Fourth-grader Naeema Hopkins-Kotb reads from her essay as the Civil War Preservation Trust's Jim Campi looks on. ROBERT A. MARTIN/THE FREE LANCE-STAR View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

Park woos history lovers PARK BIRTHDAY EVENTS

Valentine's Day offers national-park lovers a chance to 'fall in love with history'

Date published: 2/13/2009

By CLINT SCHEMMER

The Fredericksburg area's national park got a big, sweet Valentine yesterday.

Its supporters turned out in force at old Town Hall to celebrate tomorrow's 82nd birthday of Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, established Feb. 14, 1927.

"My wife said, 'What kind of person would create a national park on Valentine's Day?' park Superintendent Russ Smith told the crowd. "Well, actually it was Calvin Coolidge."

With pink cakes, buttons, bumper stickers, 19th-century valentines and tales of love during the Civil War, the Civil War Preservation Trust and the National Park Service launched an "I Love Fred-Spot" marketing campaign encouraging heritage tourists to visit the region.

The effort, which will be renewed annually as the Civil War's sesquicentennial nears, urges visitors to "fall in love with history." It promotes both the park and neighboring historic sites, businesses and restaurants, continuing a local partnership that began in the park's earliest days.

The Fred-Spot campaign affectionally riffs off the nickname for America's national park with the longest name. (It's actually Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial National Military Park--a mouthful that omits the fact that it includes historic sites in Stafford, Orange and Caroline counties.)

Fredericksburg Councilman Matt Kelly noted that the very room in the Fredericksburg Area Museum's Market Square complex where yesterday's news conference was held played a part in the war. It was headquarters to Confederate Brig. Gen. William Barksdale of Mississippi.

"It is somewhat ironic that the prosperity and quality of life in Fredericksburg are tied to events that devastated this city and turned in into a battlefield over a century ago," Kelly said. "Yet today, thousands of visitors from across the county and around the world visit the city to learn about and experience--through tours, lectures and re-enactments--those terrible years in Fredericksburg's history.

The visitors shop and eat locally and stay in area hotels, boosting city revenues, he noted. And the battlefields provide outdoor recreation for residents and visitors.

Karen Hedelt, director of Fredericksburg's Department of Economic Development and Tourism, praised the "clever and well-conceived" campaign--begun on Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday--for drawing attention to the region at a slower time of the year for tourism.

"It's a little incongruous at first blush, but given the fact that the battlefields are so significant to us and do mean so much to our area, you can make that tie-in to Valentine's Day and the love that we all share for the hallowed grounds in our region," Hedelt said. "Economically, they are an important driver for us."

The best came last.

That's when six fourth-grade students from Spotsylvania's Harrison Road Elementary--Naeema Hopkins-Kotb, Andrew Constable, Kevin Ooten, Nicholas Hockaday, Steve Garcia-Rodas and Lexie Marrow--read brief essays and poems expressing their love for the park.

The valentines and birthday wishes from the six students and other area schoolchildren will be displayed tomorrow in the park's Spotsylvania and Fredericksburg visitor centers along with special exhibits on the founding of the park, Smith said.

nps.gov/frsp civilwar.org

Clint Schemmer: 540/368-5029
Email: cschemmer@freelancestar.com

Tomorrow, on the 82nd birthday of Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, "I Love Fred-Spot" festivities continue with special programs at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library headquarters in downtown Fredericksburg and the Wilderness battlefield in Orange County. All the events are free. library events Starting at 10 a.m., park Superintendent Russ Smith and park historians John Hennessy and Donald Pfanz will offer a series of talks focusing on the park's human-interest stories and its founding in 1927. "The Ties That Bind: Stories of Loves Found and Sustained Amidst War." Pfanz will recount the sometimes herculean, often touching efforts of men and women to build or maintain relationships--even across enemy lines. "Ravaging the Heart: Stories of Loves Shattered by War." Hennessy looks at the huge emotional impact war had on loved ones and families--especially of those who lived or fought on the Fredericksburg area. "Farm Field to National Park: The Founding of Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park." Smith examines area communities' work to have the park created--a decades-long effort. WILDERNESS EVENTS Ellwood, the storied 18th-century home that quartered Union generals during the Battle of the Wilderness, will be open to visitors from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Ellwood is on State Route 20, a half-mile west of its junction with Route 3. Evergreen Shade will present Civil War-era music. Interpreters with the Friends of Wilderness Battlefield will share special stories about the house, the 1864 battle and soldiers' connections to home.

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Date published: 2/13/2009

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