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Preservation leader assails Wal-Mart plan

December 25, 2008 12:35 am

BY CLINT SCHEMMER

Richard Moe just waded into the Wilderness Wal-Mart controversy.

Moe, president of America's largest preservation organization, has come out guns blazing against the retailer's proposed big-box retail center and the adjacent Wilderness Crossing mixed-use development near the Civil War battlefield in eastern Orange County.

In his blog at preserva tionnation.org and in a Sunday op-ed piece in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the National Trust for Historic Preservation's leader draws attention to what he calls "an issue that should concern all Virginians."

Moe decries "commercial real estate speculators now pressuring elected officials in rural Orange County to approve plans for a bland but mammoth 145,000-square-foot Wal-Mart, a sea of parking, and a 900-acre business park and retail center with three more big-box stores.

"This cookie-cutter behemoth will sit just one-quarter mile from the main entrance to a unique treasure, the Wilderness battlefield," he wrote. " The proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter would severely degrade its historic wooded setting, drastically increase traffic through the heart of the national park, and promote additional commercial development."

Moe's comments are the first public remarks by a National Trust official on the issue, although the trust has for months been a member of the Wilderness Battlefield Coalition, the umbrella group leading opposition to major development at the gateway to Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.

Moe, the trust's chief since 1993, is a veteran of many preservation efforts, including a hard-fought Virginia campaign that garnered international attention. In that mid-1990s battle, Moe and his coalition partners eventually persuaded The Walt Disney Co. not to build its Disney's America theme park near Haymarket in western Prince William County.

More recently, he worked with philanthropist Paul Mellon and his estate to fund a $24 million restoration of Montpelier, President Madison's estate in Orange County. Earlier this year, Moe opened the newly restored Lincoln's Cottage in Washington, the summer home of the late president and his family.

CONCERN ABOUT TRAFFIC

Moe expressed alarm that traffic congestion generated by Wilderness Crossing and Wal-Mart's retail center may prompt the Virginia Department of Transportation to dust off a previously rejected plan to widen State Route 20 from two to four lanes through the park.

The National Trust and other preservation groups strongly oppose the road project. Moe noted that Orange Turnpike (now Route 20) was the scene of fierce fighting during the 1864 Battle of the Wilderness.

The Wilderness, where forces led by Gens. Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant first met in combat, was one of the Civil War's largest and most strategically significant battles. The Union and Confederate armies suffered 29,000 casualties. The engagement began Grant's Overland Campaign, which ended with Lee's surrender at Appomattox.

Moe said the battlefield park is a prime destination in the Journey Through Hallowed Ground, which Congress designated a National Heritage Area this year and the National Trust named one of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in 2005.

Speaking for the trust and its allies, Moe urged Orange County's elected officials to reject current plans for the Wal-Mart and neighboring business park.

The interlocking, 2.6 million-square-foot developments would "undermine local efforts to generate much-needed revenue from tourism," which benefits county businesses, he said.

The battlefield is Orange County's most popular tourism site, drawing more than 100,000 visitors a year. Montpelier, owned by the National Trust, is the second most visited site.

"Oversized commercial growth adjacent to a unique and irreplaceable preserved landscape risks the authenticity of the battlefield viewshed and erodes the experience of those visiting the historic site," Moe said.

URGING ANOTHER SITE

Earlier this month, 253 historians--including David McCullough, James McPherson, Edwin Bearss and Ken Burns--implored Wal-Mart to move its retail center farther away from The Wilderness.

Moe noted that Orange's land-use plan states the importance of conserving the county's rural character by limiting sprawl and preserving historic areas. Last year, the Board of Supervisors revised the plan to discourage development necessitating "construction of a four-lane highway over any portion of Route 20 in Orange County."

Preservationists say they are not opposed to commercial growth in the area, but contend the Wilderness Corner projects threaten the nation's heritage. "There are many other potential sites for Wal-Mart to develop, but only one Wilderness battlefield," the trust's Web site asserts.

Wal-Mart spokesman Keith Morris said earlier this month that the company recognizes the battlefield's significance and agrees that it should be preserved. But he noted that two convenience stores and a McDonald's restaurant are already situated near the park at the Wilderness Corner junction.

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