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The Civil War Preservation Trust wanted to buy the Pierson farm because it is adjacent to important National Park Service land. |
By RUSTY DENNEN
Now that the Civil War Preservation Trust has acquired a key tract of land connected to the Battle of Fredericksburg, it can begin planning how the property can be used and how to make it accessible to the public.
The Washington-based nonprofit trust bought the 205-acre Slaughter Pen farm last month for $12 million--the highest price it has ever paid for a chunk of Civil War land.
Aside from raising an unprecedented amount of money, the nation's largest battlefield preservation group now has the responsibility for preserving and interpreting more hallowed ground.
Donors with deep pockets are getting a look at the property east of Shannon Airport, but little else is happening--for now--says Jim Campi, spokesman for the trust.
"Right now, we're just focused on paying for it all, and we haven't had time to focus on those discussions," Campi said.
"We're doing some very limited conducted tours of the property. But there are no interpretive signs or anything out there, so people can't really learn much about the battle or the history out there," he said. In addition, much of the property is being cultivated and can't be used.
That will be changing.
"Our immediate goal is to come up with some kind of interpretive plan for the property, similar to what's being done at the former Mullins Farm," Campi said.
The trust last year purchased 140 acres on the Chancellorsville battlefield in Spotsylvania County outside the National Park Service boundary. There, in a project that will cost close to $1 million, the trust is building four to five miles of trails and is planning interpretive signs and exhibits to provide details about the battle and explain the significance of the site.
CWPT also is building a system of interpretive trails on property it acquired on the site of the Battle of Third Winchester in the Shenandoah Valley. Some of that trail is paved and there is handicapped access.
"That will probably come in at around $700,000," Campi said.
The trust pools members' donations with state and federal grants to pay for trails and interpretive programs.
The trust closed on Slaughter Pen, known locally as the Pierson Farm, in mid-June. The land earned the former name during the war because of the carnage there.
Approximately 5,000 men met their fate where Confederate Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's 2nd Corps battled Union Gen. William Franklin's Left Grand Division. Five Union soldiers earned the Medal of Honor on its undulating fields.
The farm is adjacent to part of the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.
Tricord Cos., a local home builder that sold the Chancellorsville property to the trust, found out last December that Slaughter Pen was for sale and contacted CWPT. Tricord signed a contract, agreeing to sell the property at cost to the trust.
Campi said the trust hopes to give the public a chance to see the property this fall as part of a formal acquisition ceremony. That outing would be coordinated with the National Park Service.
What happens to Slaughter Pen in the long term is another matter.
Campi has said the trust would like to eventually have it included in the National Park system.
But that's not as easy as it sounds. National Park boundaries are set by Congress and the process can take many years.
Russ Smith, superintendent of the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, said Slaughter Pen is a good candidate for inclusion.
"It's right on our boundary." He said the tract would enable park visitors to see from the Union lines to the Confederate lines, "and it gives real scope and depth to the southern part of the Fredericksburg battlefield."
The last boundary expansions for National Park Service battlefields here were in 1989, 1992 and 1999. The first one added 1,800 acres, Smith said, and the other two brought in a total of 560.
The military park now covers about 8,000 acres.
Inclusion can happen in two ways: CWPT can get a member of Congress to sponsor legislation, or additions can be included in the park's general management plan and presented to legislators.
The management plan route is a more lengthy process and Smith says there has been little money available for such planning in recent years.
To reach RUSTY DENNEN:
Email: rdennen@freelancestar.com
