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The Civil War Preservation Trust owns Slaughter Pen farm. But what happens next? Date published: 7/13/2006
By RUSTY DENNEN Now that the Civil War Preservation Trust has acquired a key tract of land connected to the Battle of Fredericksburg, it can begin planning how the property can be used and how to make it accessible to the public. The Washington-based nonprofit trust bought the 205-acre Slaughter Pen farm last month for $12 million--the highest price it has ever paid for a chunk of Civil War land. Aside from raising an unprecedented amount of money, the nation's largest battlefield preservation group now has the responsibility for preserving and interpreting more hallowed ground. Donors with deep pockets are getting a look at the property east of Shannon Airport, but little else is happening--for now--says Jim Campi, spokesman for the trust. "Right now, we're just focused on paying for it all, and we haven't had time to focus on those discussions," Campi said. "We're doing some very limited conducted tours of the property. But there are no interpretive signs or anything out there, so people can't really learn much about the battle or the history out there," he said. In addition, much of the property is being cultivated and can't be used. That will be changing. "Our immediate goal is to come up with some kind of interpretive plan for the property, similar to what's being done at the former Mullins Farm," Campi said. The trust last year purchased 140 acres on the Chancellorsville battlefield in Spotsylvania County outside the National Park Service boundary. There, in a project that will cost close to $1 million, the trust is building four to five miles of trails and is planning interpretive signs and exhibits to provide details about the battle and explain the significance of the site. CWPT also is building a system of interpretive trails on property it acquired on the site of the Battle of Third Winchester in the Shenandoah Valley. Some of that trail is paved and there is handicapped access. "That will probably come in at around $700,000," Campi said. The trust pools members' donations with state and federal grants to pay for trails and interpretive programs.
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