The last column standing at Ground Zero. (Credit: National September 11 Memorial and Museum)

Just a few days ago, Save America’s Treasures (SAT) announced a $200,000 federal challenge grant to conserve the now-iconic “Last Column”—the final steel structure removed from Ground Zero during the 9/11 rescue effort.  At 36 feet tall, weighing 58 tons, and covered in spray-paint and tributes from rescue workers, construction teams and family members, it has become a major artifact reflecting the sacrifices of so many, and the strength and resilience found in unity during the aftermath. The column will be a major element of the new National September 11 Memorial and Museum.  Since its removal from Ground Zero in 2002, the steel column and each of the 82 photographs, notes, memorial posters and Mass cards have been stored and protected in a climate-controlled facility at Hangar 17 at New York’s JFK Airport. This past August, the “Last Column” became the first artifact returned to the museum site for installation within a special encasement where it will be assessed, conserved and monitored.

Save America’s Treasures is a national public-private partnership dedicated to ensuring a brighter future for our past.  It includes the National Trust for Historic Preservation as principal private partner, and the National Park Service, the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, the two National Endowments, and the Institute for Museum and Library Services.  This grant to the “Last Column” is one of 42 nationally significant historic structures, artifacts and collections selected to receive a 2009 award through Save America’s Treasures.

Administered by our federal partners, on December 11th Save America’s Treasures announced $9.5 million in grants to address the preservation/conservation needs of some of our nation’s most storied places. The “Last Column” joins the Old Naval Hospital on Washington’s Capitol Hill, Newport’s Stanford White Casino Theatre, Tufts University’s “This I Believe” Collection, Raices Latin Music collection, Santa Fe’s San Miguel Chapel and many others. In just 10 years, this national partnership has awarded over $350 million in federal matching grants and private contributions to address the enormous preservation backlog.

World Trade Center Model (Credit: Lee Stalworth)

Having worked closely with the 9/11 Museum on this and other important projects, we at the National Trust’s SAT program were especially pleased to learn of this recognition and support for the “Last Column.”  Back in 2002, Save America’s Treasures partnered with the American Architectural Foundation (AAF) and ALCOA to fund the conservation of the Yamasaki World Trade Center architectural model—the last authentic 3-dimensional representation of the complex. Last year, the AAF announced its loan of the model to the Museum, where it will occupy a central place in the exhibition that tells the World Trade Center story. Save America’s Treasures secured a pledge of the required funds from its partner organization Tourism Cares, for the model’s encasement, presentation and interpretation.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation also joined with its preservation partners to save the stunning Vesey Street Staircase, down which hundreds of people escaped during the attacks.  Known as the “Survivors’ Staircase,” it was threatened with demolition until the National Trust named it to its 2006 list of 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.  As with the “Last Column” and the World Trade Center model, the Vesey Staircase will hold a special place in the new Museum.

Save America’s Treasures at the National Trust is honored to partner with the National September 11 Memorial and Museum where artifacts, oral histories, documents and displays will pay tribute and convey the tragic 9/11 story of loss and recovery.

Fiona Lawless is the program manager for Save America’s Treasures at the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Bucktown United Methodist Church

As the Eastern Shore Field Director for Preservation Maryland, I cover a beautiful and fragile region known as Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Known as the ‘Bread Basket of the Nation’, in Washington’s day, it is one of the few remaining places where one can literally walk through the colonial landscape as it was seen hundreds of years ago. There are many small ‘cross road’ vernacular towns and an abundance of colonial era farm and manor houses that dot the broad landscape.

As a rural agricultural region, it faces many threats, primarily development pressure from the surrounding cities of Washington DC, Baltimore and Philadelphia. We serve as a tempting resource for developers as well as utility companies, who see the opportunity to capitalize on the incredible growth projected for the region over the next twenty years. What ensues is a hard fight from conservation and preservation organizations to protect and conserve as much of our landscape as they can and help guide our local governments to construct comprehensive plans and employ cutting edge land use policies that reflect the goals of sustainable development and Smart Growth.

Proposed MAPP transmission lines

When I began my position in February of 2009, I immediately began working on one of the most pressing issues facing the Eastern Shore in Dorchester County, the Maryland Power Pathway Project or MAPP for short. The national utility company Pepco is proposing a massive extra high voltage 150 foot, 75-foot wide transmission line that would originate at the nuclear power facility at Calvert Cliffs, travel underneath the Chesapeake Bay and surface at Taylors Island in Dorchester County. These transmission towers will then proceed to cross 27 miles of pristine countryside and require rights-of-ways that will consume 650 acres of Dorchester’s agricultural, forest and rural lands.

Unfortunately, the enabling legislation that was passed by Congress as a provision of the 2005 Energy Act “precludes meaningful federal protection for historic resources as mandated by the National Historic Preservation Act and National Environmental Policy Act.” In 2007 the National Trust for Historic Preservation recognized this incredible and ominous threat and nominated the ‘Historic Places in Transmission Line Corridors” to their 11 Most Endangered List.

Harriet Tubman

A Special Resource Study completed by the National Park Service in 2008, has determined that the proposed park area meets all the criteria as a National Historic Landmark based on the significance and integrity of its cultural landscape. The stunning part is, that what you begin to realize, is that the proposed route of the MAPP transmission line is going to walk clear across the heart of this national treasure. The National Historic Landmark designation is important, because is by far the most powerful tool for requiring the utility company to have to potentially jog the line to avoid directly impacting the cultural resources.

Blackwater

My field office is housed with the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, a successful, forward-thinking land trust organization who I work closely with on many shared initiatives. They hold conservation easements that fall in the proposed route of the transmission line and their outstanding advocacy efforts against this threat have been well under way for over a year. We have worked closely with the Dorchester Citizens for Safe Energy, a citizen activist group who has retained a specialized consultant that assists them in their advocacy efforts. They have put a tremendous amount of effort in calling attention to the actual process that the State of Maryland and the Public Service Commission must review and approve before a project like this is allowed to move forward.

We have worked hard to highlight the threat in the media, joined in a speakers series to educate and engage county residents and participated as a consulting party in the process. In July, Preservation Maryland, the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy and the National Trust signed a joint letter with more than 20 other organizations to Governor Martin O’Malley calling for a comprehensive review process to be implemented for all linear energy projects proposed for Maryland.

I believe that nothing mobilizes people like the threat of losing something they truly value. The imminent threat of this power line has galvanized all residents of Dorchester, watermen, farmers and others, to stand up and fight for their home. As preservationists, we have a rare chance to speak with an audience whose minds are open to learning about new tools and measures that will help them preserve their county. For the first time, they can appreciate that historic preservation and strong land use ordinance are powerful tools that can help them, rather than hinder them, to keep control in the hands of county residents.

Historical markers at the former Brodess Farm

Dorchester County is an illustrative example of the threats that historic communities are facing, and the importance of preservation as a tool to guide and control growth in rural areas. The residents here never imagined that it would be their heritage resources that would provide a new and powerful revenue stream for the county. They have successfully protected this land for hundreds of years, but now they face new threats that endanger these resources forever. If this power line goes through, they could face a tremendous explosion in growth that can only be mitigated by enacting strong land use and preservation ordinance now.

At the same time, more than 75,000 heritage tourists are expected to visit Dorchester in the first year of the opening of the Harriet Tubman National Historic Park. The county has no choice but to address the need for services that those tourists will bring, while protecting the heritage resources that brought them there to begin with. It is exciting to see them realize that the classic tools of historic preservation play a critical in their ability to maintain their sense of place. This is not the last threat that Dorchester will face, but it could set the tone for future battles to be fought and won here.

For more information and resources on the Maryland Power Pathway Project, please visit www.eslc.org.

Elizabeth Beckley is the Eastern Shore Field Director for Preservation Maryland and the National Trust For Historic Preservation.

There’s encouraging news for advocates of historic windows, energy efficiency, and sustainability from the City of Baltimore. The city is helping qualified residents with high utility bills save on energy through a federally funded weatherization program. Baltimore projects that the $15 million in weatherization funds will help 700 families per year lower their monthly energy bills. The program provides energy audits as well as building improvements such as fixing malfunctioning furnace and water heaters and adding insulation to areas where energy is commonly lost like attics. Baltimore’s program is using stimulus dollars to support preservation objectives, create jobs and save energy — a central message of the ongoing Perfect Storm effort .

Importantly… what the program will not do is use the funds for replacement windows. The city has found the energy saving benefits of replacement windows to be misleading. Michael A. Lafferty, a city Department of Housing and Community Development buildings superintendent, says, “It takes 90 years on average to pay back the cost of a replacement window.”

Congratulations are in order for Baltimore for recognizing that replacement windows are often not the solution to improving energy efficiency in older buildings. Unfortunately too many are still in the dark about the important role original windows have in the operating efficiency of buildings. This is why efforts have been made on our part to launch programs such as the Weatherization Guide to educate homeowners on ways to improve energy efficiency in their homes without sacrificing the historical integrity.

Baltimore’s program is a step in the right direction for both historic preservation and sustainability — here’s hoping this is the beginning of a trend.

Adam Szymkowiak is an intern in the State and Local Policy office at the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Today, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, local Friends of Wilderness Battlefield, and six individual residents of Orange and Spotsylvania counties in Virginia filed a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Orange County to challenge the local government’s August 2009 approval of a 240,000-square-foot big-box development that will harm the historic Wilderness Battlefield and encroach upon the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park.

>> View the Official Announcement from the National Trust

The National Trust and its allies do not oppose economic growth in Orange County. In fact, we have offered to help Orange County plan for a sustainable balance of economic development and historic preservation at the gateway to the National Park.

However, if it’s built, the infamous “Wilderness Wal-Mart” project would quadruple commercial development at the intersection of Routes 3 and 20 and, thereby, compound earlier land-use planning errors at the gateway to the National Park. Inevitably, the project would open the door to more incompatible development, urbanize this vulnerable historic place, and undermine the visitor’s experience of the battlefield and National Park. Preservationists have made it clear that the consequences of Wal-Mart’s project will foreclose the National Park Service’s ability to properly preserve this nationally-significant site and to interpret critical events that changed the course of American history.

That’s why the National Trust and thousands of other concerned Americans have asked Wal-Mart to relocate its planned store to another site in Orange County but away from the battlefield and National Park.

Click here to view the official announcement, and please stay tuned to PreservationNation.org as we continue to monitor this important issue.

Rob Nieweg is the Director of the Southern Field Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Shortly after 1:00 am this morning (August 25, 2009) the Orange County (VA) Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to approve a plan to build 240,000 square feet of big-box development within the historic boundaries of Wilderness Battlefield and immediately adjacent to the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park. The infamous “Wilderness Wal-Mart” is a joint project of Wal-Mart, JDC Ventures LLC of Vienna, Virginia, and 3 & 20 Limited Partnership of Burke, Virginia. Attorney Thomas Kleine of Troutman Sanders represents Wal-Mart and its partners.

Orange County Supervisors Lee Frame, Teel Goodwin, Mark Johnson, and Zack Burkett voted to approve Wal-Mart’s special use permit. Only Supervisor Teri Pace voted against the proposal. The Board’s vote to approve the special use permit surprised no one familiar with the controversial issue. In fact, a majority of the Board has publicly supported Wal-Mart’s project for many months.

Unfortunately, Wal-Mart’s proposal has polarized the Orange County community. One camp supports big-box development on the proposed site regardless of the cost. Another camp supports economic development coupled with battlefield preservation.

More than 100 people spoke during the public hearing. Most of those local residents who spoke in favor apparently see Wal-Mart’s planned Superstore as the cure for Orange County’s current economic troubles. Wal-Mart’s local public relations blitz has promised Orange County jobs, tax revenue, and convenient shopping.

The contentious public hearing, which began at 6:00 pm on August 24, was held in a sweltering high school auditorium and was reminiscent of recent town hall meetings on health care reform. Over the weak objections of Chairman Lee Frame, the audience responded to pro-Wal-Mart testimony with applause and to pro-preservation testimony with cat calls. By contrast, the local Planning Commission held two remarkably civil public hearings on this matter without the distraction of disruptive behavior.

To many, the Board of Supervisors seemed ill-prepared for the public hearing. In their comments, Supervisors Mark Johnson and Zack Burkett repeatedly signaled their resentment at outsiders and those who disagree with Burkett and Johnson’s support for Wal-Mart. As today’s Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star makes clear, Supervisor Johnson utterly dismissed the perspective and credibility of those seeking to protect the National Park by shifting Wal-Mart and large-scale commercial development elsewhere in Orange County.

Testimony in favor of battlefield preservation was given last night by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and its allies, including the Civil War Preservation Trust, Piedmont Environmental Council, National Parks Conservation Association, Preservation Virginia, and Friends of Wilderness Battlefield. The Board of Supervisors allowed just three minutes each for input from the National Park Service and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation opposes the flawed proposal because it will spark more incompatible commercial sprawl, harm Wilderness Battlefield, and radically urbanize the rural gateway to the National Park.

Preservationists do not oppose economic growth in Orange County but have asked Wal-Mart to relocate its store to one of many alternative sites in Orange County but away from the battlefield and National Park.

Representatives of the National Trust for Historic Preservation have met on the historic battlefield with senior executives from Wal-Mart to be certain they understand what’s at stake in Orange County.

Now the fate of this critical corner of Wilderness Battlefield is in the hands of Wal-Mart CEO Michael Duke. We urge all friends of Civil War heritage to email Mr. Duke and ask him to reconsider Wal-Mart’s flawed plan to develop hallowed ground.

Rob Nieweg is the Director of the Southern Field Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Written by Rob Nieweg

Last night the Planning Commission for Orange County, Virginia, met to consider an application for a special use permit to construct 240,000 square feet of big box development within the historic boundaries of Wilderness Battlefield and immediately adjacent to the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park. The proposed development is a project of Wal-Mart, JDC Ventures LLC of Vienna, Virginia, and 3 & 20 Limited Partnership of Burke, Virginia. This is not a “by-right” development; Wal-Mart and its partners must secure a special use permit to obtain the right to construct its planned cluster of large-scale commercial buildings.

To the surprise of many in the audience, after a civil three-hour public hearing, the Planning Commission voted 4-4 on a motion to approve Wal-Mart’s application. As the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star reported today, “The Orange County Planning Commission reversed itself last night, effectively voting to recommend denial of a plan for a Wal-mart Supercenter in the Wilderness Battlefield area. The commission split 4-4 on a motion to recommend approval of JDC Ventures’ application for a special-use permit. Because the motion did not pass, it is the same as a denial, County Attorney Sharon Pandak explained to the commissioners.”

This was the second time that the local Planning Commission heard public comment and voted regarding Wal-Mart’s plan.  The Planning Commission’s first public hearing and vote to approve Wal-Mart’s application were invalidated when Wal-Mart discovered a procedural irregularity. That is, Orange County had failed to properly advertise the Planning Commission’s first public hearing.

On August 20th, during last night’s properly advertised hearing, thirty-two people testified before the Planning Commission, including twenty-one who spoke in opposition to the infamous Wilderness Wal-Mart. The National Trust for Historic Preservation testified against Wal-Mart’s plan because large-scale commercial development is wholly incompatible with this highly significant historic location. In our view, the tie vote is a setback for Wal-Mart and its partners, who have maintained that the Planning Commission’s first vote, in favor of the proposed development, was an indication of local public support.

When they cast their votes, the four planning commissioners who opposed Wal-Mart’s application expressed their grave concerns that the proposed big box development is contrary to Orange County’s comprehensive plan, that 240,000 square feet of commercial buildings would radically urbanize the rural gateway to the National Park, and that the people of Orange County want Wal-Mart to relocate its planned Superstore to another site away from the battlefield and National Park. One commissioner observed that the tie vote reflected the split of opinion among Orange County residents regarding this controversial issue.

Pursuant to local law the Orange County Board of Supervisors now will make the final decision regarding Wal-Mart’s application. The supervisors may disregard the Planning Commission’s vote. And, a majority of the Board of Supervisors already has expressed support for Wal-Mart’s application in January 2009, four months before Wal-Mart submitted its completed application in April 2009. In fact, according to the August 14, 2009 edition of The Boston Globe, one of the Supervisors likened the concept of local government acting to limit private commercial development to “fascism.”

As of now, the Board of Supervisors is scheduled to convene a public hearing Monday, August 24th to consider Wal-Mart’s application. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, local members of the National Trust, and the Wilderness Battlefield Coalition will participate in the public hearing.

Ultimately, of course, it is Wal-Mart which has the power to reverse course and relocate to an alternative site. Please join us by contacting Wal-Mart’s CEO Michael Duke to ask him to preserve Civil War history by selecting another site away from Wilderness Battlefield. As one planning commissioner said last night, “Wal-Mart, it’s not too late to be a hero.”

Learn more about the ongoing battle over the Wilderness Battlefield.

Rob Nieweg is the director of the Southern Field Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The long-awaited public hearing was canceled because Orange County had failed to provide adequate public notice of the local Planning Commission’s May 21, 2009 public hearing about the infamous “Wilderness Wal-Mart.” According to today’s Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, the County’s procedural irregularity was discovered by Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is represented by Thomas C. Kleine, Esq. of Troutman Sanders LLP.

Now the Board of Supervisors has voted to reschedule its public hearing on Wal-Mart to August 24, 2009. However, the Board of Supervisors cannot proceed on August 24 if the local Planning Commission does not first properly advertise and hold its re-scheduled public hearing and make its recommendation to the Board before August 24. August 20 is the likely date of the Planning Commission’s public hearing.

Local members of the National Trust for Historic Preservation are concerned that Orange County’s last-minute cancellation will undermine public debate and discourage public comment at the delayed hearings. Nevertheless, it is widely understood that the Board of Supervisors intends to approve Wilderness Wal-Mart. In fact, according to news reports, a majority of the Board of Supervisors — Mark Johnson, Zack Burkett and Teel Goodwin — already have publicly declared their strong support for Wal-Mart’s proposal at a January 2009 open meeting.

The July 29th edition of the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star also features an op-ed by local resident Curtis Abel entitled “Will Orange build an altar to gods of ugliness.”

Mr. Abel’s opinion piece observes:

This is not just about Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is only the beginning of a commercial-development blitz that, if unchecked, will permanently transform the character of eastern Orange County and the Route 3 corridor. Growth may be inevitable, even desirable, but the county must put proper planning measures in place and proceed with an overall vision for what an ideal Route 3 will look like in 10 or 20 years. … Commercial development and historic resources can peacefully coexist, but this requires advance planning and recognition that these unique sites can be economic engines in their own right. To learn what not to do, we must only look east along Route 3. In just a few decades, the Salem Church battlefield has been obliterated by sprawl to the extent that few National Park visitors eager to learn about Civil War history even notice the site of conflict. This hallowed ground has been reduced to a few scant monuments surrounded by retailers’ marquees. Those few who do stop to tour the [Salem Church] site find it all but impossible to understand of the battle’s context. All sense of time and place has been lost. … County leaders have the opportunity to embrace the ideals of balance and smart growth, becoming a model for compatible development near America’s national parks and other priceless treasures. But if they are to rise to the challenge, they must start now, by finding a better location for Wal-Mart. Otherwise, a disastrous precedent will be set, and Orange County will be doomed to a future of haphazard sprawl.

Please take a moment to email and ask Wal-Mart to relocate its planned development to an alternative site in Orange County but away from the battlefield and National Park.

Rob Nieweg is the Director of the Southern Field Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has learned that the Orange County (VA) Board of Supervisors has abruptly canceled tonight’s public hearing regarding the infamous “Wilderness Wal-Mart.” Wal-Mart has applied for a special use permit to construct 240,000 square feet of big box development on Wilderness Battlefield and adjacent to the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park.

A press release this afternoon from Julie Jordan, Orange County’s acting County Administrator, indicates that the County failed to properly advertise the mandatory public notice of the local Planning Commission’s May 21, 2009 public hearing about Wal-Mart’s proposed development.  Apparently the County had no choice but to go back to square one and re-advertise and re-convene both the required public hearings, before the local Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors.

Members and friends of the National Trust are encouraged to email and ask Wal-Mart to relocate its planned development to an alternative site in Orange County but away from the battlefield and National Park.

Rob Nieweg is the Director of the Southern Field Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Which Wal-Mart lesson applies to Orange?

In certain instances, Wal-Mart collaborated with preservationists, [Paul Bruhn, executive director of the Preservation Trust of Vermont] said. The Vermont trust took Wal-Mart officials on a tour of the state to show them what it thought were suitable, compromise locations.

That’s how the Rutland site was chosen–with the governor’s backing. “That’s proven to be a good store for Wal-Mart,” Bruhn said.

Orange, arise:

The Union and Confederate armies suffered around 29,000 casualties in the Wilderness–by coincidence, almost exactly the population of today’s Orange County. If each American who died, bled, or disappeared in the Wilderness maelstrom audibly called out from the consecrated earth for remembrance, he would find an Orange resident, all his own, to hear his message

…

From Gordonsville and Locust Grove, from the town of Orange to Barboursville, let every county beneficiary of heroes’ striving turn out to oppose this location for a shopatropolis. Let county members of the NAACP join with Sons of Confederate Veterans, small businesspersons with school teachers, yellow-dog Democrats with run-mad Republicans, natives with transplants to say, “Somewhere else.” Let them leave no doubt, however their representatives vote, what an aroused Orange County thinks about this ill-conceived plan.

The Free Lance-Star is only one voice in a growing chorus asking Wal-Mart to do the right thing — and you can make your voice heard, too.  Email Wal-Mart President and CEO Michael T. Duke and ask him to use an alternate location for their proposed Supercenter that would not threaten our nation’s heritage.

Sarah Heffern is the content manager for PreservationNation.org.

Click here to ask Wal-Mart to find an alternate site.

As we’ve reported, Wal-Mart wants to build 240,000 square feet of big-box development within the boundaries of Wilderness Battlefield and just across the road from the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park in Orange County, Virginia.

We’re very grateful that Virginia’s Governor Tim Kaine believes Wilderness Battlefield is “supremely important” and that he has “strongly encouraged” Wal-Mart to find an alternative site away from the battlefield and National Park. Why isn’t Wal-Mart listening?

Wal-Mart’s project would irrevocably harm the battlefield, undermine the visitor’s experience of the National Park, and open the door for more incompatible large-scale development at this vulnerable site. That’s why preservationists have asked Wal-Mart to relocate the planned development to another site in Orange County away from the battlefield and National Park.

Unfortunately, the local Board of Supervisors is likely to approve Wal-Mart’s proposal in late July 2009. However, it is in Wal-Mart’s power to change their plans and relocate the planned development.   Click here to send an email to ask Wal-Mart’s CEO Michael T. Duke to protect Wilderness Battlefield.

Wal-Mart plans to build on a highly significant Civil War battlefield.

MYTH – “’We recognize the significance of the Wilderness Battlefield, but we are not building on the battlefield,’ said Keith Morris, a spokesman for the world’s largest retailer.” Associated Press, January 2, 2009.

FACT – “The proposed Wal-Mart development site is located entirely within the boundaries of the Chancellorsville and Wilderness Battlefields.” Kathleen Kilpatrick, Virginia State Historic Preservation Officer, June 8, 2009.

Wal-Mart’s development would be plainly visible from the National Park.

MYTH – “’We’ve gone to great lengths to try to work with residents, county planners, state officials to come up with a very unique design that fits within the unique character of Orange County Wilderness. And we’ve built the store to be furthest back from the site as possible. You won’t be able to see it from any of the battlefield park,’ said Keith Morris, Wal-Mart’s public affairs director.” abcnews.com, May 24, 2009.

FACT — “It has been claimed that the proposed development will not be visible from within the boundaries of the Park, particularly from Ellwood Manor. This is untrue. The Park extends all the way to the Route 3 and 20 intersection. The development will be obviously visible from there.” Russ Smith, Superintendent of Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, May 20, 2009.

Wal-Mart has been offered alternative sites for its big-box development in Orange County but away from the battlefield and National Park.

FACT – “’I asked a real estate agent to talk to Wal-Mart,’ Azimipour said recently. ‘He told me that Wal-Mart was only interested in the property they had and if it didn’t work out, they were out of Orange.’” Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, June 10, 2009, quoting Mansour Azimipour, president, A&K Development.

FACT – “Orange County builder John Marcantoni has put an offer on the table that he wants the county and Wal-Mart to consider. He recently contacted both parties to invite Wal-Mart to locate on 75 acres along State Route 3 west of Lake of the Woods. … Marcantoni said yesterday that he had not received a reply from Orange County or Wal-Mart.” Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, June 26, 2009.

FACT – “At least four major Route 3 landowners, including the Kings, have approached Wal-Mart with other sites for its store.” Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, July 10, 2009.

FACT — Wal-Mart is fixed on its current proposed site: “‘It’s the only site we’ve identified that we’ll move forward with,’ said Keith Morris, a spokesman for the company.” Richmond Times Dispatch, July 13, 2009.

UGLY TRUTH – On July 3, 2009, the Board of Supervisors abruptly fired Bill Rolfe, Orange County Administrator, “after the supervisors expressed their displeasure at an e-mail he had sent them on June 15, suggesting there was a better location for the proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter than on land near the Wilderness Battlefield. … In his e-mail, Rolfe told supervisors that it would be in the best interests of the county for them to ‘broker a deal that keeps Wal-Mart in the County and moves it away from the congressionally-approved boundary line of the Wilderness Battlefield.’” Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, July 4, 2009.

Click here to tell Wal-Mart you know the truth and to ask them to protect Wilderness Battlefield.

Rob Nieweg is the Director of the Southern Field Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.