(1) Webb Adds His Support for Preservationists - Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
(2) History Endangered: Natural Gas Line Proposed for Historic Valley - Frederick News-Post
(3) Tourism Pros: Bring History Alive - Hanover Evening Sun
(4) Kaine, Howell Oppose Wal-Mart Close to Wilderness Battlefield - Washington Post
(5) Gov. Kaine, Howell urge new Va. site for Wal-Mart - Associated Press
(6) Editorial: Orange County Supervisors Can Still Do What's Right - Culpeper Star-Exponent
(7) Editorial: Seek Compromise at Battle Site - Norfolk Virginian-Pilot
(8) Nearly 150 Years Ago, Sketches Recorded Aftermath of John Brown's Raid - Charleston Daily Mail
(9) An Inglorious Mess - Charleston Post and Courier
(10) Wal-Mart Unmoved by Orange Land Offer - Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
(11) What's Still Great: Wal-Mart in the Wilderness - The American Spectator
(12) Editorial: Orange Supervisors Fire Administrator for Talking Sense - Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
(13) Opinion: Our American History is Disappearing Quickly - Philadelphia Inquirer
--(1) Webb Adds His Support for Preservationists
-----------------------------------------------------
Webb Adds His Support for Preservationists
By Clint Schemmer
7/18/2009
Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star (VA)
http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/072009/07182009/480610
Historic preservation can make for odd political bedfellows, and
it certainly is doing so in the Wilderness Wal-Mart controversy.
U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., Gov. Tim Kaine, also a Democrat, and
Virginia House Speaker Bill Howell of Stafford County, a Republican
who has frequently battled with Kaine and other Democrats, see
eye-to-eye on the land-use issue in Orange County.
Earlier this week, Kaine and Howell urged the Orange County Board
of Supervisors to work with Wal-Mart to find an alternate site
for the giant retailer's proposed Supercenter in Orange.
Such a tract, they said, should be in the vicinity of the proposed
site off State Route 3--but not on the Wilderness battlefield,
and it should be out of view from Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania
National Military Park.
Webb endorsed that position yesterday.
"As a longtime advocate of preserving our Civil War battlefields
I believe it is vitally important that respect and reverence guide
all land-use decisions affecting these historic sites," Webb
said through his press secretary.
"I hope that Wal-Mart, the Board of Supervisors and all of
the parties involved are able to reach a conclusion that respects
the Wilderness battlefield site, in order to move forward with
a project that will spur economic growth in the area," he
said.
Virginia's other senator, former Gov. Mark Warner, a Democrat,
is leaving it to the Orange supervisors to decide the matter.
"Senator Warner understands the importance of local input
and control over zoning decisions like this, and he trusts that
Orange County officials will recognize the importance of preserving
historic sites as they make their decision," his communications
director, Kevin Hall, said.
Rep. Eric Cantor, the 7th District Republican in whose district
the Wilderness retail center would be built--was busy with floor
votes yesterday afternoon, and unavailable for comment, his spokeswoman
said. Cantor is the House minority whip, the chamber's No. 2 post.
Rep. Robert Wittman, R-1st, isn't jumping into the fray.
"He's monitoring the issue, but since it's not in his district
and there is no federal role involved, he's kind of staying out
of it," said Mary Springer, Witt-man's chief of staff.
The Wal-Mart site is along Wilderness Run, the boundary line between
Orange and Spotsylvania counties and Cantor and Wittman's districts.
The two rivals for Kaine's job, Democrat Creigh Deeds and Republican
Bob McDonnell, have also staked out positions on the matter.
State Sen. Deeds wrote Michael T. Duke, president of Wal-Mart
Stores Inc., asking him to move the Supercenter away from the
battlefield, noting there are several large parcels suitable for
a Route 3 store within two or three miles.
McDonnell expressed confidence that Orange officials will find
a middle ground that "preserves the Wilderness battlefield
while also allowing for commercial development."
--(2) History Endangered: Natural Gas Line Proposed for
Historic Valley -----------------------------------------------------
History Endangered: Natural Gas Line Proposed for Historic Valley
By Karen Gardner
7/18/2009
Frederick News-Post (MD)
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?storyID=92760
Middletown -- For most of the nearly 300 years that western Frederick
County has been settled, the farmland along Marker Road west of
Middletown has been kept intact.
There's a threat to that rural solitude.
In January, Dominion Transmission bought the former Fox's Tavern
and 135 acres of surrounding farmland to build a compression pump
for its natural gas transmission line.
The compressor won't be built in the near future, but it's in
the pipeline.
The region has seen important slices of this nation's history.
Troops, including one Lt. Col. George Washington, marched through
on the way to what is now Pittsburgh during the French and Indian
War in 1755.
Washington often returned to Fox's Tavern, or Fox's Inn, as it
was also called at some point, to catch up with old military buddies.
Civil War soldiers marched through the fields as they ascended
Fox's Gap during the Battle of South Mountain, an important precursor
to the Battle of Antietam in September 1862.
Abraham Lincoln probably passed through the gap after the battles.
Dominion Transmission, which operates in six states from Ohio
to Virginia, plans to build a compressor station in the area to
move natural gas from storage to markets in the mid-Atlantic region,
said Bob Fulton, manager of media and community relations for
Dominion Transmission.
Before it can build on the Fox's Tavern site, Dominion needs permission
from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, as well as the
state Public Service Commission.
It won't be built anytime soon, Fulton said.
"The project has been suspended for the review process,"
he said. No time frame has been set.
If the compressor station is built, it would be about the size
of a medium-sized barn, Fulton said.
"We would make every attempt to blend it with the landscaping,"
he said.
Turbines and cooling fans inside the structure will emit a hum
of about 55 decibels when operating, about the level of a human
conversation.
The station would be most active in winter and the middle of summer,
when natural gas is needed most.
Preservationists and local residents aren't happy about Dominion's
plans.
Richard Maranto is president of Citizens for the Preservation
of Middletown Valley, and has lived in the vicinity of Fox's Gap
since the late 1970s.
"There are lots of industrial sites that were available (to
Dominion)," Maranto said.
Fox's Tavern and the surrounding farm are zoned agricultural,
and the farm is part of the Mid-Maryland Rural Legacy Area.
"There's a big block of preserved land around that property,"
said Tim Blaser, Frederick County planner in charge of agricultural
preservation.
If Dominion does build the compressor station, Blaser said, "That
would be very inconsistent with everything we've done out there
to try and preserve the land. We would do everything we could
about getting the information to the appropriate agencies about
the impact."
The site is just outside the South Mountain State Battlefield,
said Audrey Scanlan-Teller, a Middletown resident who participates
in Civil War re-enactments. Artillery massed on the farm to prepare
for the battle. The inn, which by then was a farmhouse, was used
as a hospital after the battle.
"(Dominion's) approach to land acquisition is very different
than what we think it should be," Maranto said. "It's,
'If you're nice to us, we'll work with you, if you get in our
way, we'll bypass you.'"
The Civil War Preservation Trust included South Mountain State
Battlefield on its annual Ten Most Endangered Sites list in March
because of the Dominion purchase.
"Dominion knows nothing about the historic significance of
this property," Maranto said.
In three years, South Mountain State Battlefield will celebrate
the 150th anniversary of the 1862 battle. Every September, re-enactors
descend on the battlefield site to do a living history demonstration
of the battle.
"We are aware of the historical significance of the building,"
Fulton said of Fox's Tavern. "A determination will be made
as to how we proceed. We will talk with local preservation organizations."
The compressor station is likely to be about four stories tall,
Maranto said. The 55-decibel hum will be audible to neighbors,
he said.
--(3) Tourism Pros: Bring History Alive -----------------------------------------------------
Tourism Pros: Bring History Alive
By Erin James
7/18/2009
Hanover Evening Sun (PA)
http://www.eveningsun.com/ci_12851155?IADID=Search-www.eveningsun.com-www.eveningsun.com
Marci Ross remembers clearly the time she saw a class of youngsters
use interactive technology at the National Museum of the American
Indian to complete a school project.
What sticks with her the most, however, is the moment she realized
not one of the students had glanced up to notice that the arrowhead
artifact they were studying was right in front of them in a display
case.
"They were so dialed in to technology," she said.
It's a lesson that Ross - the resources manager at the Maryland
Office of Tourism Development - said she's taken to heart ever
since.
That lesson: Today's students learn in different ways than those
of generations past, and it is up to heritage-tourism professionals
to find new ways of bringing history alive if the industry is
to continue to prosper.
Ross was one of three heritage-tourism industry experts who spoke
Thursday in Gettysburg as part of the Journey Through Hallowed
Ground partnership's three-day conference. Each speaker addressed
a different aspect of industry trends and the planning process
for the Civil War's 150th anniversary.
But the central theme of the presentations was the need for historic
sites like Gettysburg - the local economy of which depends on
tourist dollars - to continue adapting to changing trends and
marketing to a broader audience.
That broader audience, especially, includes young people, said
Richard Lewis, public relations manager for the Virginia Tourism
Corporation.
With PowerPoint slides of yawning children playing behind him,
Lewis said industry professionals need to find ways of engaging
the younger generations - members of whom traditionally regard
history as "boring," he said.
"We have to get rid of that notion," he said. "It's
going to be up to us to understand that viewpoint."
But there is good news, Lewis said. When it comes to spending
money, heritage tourism largely depends on a demographic of older,
educated adults with some disposable income.
Of all traveling adults, Lewis estimated that 81 percent visit
historic sites. That adds up to 118 million people annually, he
said.
"What we have in front of us is a ready-made audience that
can and will spend money," he said.
Yet, "somehow attendance at a lot of historic sites is down
and has been going down," Lewis added. Locally, visitation
has remained steady, but spending by tourists was down slightly
last year, according to a study by the Gettysburg Convention and
Visitors Bureau.
Lewis said industry professionals should be working to find new
ways of telling the story of American history. For example, he
said, go beyond military tactics and invite people to learn about
the plight of women or African Americans during the Civil War.
"There's much more than battle smoke," he said.
Ross said she there are four main factors influencing heritage-tourism
trends today. They are the struggling economy, reduced marketing
budgets for state tourism offices, the influence of technology
on visitor experiences and the price of gasoline.
The trends themselves, she said, are that people are taking shorter
trips and staying closer to home when they do decide to travel.
With that knowledge, Ross said her office has abandoned national
marketing and instead focuses on the region.
"Now we look at a much more centralized geographic market,"
she said.
But the game is almost sure to change dramatically in a few years
- when the historic sites of the Journey Through Hallowed Ground
corridor begin to commemorate their 150th Civil War anniversaries.
Gettysburg will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the battle
in 2013, and thousands - perhaps millions - more visitors than
usual are expected.
The Journey is a historical partnership spanning four states.
The non-profit organization is dedicated to raising national awareness
and increasing tourism from Monticello in Virginia to Gettysburg.
Barbara Franco, executive director of the Pennsylvania Historical
and Museum Commission, said statewide planning for the anniversary
is already under way. A Web site will launch later this summer.
The overall idea is to communicate the idea that the Civil War
may be over, but that it fundamentally changed American and that
its influence on society continues today.
"We're not just talking about an anniversary of four years,"
she said. "But we're talking about a legacy of 150 years."
--(4) Kaine, Howell Oppose Wal-Mart Close to Wilderness
Battlefield -----------------------------------------------------
Kaine, Howell Oppose Wal-Mart Close to Wilderness Battlefield
By Fredrick Kunkle
7/16/2009
Washington Post (DC)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/15/AR2009071503691.html?hpid=topnews
Threatened with the possibility that an army of cashiers with
barcode-reading guns could invade hallowed ground near the site
of one of the Civil War's most hellish battles, Virginia's two
most powerful political foes have united in a bipartisan stand
to relocate a proposed Wal-Mart in Orange County.
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) and House of Delegates Speaker William
J. Howell (R) -- who have been on warring sides of many state
issues -- have written to the Board of Supervisors, asking it
to help Wal-Mart find a site farther from the Wilderness battlefield.
"We strongly encourage your Board to work closely with Wal-Mart
to find an appropriate alternative site for the proposed retail
center in the vicinity of the proposed site yet situated outside
the boundaries of Wilderness Battlefield and out of the view of
Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park,"
says Monday's letter co-signed by Kaine and Howell. In their letter,
Kaine and Howell also offered state resources in helping to work
out an alternative.
Kaine has made his preservation of 400,000 acres of open land
a centerpiece of his tenure; Howell is a Civil War buff who has
also been co-chairman of the Sesquicentennial of the American
Civil War Commission.
The Wilderness marked the first clash between Gen. Robert E. Lee
and Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and culminated in a savage exchange
of fire in a jungle-like inferno of scrub oak and pines. The May
1864 battle killed or wounded 24,000 soldiers. The National Park
Service owns 2,800 acres of the core battlefield, whose larger
area extends across almost 7,000 acres.
Wal-Mart has proposed a 138,000-square-foot store and parking
lot on a site that is considered a gateway to the battlefield.
Located on a hilltop overlooking the battlefield, the site had
been zoned for commercial development for some time but still
has little more than a small shopping plaza opposite a Sheetz
gas station.
Preliminary plans also called for the discount store to be adjacent
to a retail, office and residential complex called Wilderness
Crossing. Neither the supercenter nor the larger complex would
be built on the battlefield. A study commissioned by the company
said the proposed site lacked historical and archaeological significance.
Keith Morris, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said the company believes
the current plan is sensitive to the battlefield's historic importance.
"We wholeheartedly agree this project presents the unique
opportunity to bring the interests of battlefield preservation
and smart development effectively into balance, and that is precisely
what we have accomplished with our current proposal," he
said, noting that the site has been zoned for commercial development
for more than 20 years and serves an area where more than 5,000
homes and compatible commercial development exist.
Jim Campi, a spokesman for the Civil War Preservation Trust who
publicized the joint letter yesterday, said a similar proposal
to find a more suitable location had been floated this year by
the Wilderness Battlefield Coalition, an organization of national,
regional and local preservation groups.
"There are a couple options we looked at," Campi said
in an interview. He said the corporation would be more respectful
of the nation's history and better off economically by locating
farther west on Route 3, closer to commercial centers on the way
to Culpeper. Although the site had long been zoned for commercial
activity, he said no one thought it might be on Wal-Mart's scale.
"What's being proposed here is four times the existing commercial
at that site," Campi said.
The two candidates who hope to assume Kaine's seat -- state Sen.
R. Creigh Deeds (D-Bath) and former attorney general Robert F.
McDonnell (R) -- also have publicly urged Wal-Mart to move farther
from the battlefield, Campi said.
--(5) Gov. Kaine, Howell urge new Va. site for Wal-Mart
-----------------------------------------------------
Gov. Kaine, Howell urge new Va. site for Wal-Mart
By Steve Szkotak
7/16/2009
Associated Press (NAT)
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/07/16/ap6662255.html
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and the speaker of the Virginia House of
Delegates are encouraging Wal-Mart and Orange County officials
to find an alternative site for a Supercenter proposed near a
Civil War battlefield.
The 138,000-square-foot store is planned near the Wilderness battlefield,
which Kaine and Speaker William J. Howell said "ranks supremely
important" among the many Civil War battlefields in Virginia.
"Every acre of battlefield land that is destroyed means a
loss of open space and missed tourism opportunities, and it closes
one more window for future generations to better understand our
national story,"
Kaine and Howell said in the later dated July 13 to Lee Frame,
chairman of the Board of Supervisors.
The letter added two more voices to a litany of opponents who
have urged Wal-Mart to select another location in rural Orange
County for its store. The retailer has said the site was selected
after an extensive review and that it would not adversely impact
the battlefield.
Wal-Mart's proposal to build in Locust Grove, less than one mile
from the formal boundaries of the Wilderness battlefield, has
stirred a tempest. It has drawn protests from more than 250 historians
across the U.S. and a coalition of preservationists and criticism
from congressmen from Texas and Vermont.
The battlefield in the county of 32,000 about 50 miles southwest
of Washington, D.C., is where 29,000 Union and Confederate soldiers
were injured or killed 145 years ago. It's also the place where
Robert E. Lee first met Ulysses S. Grant in battle.
In a statement on Wednesday, Wal-Mart said, "We wholeheartedly
agree this project presents the unique opportunity to bring the
interests of battlefield preservation and smart development effectively
into balance, and that is precisely what we have accomplished
with our current proposal."
Supervisor Teri Pace, a critic of Wal-Mart's site selection, said
it would be "disappointing to not accept such a generous
offer from the state." She said it is an opportunity to protect
history and "promote and enhance our future economic prosperity."
Frame, who has been careful about taking a public stand on the
issue, said the letter from Kaine and Howell would be considered
with other arguments when he casts his vote on the Wal-Mart proposal.
"These are important decision-makers and they've expressed
an interest," Frame said. He called the state's commitment
to assist the county "significant" but said the letter
raised no new issues.
Preservationists welcomed the news and said it could sway the
board's decision. Supervisors are believed to be leaning to approval
of the special use permit Wal-Mart needs to build. A public hearing
is scheduled July 27. A vote is not expected that day.
"I think that this letter is likely to be influential,"
said Robert Nieweg of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
"Now we have the governor of the state of Virginia and the
leading Republican in our state making absolutely clear this is
one of the most important places in the state of Virginia."
But Orange County residents who welcome the store have said it
will generate much-need tax revenue, hundreds of jobs, and provide
a shopping option closer to home.
In their letter, Kaine and Howell urged Orange County and Wal-Mart
to find an alternate site beyond the Wilderness and other Civil
War parks in the Fredericksburg area. The two offered the technical
services of the state.
In a statement, the Civil War Preservation Trust said: "We
firmly believe that encouraging Wal-Mart to move to an alternate
location is in the best interests of both the National Park and
Orange County residents."
--(6) Editorial: Orange County Supervisors Can Still Do
What's Right -----------------------------------------------------
Editorial: Orange County Supervisors Can Still Do What's Right
7/14/2009
Culpeper Star-Exponent (VA)
http://www.starexponent.com/cse/news/opinion/op_ed/article/orange_co._supervisors_can_still_do_whats_right/39392/
» To save our history, they must work with Wal-Mart and
a key landowner to select a site away from the Wilderness battlefield.
Despite growing local and national opposition, a Wal-Mart super
center - and all the clutter it brings - could soon be a reality
directly across the street from the Civil War's Wilderness battlefield.
And that's sad.
What needs to happen is simple: The store should be built a short
distance away from the battlefield but still in Orange County.
One nearby landowner has offered his 2,000 acres, which sits strategically
closer to Lake of the Woods, but Wal-Mart won't bite because that
land is not zoned for commercial use.
In a perfect world, the Orange County Board of Supervisors should
quickly rezone that land and work with Wal-Mart to allow for construction
as far away from the national park as possible.
The next step would be for a major preservation group - such as
the Civil War Preservation Trust - to mount a fundraising campaign
to buy the sacred ground, forever ensuring its protection. The
CWPT has done this many times with great success, including a
$12 million land acquisition at the Slaughter Pen in Fredericksburg.
The key to this plan is the five-member Orange County BOS. The
board needs to proactively facilitate not only what's best for
Orange County, but what's best for our nation's history. Given
recent events, however, we're doubtful that will hapen. After
all, this is the same board that voted 3-2 to fire the county
administrator after he publicly suggested an idea similar to the
one we just proposed.
With so much at stake, it's time for Orange County's elected leaders
to step up and do the right thing.
--(7) Editorial: Seek Compromise at Battle Site -----------------------------------------------------
Editorial: Seek Compromise at Battle Site
7/14/2009
Norfolk Virginian-Pilot (VA)
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/07/seek-compromise-battle-site
A modern-day battle at the Wilderness just got considerably wilder.
For months, a large group of historians - including best-selling
authors David M. McCullough and James McPherson - has been urging
Wal-Mart to reconsider plans to build a store less than a mile
from a national park commemorating the 1864 Battle of the Wilderness.
Now, as the Orange County Board of Supervisors nears a decision
on the project west of Fredericksburg, some unusual troop maneuvers
are taking place. The tactical strategy is rife for second-guessing.
After a closed meeting July 3, the board voted 3-2 to fire County
Administrator Bill Rolfe. The timing was interesting, to say the
least. Rolfe, an Old Dominion University grad who grew up in Portsmouth,
had recently sent board members an e-mail suggesting they seek
a compromise.
"The question that begs to be asked is, 'Why isn't the county
trying to broker a deal that keeps Wal-Mart in the county and
moves it further from the congressionally approved boundary line
of the Wilderness Battlefield?' Both would be in our best interest,"
Rolfe wrote to the board June 15, according to The (Fredericksburg)
Free Lance-Star.
Rolfe's critics on the board objected to his recommendation of
a specific site nearby for the Wal-Mart. They said other, unspecified
matters also played a role in his dismissal.
Some preservationists disliked the details of Rolfe's e-mail,
too. They say the site he pitched is still too close to the park.
But Rolfe's general call for a compromise was certainly reasonable
- one, in fact, that Wal-Mart accepted in the mid-1990s to end
a fight over plans for a store next to George Washington's boyhood
home at Ferry Farm, on the outskirts of Fredericksburg.
Orange officials would be wise to remember that bit of recent
history, as well as more distant history, before they rush to
approve a project that would do lasting damage to the county's
tourism appeal - and to a national landmark. All the combatants
involved need to find a solution that protects property rights
as well as the battlefield.
--(8) Nearly 150 Years Ago, Sketches Recorded Aftermath
of John Brown's Raid -----------------------------------------------------
Nearly 150 Years Ago, Sketches Recorded Aftermath of John Brown's
Raid
By Courtlin Hicks
7/13/2009
Charleston Daily Mail (WV)
http://www.dailymail.com/News/statenews/200907120271
Long before the advent of newspaper and magazine photography,
artists hastened by horseback or rail to scenes of important events
to sketch what was happening for readers of popular publications
such as Harper's Monthly.
One of the most talented artists of the mid-19th century was a
man born in 1816 in present-day West Virginia.
His name was David Hunter Strother, but he was known nationally
by his pen name, Porte Crayon.
This year marks the 150th anniversary of John Brown's Raid on
the federal armory at Harpers Ferry. The famous abolitionist's
small band of devotees failed in their attempt to spark an insurrection
among slaves, and Brown was eventually condemned to the gallows.
Strother recorded the historic event for posterity.
To commemorate the anniversary, Strother's sketches of the raid's
aftermath are on display in the J. Hornor Davis Family Galleries
at the Wise Library on West Virginia University's downtown campus.
The exhibit opened June 20 and will run through the fall.
Over a period of years, Strother's descendants donated a wealth
of the artist's visual treasures to WVU, said John Cuthbert, curator
of the West Virginia and Regional History Collection.
Strother was a wordsmith, too.
"He was among the most literate people of the era as well
as a skilled artist," Cuthbert said.
In addition to hundreds of drawings from Strother's lengthy career,
WVU possesses his diaries, manuscripts and letters, Cuthbert said.
"It's possibly our most valuable collection," he said.
The raid took place on Oct. 16, 1859, when Brown and 19 men stormed
the armory.
Strother arrived within 36 hours. It was by chance that he happened
to be so close to the action.
He was visiting a Charles Town woman who would later become his
second wife when he heard about the big news in Harpers Ferry,
according to historical accounts.
When authorities retook the armory on Oct. 18, Brown was beaten
in the head.
Strother gained access to Brown as he lie bleeding on the floor
of a makeshift jail and interviewed him even before authorities
did.
Strother remained in Harpers Ferry until Brown was hanged on Dec.
2.
According to the noted West Virginia historian Boyd Stutler, who
died in 1970, Harper's ran Strother's material for a few weeks
until a problem arose back in the home office in New York.
It turned out that Strother had come from a family of slaveholders,
and his objections to the prospect of emancipation colored his
work, his editors believed.
Harper's did not inform Strother of its decision, wrote Stutler,
a leading authority on the raid.
Strother therefore continued to report and draw throughout the
trial. His manuscripts and sketches were not published until 95
years after the fact.
In 1868, Strother gave a lecture about his impressions of the
historic event.
"It must be remembered that it was neither the popular hero,
nor the Prophet, that I saw between Oct. 18 and Dec. 2, 1859,
but simply John Brown, the man: overthrown, wounded, enfeebled,
exhausted - John Brown the Prisoner, clothed in rags and all his
human weakness - hedged about with hatred and observed with jealous
and unsympathetic scrutiny," Strother said.
When the Civil War broke out in 1861, the U.S. Army enlisted Strother
as a topographer because of his familiarity with the Shenandoah
Valley.
Over the next four years, he was at the scene of 30 battles and
dutifully recorded his impressions in a notebook.
In 1879, President Rutherford Hayes named Strother to be consul
general to Mexico. Six years later, he returned home to West Virginia.
In 1888, at the age of 71, he died in Martinsburg, which was also
his birthplace.
He was buried in Green Hill Cemetery, which he designed, drawing
inspiration from a graveyard he had seen during his travels in
France.
Strother was known for his landscapes during his early career,
so it is fitting that one of West Virginia's majestic mountains
is named for him.
Mount Porte Crayon is in Randolph County. With an elevation of
4,770 feet, it is the sixth highest point in the state.
--(9) An Inglorious Mess -----------------------------------------------------
An Inglorious Mess
By Schuyler Kropf
7/11/2009
Charleston Post and Courier (SC)
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/jul/12/an_inglorious_mess89002/
MORRIS ISLAND - This might be where the Civil War was fought,
but today's invaders are more likely to be armed with six-packs
and dressed in bathing suits.
A quarter-mile stretch of high ground called Cummings Point, just
beyond the shadow of Fort Sumter, has evolved into a weekend party
haven where beer is consumed by the caseload, dogs run free and
the girls sometimes go wild.
Problem is, some visitors don't seem much interested in cleaning
up their mess afterward.
July Fourth weekend was the worst.
"It was one huge frat party," said local marine scientist
Elizabeth Wenner.
Boats? "We stopped counting at 384," she said.
Crowd size? More than 1,500 people, she guessed.
Skin? One of the larger vessels featured an open-air exotic dancer's
pole.
Wenner isn't against fun. It's just that all those snack wrappers,
beach chairs and beer cans visitors carried in on the Fourth of
July were still there July 5, scattered across the dunes or left
to float in the marsh.
One ecologically minded group picked up at least 30 bags of trash
after the party was over. Their haul included stacks of broken
foam coolers. There were also reports of DJs and vendors coming
in offering drinks, hamburgers and burritos for sale.
Don't even get started about cigarette butts.
Fact is, Cummings Point, historic site or not, is where fun reigns
supreme - more than any other local boat-beach spot around. Charleston
owns most of that part of the island, buying it last year in a
preservation deal.
But the goal of keeping the island clean and pristine is getting
overshadowed by the weekend partiers, while various water patrol
agencies have been strapped to cover an increasingly dangerous
Charleston Harbor.
That's about to change. Fed-up with the holiday reports, local
police authorities and the state wildlife department plan to crack
down. Signs could go up as soon as this week warning against dogs
running loose, alcohol consumption and fireworks, just like in
every park in the city limits.
"The basic 'no-no' signs," said Lt. Chip Searson of
Charleston's police harbor patrol.
Police are looking at using undercover officers to make littering
and alcohol cases, a ticket that can prove expensive with fines
up to $520 and 40 hours of community service.
Some visitors just don't realize the historical value of where
they are, Searson said.
Though the island's footprint has shifted greatly since the Civil
War, Morris Island is where Fort Wagner once stood.
It housed Confederates protecting Charleston Harbor and was attacked
by the all-black 54th Massachusetts regiment famously depicted
at the end of the film "Glory."
Blake Hallman, of the Morris Island Coalition, said there's a
precedent for officials stepping in to police Charleston-area
boat destinations that get out of hand.
He pointed out a case on Capers Island, north of Dewees Island
near Bulls Bay. On Capers, authorities went undercover, made arrests
and brought back a sense of responsibility.
Visitors to Morris Island on Saturday were mixed on whether a
law enforcement crackdown is needed. Some said the problems only
occur during the summer's "Big Three" holidays - Memorial,
Independence and Labor days.
"It's not so much the locals, it's the tourists who are leaving
the trash," said Glenn Brown, of James Island, as he relaxed
with a cold beverage in his hand.
"Obviously it's coming from out of town," added his
buddy, Jay Edgerton of Mount Pleasant.
Claudette Humbert, who said she represents senior visitors, said
more policing is needed, pointing to the cussing and the heavy
drinking that goes on.
"You wonder how in the world some of them are going to get
back" to marinas and boat landings, she said.
John Maurillo of Hanahan said more policing is just recreational
overkill by the government and that most people behave themselves.
By 1 p.m. Saturday, there were about 40 boats anchored on the
Cummings Point beach. Signs of discarded trash were few, while
some dogs ran wild and sausages and hot dogs cooked on a portable
grill.
The biggest sightseeing draw included a bachelorette party of
girls in matching bikinis displaying an X-rated blow-up novelty
and a vendor riding a personal watercraft calling herself the
"Burrito Babe," selling burritos for $6 each.
She produced a business license from Mount Pleasant, but not one
from the city of Charleston, which governs the island.
Wenner, the marine scientist, said the issue is not cutting off
access to the island but trying to instill a dose of simple courtesy,
common sense and protection for Cummings Point for future generations.
"If they want to pack it in, let them take it out with them,"
she said of the garbage offenders. "It's our responsibility
not to leave that place trashed."
--(10) Wal-Mart Unmoved by Orange Land Offer -----------------------------------------------------
Wal-Mart Unmoved by Orange Land Offer
By Clint Schemmer and Robin Knepper
7/10/2009
Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star (VA)
http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/072009/07102009/478811
Eastern Orange County's largest landowner, the King family, has
made Wal-Mart an offer its members believe would defuse the national
controversy over the retailer's proposed store in the Wilderness
battlefield area.
The Kings would sell Wal-Mart its choice of land within the 2,100-plus
acres they own near State Routes 3 and 20 at the same price as
the site it has currently selected. They would also compensate
Wal-Mart for "reasonable" expenses run up in planning
the retail center, which is adjacent to the King property.
Historic preservationists oppose the site Wal-Mart has chosen,
saying it is too close to the Civil War battlefield park.
"We're willing to offer them a site at the same price they're
paying for their present location, less reasonable development
costs they have incurred to date," said Orange businessman
Kenny Dotson, the family's local representative. "We're willing
to give them a viable solution that wouldn't cost them any more
than the rezoning time involved."
Charles "Chip" King confirmed the offer during an interview
this week.
"The $64,000 question is, why wouldn't the [Board of Supervisors]
take a leadership role to work out a win-win solution that is
there for the asking?" he said.
The Kings extended the offer to Wal-Mart's Virginia Beach lawyer--orally
and in writing--through Dotson and their Culpeper attorney, John
J. "Butch" Davies III, in May and June. The attorney
has not responded to the family's offer, King said.
But Wal-Mart Director of Corporate Affairs Keith Morris said this
week that the company "reviewed the King property during
the original selection process and dismissed from consideration
because it is not zoned for commercial use."
Regardless, local, state and national preservation groups, working
together as the Wilderness Battlefield Coalition, still hope Wal-Mart--or
Orange officials who support the retail center's current proposed
site--will change their tune.
Since last summer, a rumpus has raged over Wal-Mart's proposal
to build a 138,000-square-foot Supercenter a quarter-mile from
Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. The store
would anchor a retail center planned by JDC Ventures of Vienna
on commercially zoned property just north of Route 3.
The Kings--who live in Maryland and Northern Virginia, but also
have a house in Spotsylvania County--own more than 2,100 acres
astride Wilderness Run in Orange and Spotsylvania counties, with
a mile of frontage on State Route 3 and two miles of riverfront
on the Rapidan River.
RETAILER WOULD GET ITS CHOICE OF STORE SITES
Selecting a location on the King property would be up to Wal-Mart,
Dotson said. The family's land is zoned for various uses.
"We are trying to give Wal-Mart a way out," Dotson said,
"but they feel they have a good, viable site, and three [Orange]
supervisors who have voiced their support."
The Kings said they'll work with all parties, including preservationists
and the National Park Service, to reach a solution that benefits
everyone.
The family's offer "has the potential of bringing together
all the groups," Davies said, "except the ones, such
as the [Piedmont Environmental Council], who don't want to see
any development at all in the county."
In April, the Kings joined with the coalition (minus the PEC)
to ask Orange and Wal-Mart to jointly plan the future of the Route
3 "gateway" in eastern Orange, seeking to balance their
interests with historic preservation and the county's desire for
economic develop-ment. Their offer of a collaborative planning
effort was swiftly rejected by several supervisors.
The county Board of Supervisors will hear public comment July
27 on JDC's request for a special-use permit that Orange requires
for "big box" stores of more than 60,000 square feet.
Members Mark Johnson, Zack Burkett and Teel Goodwin have publicly
indicated they favor Wal-Mart.
At least four major Route 3 landowners, including the Kings, have
approached Wal-Mart with other sites for its store.
But Davies said Wal-Mart's reasoning about the King land is, "Why
trade a piece of commercially zoned land for one that isn't? It's
like trading a small battle for a war."
Addressing that point, Dotson said, "Rezoning is part of
the formality, but it's just as cumbersome as getting the [big-box
permit], and the two could probably be gotten at the same time.
It comes down to what the county wants to do."
--(11) What's Still Great: Wal-Mart in the Wilderness -----------------------------------------------------
What's Still Great: Wal-Mart in the Wilderness
By Ben Stein
07/07/2009
The American Spectator (NAT)
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/07/07/wal-mart-in-the-wilderness
So, here I am at the Ponderay, Idaho Super Wal-Mart. It is beautiful.
They've totally redesigned it to be far more wide open, with immense
aisles, immaculately clean surfaces, and somehow still a fabulously
good selection of items.
Anyone who follows me even a little bit knows I am an extreme
fan of Wal-Mart, which basically adds several percentage points
of extra income to every worker's pay check by offering such low
prices as it does. Plus, the Wal-Mart is a friendly, upbeat shopping
experience. You leave the store feeling good.
But I am feeling a bit down about Wal-Mart and a super store it
is proposing in an area not far from Orange, Virginia. The problem
is that this particular store would be on land that is an important
part of the battlefield area of the crucial Battle of the Wilderness.
This battle, actually a series of battles, all important, was
fought in early May of 1864. It marked the first time that Robert
E. Lee and Ulysses Grant had fought each other.
It was a classic of the struggle that would go on between them
and their brave armies from then on until Appomattox. Lee showed
his characteristic imagination and unorthodox tactics to offset
his inferiority in manpower and materiel. Grant, every bit as
smart and capable, showed his determination to grind down the
Rebels no matter how costly in blood.
The battle was called the Battle of the Wilderness because it
was in a densely wooded area with thick, thorny underbrush that
made maneuver difficult and lessened Grant's numerical advantage.
Interestingly enough, it was only a few miles from where the famous
Battle of Chancellorsville was fought one year earlier. It was
there that Stonewall Jackson was accidentally shot by his own
men in an incident that ended his life and gravely harmed the
Confederate cause.
Historians generally consider the Wilderness a Lee tactical victory
because the Yankees withdrew from the battlefield. But in fact
it was the beginning of the end for Lee and Dixie because while
Grant withdrew, he moved his army in position for yet another
battle. Grant began the long, murderous process of endlessly drawing
a noose around Richmond and Lee's army, a noose that would eventually
hang the Confederacy. It has been reported that when the Union
troops saw that they were not going back to D.C. to regroup but
were moving to keep encircling Lee and keep him engaged, they
cheered.
It was a black moment for Lee for another reason. His top general
in the East, James Longstreet, was seriously wounded by his own
men -- accidentally -- and required convalescence for months.
This was a giant loss, especially after the loss of Jackson and
other top officers, that Lee could ill afford.
So, all in all, it was a major battle. About 16,000 Union soldiers
were killed, wounded, or captured by the Confederates. Maybe 10,000
Confederates were casualties or captured. In a ghastly "twist,"
after the first night of battle, a number of wounded from both
sides were burned to death when sparks ignited the dry brush between
enemy lines where they were lying.
Now, you would think that this ground would be sanctified by American
blood. And some of it is. About 20 percent of the battlefield
is a national park.
But most of it is in private hands. Some of it, some of the most
vital of it, has now been slated to be the home of a Wal-Mart
Super Store and several other stores possibly drawn there by Wal-Mart.
The Wal-Mart would be almost 140,000 square feet, not counting
parking. It would be right across the street from the park entrance.
It would be visible from much of the battlefield park.
Frankly, I wonder if the nice people in Arkansas who run Wal-Mart
have thought this through. This battlefield is incredibly important
environmentally and historically and emotionally. It reeks of
the blood of men fighting for causes they considered sacred. How
can it possibly be that it will be used even in part for a Wal-Mart
Super Store? Wal-Mart is a great American institution. I am, as
noted, about as devout a fan as there is in the national media.
But a store is a store and blood is blood.
There is plenty of other land in the area that is not historically
sensitive. There is ample precedent for commerce to be informed
by national emotion: Top brass at Walt Disney canceled its plans
for an amusement park at or near the Battlefield at Manassas when
its attention was drawn to the vital historical nature of the
area some years ago.
Wal-Mart has shown that it is flexible on a number of issues lately,
including employee health care. Now may be the time to show that
Wal-Mart has a heart as well as a calculator. The blood of those
men burned to death, shot through and through, some alive but
leaving without their limbs, in what is still America's greatest
tragedy, cries out for sanctity. I hope they can hear it in Northwest
Arkansas.
Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer living in
Beverly Hills and Malibu. He writes "Ben Stein's Diary"
for every issue of The American Spectator.
--(12) Editorial: Orange Supervisors Fire Administrator
for Talking Sense -----------------------------------------------------
Editorial: Exit with Honor Orange County Supervisors Fire Their
Administrator for Talking Good Sense
07/05/2009
Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star (VA)
http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/072009/07052009/477683
"PART of this position," former Orange County Administrator
Bill Rolfe said in connection with his recent e-mail to Orange
supervisors urging them to consider a more history-sensitive site
for a Wal-Mart store, "is throwing ideas to see if you get
any bites. I like to go fishing once in a while."
Alas, Mr. Rolfe will have lots of time to go fishing: The board,
meeting Friday night in special session, fired him on a 3-2 vote.
Evidently, some board members--most of whom favor allowing the
Wal-Mart Supercenter (and associated big boxes) on land near the
Wilderness component of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National
Military Park--suffered red faces and quivering wattles when the
contents of Mr. Rolfe's e-mail became front-page news in The Free
Lance-Star. A couple of board members reportedly critical of Mr.
Rolfe's overall performance seized upon the Wal-Mart memo as evidence
that a loose cannon was rolling around Orange. Truth and justice
have had better days, but the cold fact is that a county administrator
serves "at the pleasure of the board," and Mr. Rolfe
failed to keep his bosses pleased.
Keeping one's honor clean, as the Marines sing, is not always
easy, but Mr. Rolfe leaves the service of Orange County with his
spotless. He worked hard for two years to clear the bureaucratic
thicket for Wal-Mart, but then its location--at one point only
a quarter-mile from the national battlefield park and smack-dab
in non-park land where the warring armies operated--became a national
issue. Historians signed petitions. Out-of-state legislators whose
constituents' ancestors fought in the Wilderness raised a hue
and cry. Actor Robert Duvall (a descendent of Robert E. Lee, whom
Mr. Duvall portrayed in the movie "Gods and Generals")
declaimed. A thoughtful person at this point asks, "Might
these plaintiffs have a point?"
Mr. Rolfe is a thoughtful person, the more so after he read commentaries
in our June 14 Viewpoints section written by three local residents
involved in the successful effort, in the 1990s, to dissuade Wal-Mart
from building a store near George Washington's boyhood home in
Stafford County. The "Ferry Farm Wal-Mart" opened a
seemly piece from young George's home place, and Stafford County
still got the tax revenues it craved. In his e-mail, Mr. Rolfe
wondered why not do that here, garnering the same tax receipts
while also protecting the battlefield, a separate county resource
that pays dividends in tourism? He pointed to another Orange property
of 900 acres whose owners are champing at the bit to host development.
SCORNED PROPHET
But a prophet--or maybe just anyone with an ounce of smarts or
a gram of foresight--is, it seems, without honor in certain precincts
of Orange County. Sometimes he's even without a job.
Of all the 384 major armed conflicts of the War Between the States,
the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission--created by Congress to
help rescue "the nation's Civil War heritage" from the
"grave danger" of its disappearance "under buildings,
parking lots, and highways"--ranked just 45 as "having
a decisive influence on a campaign and a direct impact on the
course of the war." The Wilderness is one of them. Among
such "Class A" Civil War battlefields at national parks,
the Wilderness was one of 10 at which the commission put the threat
level from development as "high." Higher now, surely,
than then.
The Battle of the Wilderness, writes Virginia Department of Historic
Resources Director Kathleen Kilpatrick, spelled the beginning
of the end for the Confederacy by putting Lee permanently on the
defensive. The whole "study area" of operations, into
which a Supercenter and its retail retinue would crash like asteroids,
is preservation-worthy, says Ms. Kilpatrick, because its "roadways
along which troop movements occurred, terrain and land forms,
and waterways and fords" help tell the battlefield's story.
Further, "the preponderance of evidence indicates that this
[Wal-Mart] parcel figured directly in military operations of the
Confederate Army during the Battle of Chancellorsville and of
the Union Army during the Battle of the Wilderness."
Why would Orange supervisors not prefer a better Wal-Mart site?
People they can't fire are asking that question.
--(13) Opinion: Our American History is Disappearing Quickly-----------------------------------------------------
Opinion: Our American History is Disappearing Quickly
By Silvio Laccetti
7/3/2009
Philadelphia Inquirer (PA)
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20090703_Our_American_history_is_disappearing_quickly.html
The American nation is becoming a hazy abstraction. For first-generation
immigrants from across the world as well as the children of fourth-generation
American families down the block, it is divorced from a continuous,
meaningful past. American history is disappearing from the imagination
and the reality of new Americans.
Actually and symbolically, I felt and saw this during my recent
journey to Manassas National Battlefield Park in northern Virginia.
Within just a few miles of the park headquarters, not one adolescent
working in a gas station or convenience store could give me accurate
directions to the site. Older folks, however, were much more knowledgeable:
Make this left, go to the end, go left on 234, pass the mall,
headquarters is about two miles past the mall.
The Manassas Mall. Part of the problem for the new Americans is
that the mall blocks their imagination, like a wall that nothing
penetrates. I believe almost every adolescent American knows the
way to the local mall.
The first and most obvious reason the young can't locate the Manassas
battlefield is that their historical consciousness is obliterated
by the bombardment of sales celebrations and the mesmerizing array
of invented food, games, and gadgets found in any mall in our
land. Commercialism and excess are, after all, what America has
been all about since before the Great Depression. Lost in this
frenzy, especially for the youth, is the ability to cultivate
an appetite for history.
The battle of First Manassas - or First Bull Run, as it is called
in the North - was unique. Amazingly, this first major land battle
of the Civil War, on July 21, 1861, drew a large crowd of spectators
from Washington. Many thought it would end the nascent conflict
- a one-and-done affair. Not so!
The results and implications of the first battle of Bull Run should
be part of everyone's collective memory of what Americans have
gone through in order to perfect our union.
A second cause of the disappearance of American history is more
literal: the development of historic sites into malls, condos,
thoroughfares, and all manner of public works.
The Civil War Preservation Trust is one of many organizations
dedicated to saving historic battlefield sites from the mechanical
monsters of development. According to spokeswoman Mary Koik, it
has saved some 25,000 acres at 100 different sites.
Koik tells some harrowing tales about the elimination of hallowed
ground. In the early '90s, there was a plan to build a Disney
park near Manassas. Today's threat to the site is the intended
construction of a major power line through the park.
A Wal-Mart might be built across from the main entry point of
Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park in Virginia.
A garbage incinerator with a 350-foot smokestack was proposed
for Monocasy National Battlefield in northern Maryland. In Hunterstown,
Pa., a power plant covers half the field where Custer made an
early stand.
Pennsylvania's Gettysburg National Military Park has been on the
Civil War Preservation Trust's list of the top 10 endangered sites
for eight of the last nine years. One can take a picture there
of cannons appearing to shell a fast-food place across the way.
New development creeps to the edges of the new visitor center.
A big hotel hovers over the town's public cemetery.
In Richmond, Va., Nashville, Tenn., and Atlanta, historical-preservation
problems are especially acute, because these Sun Belt cities have
been growing at enormous rates, insatiably gobbling up land.
As America grows and consumes its places and spaces, history disappears
from the mind and the national landscape.
Of course, with proper educational and curricular emphasis, American
history could still live in the hearts and minds of all those
schooled in America. But there is now little time and much to
cover as a result of curriculum standards and No Child Left Behind
testing.
Still, the creative commitment of classroom history teachers can
help carve out a place for history in students' consciousness.
At the Stonewall Jackson Shrine in Guinea Station, Va., I had
an interesting lesson from Ryan Longfellow, a teacher and seasonal
guide at the site. He uses class trips to paint memories from
a Virginia landscape filled with historical treasures.
Even without nearby historical sites, the Internet and other resources,
such as the wonderful documentaries of Ken Burns, can bring history
alive for classes, developing special interests outside the required
curriculum and school hours.
Let's revive America's consciousness of itself. For the new generation
of schoolchildren, and for those to come, we must resolve to appreciate
and understand our common heritage. We must remember our past,
or we will lose our future.
In the log book at Manassas, visitors sign in with comments: "beautiful,"
"wonderful," "c-o-o-l." I signed without comment
and left. Then I walked back and wrote across from my name, "Will
the new people remember?"