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Wilderness battlefield among America's most endangered sites, National Trust for Historic Preservation says Date published: 5/20/2010
By CLINT SCHEMMER America's largest preservation advocate just put Virginia's Wilderness battlefield on the front burner. The National Trust for Historic Preservation yesterday declared the battlefield to be among the 11 most endangered historic places in the country. The Wilderness, where Gens. Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant's forces first clashed in combat, is now caught in the crossfire over a Walmart-anchored retail development in eastern Orange County. Paul W. Edmondson, the trust's vice president and general counsel, announced the designation yesterday at Ellwood Manor, a historic home that headquartered two Union generals during the Battle of the Wilderness in May 1864. It's now part of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, less than a mile from the planned Walmart site. "If Walmart does not change course, the Wilderness battlefield will not be endangered, it will simply be lost, engulfed in commercial sprawl," Edmondson said. The 250,000-member trust, he said, fears that the 240,000-square-foot retail center proposed just north of State Routes 3 and 20 "would destroy hallowed ground, encroach on the national park and spoil the gateway to rural Orange County." The 51-acre tract where a 150,000-square-foot Walmart Supercenter is planned lies a quarter-mile from the national park. Only a portion of the battlefield is within the park. Preservationists are particularly concerned that the development will dramatically increase traffic and force the widening of Route 20, itself a historic road, through the park--undermining visitors' experiences of the historic landscape, Edmondson said. "But perhaps even more importantly, Walmart's project would open the floodgate to more large-scale commercial sprawl on other parcels adjoining the national park," he said. Last August, the Orange County Board of Supervisors approved a "big box" special-use permit required for the project. "That approval, our view, was shortsighted--and it was wrong," said Edmondson, a veteran of many preservation battles in his years with the trust. He said the trust--which owns Montpelier, President James Madison's home in Orange--is glad to support a lawsuit brought against the county by the Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield and local residents to block the development.
Date published: 5/20/2010
First off, OC has to approve a special use permit for a big box store, they do not have to approve anymore of those in the future so there is a good chance you will not see a Central Park West. They have already stated they do not want a CP West. Second, Rt. 20 needed to be widened 15 years ago, well before Wal-Mart ever came along. Third, by their own statement they have the money to re-pay the land owner if Wal-Mart leaves, why did they not purchase the property when it was offered to them first?
Battle of the Wilderness was a key turning point in the WBTS: First time Grant faced Lee. A Walmart on the battlefield will lead next to people wanting to widen Route 20 through the battlefield, eating up more hallowed ground where men from both sides still are buried where they fell. Then building a mini-Central Park with its horrible traffic. I want my children to have the special experience of standing there to sense the history, not gazing at a huge retail mass.
Typical Freelance Star story, one sided and un-researched. The WalMart project is on the very fringe of what is called the "study area," a band of property that surrounds the alleged battle field property. The majority of the property discussed in the article is actually outside this study zone. Allowing Mr. Edmondson to make statements unchallenged is a dis-service to your readers.
equals lawyer equals paid professional liar. land was for sale they shoulda bought it
now he/they should go stfu and move on. if not walmart and the oc board should sue for costs and break em . go after personal assets and sens a message
dictate to us that following the laws of the land and developing property is wrong if these special few want to force their overzealousness on us.
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