville and Fredericksburg have been saved as a result of this program. Without this invaluable tool, these hallowed battlegrounds would be little more than a memory."
Webb's measure, the Civil War Battlefield Preservation Act of 2009, revitalizes the effort for another five years.
The program, which was sparked by development controversies at the Manassas battlefields in the 1990s, fosters collaboration between state and local governments, the private sector and nonprofit groups, such as the Civil War Preservation Trust.
--(11) Editorial: Making the Case for Fort Monroe -----------------------------------------------------
Editorial: Making the Case for Fort Monroe
1/16/2009
Norfolk Virginian-Pilot (VA)
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/01/making-case-fort-monroe
Funding remains a major obstacle, but advocates of turning historic Fort Monroe into a national park are continuing to build a case in preparation for the day money is less scarce and as a safeguard against those who'd like to see the property developed more intensely.
The Trust for Public Land 's Center for City Park Excellence recently presented a report on Fort Monroe 's future to the federal authority overseeing the Army's transfer of the 570-acre site to the state government. The report was commissioned by the nonprofit Fort Monroe National Park Foundation.
The study's authors concluded that five major cities in the region - Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Hampton and Newport News - collectively have set aside a smaller percentage of their total shoreline to linear parks (19 percent) than larger metropolitan areas like New York (37 percent), Boston (65 percent) and the San Francisco Bay area (almost 40 percent).
Part of the reason for the disparity, of course, is the heavy presence of military installations here. But, the study's authors point out, converting Fort Monroe 's shoreline to parkland would significantly boost Hampton Roads' recreational offerings.
The study highlights decommissioned military bases that have been successfully converted to public use, including The Presidio, now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
The Presidio is frequently cited as a model for Fort Monroe . The Presidio Trust manages 80 percent of the property and leases many of its buildings to generate revenue. The remainder of the land is operated by the National Park Service.
In a report to Congress last year, the Park Service concluded that Fort Monroe is "worthy of preservation and protection" when the Army hands it over in 2011. But the cash-strapped agency stopped short of committing to managing the site.
Gov. Tim Kaine has signed off on a reuse plan that calls for a Presidio-like partnership at Fort Monroe , with the focus on preservation and recreational use. But advocates of turning Fort Monroe into a national park have lingering fears that their plans remain vulnerable to developers, particularly if funds are scarce.
The incoming Obama administration has many pressing matters awaiting it. But, in months ahead, Kaine - whose influence with the White House appears to be growing - should make the case for a greater commitment from the Park Service and for federal funding.
Fort Monroe 's fascinating history, stretching back to the 1600s, includes epic events in the formation and development of our nation, including a period when the fort served as a refuge for runaway slaves during the Civil War.
The National Park Service's expertise is needed to help interpret this story for the American people. And, as the Trust for Public Land 's report points out, there are multiple models for accomplishing that goal in partnership with preservation-minded foundations.
--(12) Lawmakers Get Ball Rolling on Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission -----------------------------------------------------
Lawmakers Get Ball Rolling on Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission
By Danny Barrett Jr.
1/14/2009
Vicksburg Post (MS)
http://www.vicksburgpost.com/articles/2009/01/14/news/doc496e23d4e9c11677623142.txt
Events planned in Mississippi for the 150th anniversary of the Civil War may yet have a state organizing panel if the Legislature OKs a measure filed this week.
Senate Bill 2474 would establish the Mississippi Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission to plan and develop activities emphasizing the state’s role in the war, with an emphasis on military battles held within the state’s borders. Also, it would encourage participation by local tourism, historical and other groups to participate in events to be announced. Currently, all other states involved with the Civil War have some form of planning commission in place.
Among six sponsors of the bill, authored by state Sen. Lydia Chassaniol, R-Winona, is Sen. Briggs Hopson, R-Vicksburg. The bill is before the Tourism Committee.
Staff support would be provided by the Mississippi Development Authority, with the state economic development agency’s tourism division acting as oversight. Vicksburg would be represented on the panel by the directors of the Vicksburg National Military Park , a federal entity, and Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau, a local agency.
Other members would consist of the directors of MDA, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, historic preservation groups, one private citizen to be appointed by the governor and a member of the state House and Senate to be appointed by the leaders of those chambers. Also, the bill allows for an advisory council made up of private citizens to provide input to the commission.
Most anniversary events will be in 2011 and culminate in a musical celebration July 4, 2013, the 150th anniversary of Vicksburg ’s surrender. In the absence of a coordinating committee on the federal level, as multiple bills in Congress to establish one haven’t passed, state- and local-level groups are leading the way.
Funding is a major challenge of many states and localities’ event planning. Vicksburg ’s events for the sesquicentennial are being financed by a $100,000 grant from Preserve America, a White House initiative geared to preserve cultural and natural heritage.
The funds are marked for bringing in tourism industry gurus such as tour directors and travel writers to highlight the siege of Vicksburg and preceding battles in Port Gibson and Raymond.
General plans are in place for events at the military park and at the Old Court House Museum , with specifics to come later.
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Jim Campi, Policy and Communications Director
Civil War Preservation Trust
1331 H Street NW
Suite 1001
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: (202) 367-1861
http://www.civilwar.org