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Wilderness makes 'endangered' list
Academy Award winner Richard Dreyfuss brings star power to historic preservation; Wilderness battlefield controversy draws national attention
Date published: 3/19/2009
By CLINT SCHEMMER WASHINGTON--It shared billing with 24 other battlefields, but the Wilderness got plenty of play yesterday as preservationists spotlighted America's most endangered Civil War sites. The battlefield in Orange and Spotsylvania counties was mentioned several times as the Civil War Preservation Trust briefed the media on its 2009 "History Under Siege" report at a National Press Club news conference headlined by Oscar-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss. It was the first historic site that CWPT President James Lighthizer named as he released the trust's yearly top-10 list of the nation's most threatened battlefields. The trust also announced 15 "at-risk" battlefields. Wilderness exemplifies how some national battlefield parks face grave challenges from outside their boundaries, Lighthizer said. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. proposes to build a 138,000-square-foot Supercenter on commercially zoned land within a quarter-mile of the Wilderness battle sites preserved by Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. The trust and its allies say the Wal-Mart, anchoring other retail projects, will encourage sprawl at the gateway to the park and pour heavy traffic onto State Route 20, the heart of the battlefield. "[The Wilderness] was a horrific battle, with tremendous slaughter, and yet the Wal-Mart corporation proposes building a monstrosity of a big box on the battlefield, though it's not on National Park Service land," Lighthizer told the standing-room-only crowd. "At the very least, it's going to denigrate that battlefield. And at the very worst, it's going to destroy part of it. Something proposed even on the outside of land already preserved can be a serious threat." Maryland's Monocacy national battlefield, threatened by a proposed waste incinerator and its 200-foot-tall smokestack, falls in the same category, Lighthizer said. But Dreyfuss stole the show, as the trust's chief readily admitted. "This is like a parallel universe for me because I love history as much as I love acting," Dreyfuss said. "Had I not been an actor, I would have been a history teacher, and that's that."
Date published: 3/19/2009
The land where my ancestors
(posted by
KiknBac
, Mar. 20, 2009 5:48 pm)
grew up has already been pave dover in the rush to build 1000's of homes along route 3 from Fred'bg. At the 3/20 intersection, there aree already strip malls, convenience stores, and even a liqour store. Where were the preservationists when all this was being built? The Civil War ended over 200 years ago, let the past go. We nee dto worry about the future incl job opportunities for everyone. WalMart can be held accountable for how the store looks and blends with the environment. I say build it.
Of course the land is "endangered"
(posted by
jasonmva
, Mar. 20, 2009 9:45 am)
the war ended how many years ago with the North winning? Can't that fact be accepted and move on or are you throughly convinced the South is just on hiatus.
More on Walmart...
(posted by
sparky507
, Mar. 20, 2009 9:19 am)
Retail giant Wal-Mart will hand out its largest annual award -- $2 billion -- which includes bonuses to every part-time and full-time hourly employee.
The $2 billion includes 401k contributions, about $1 billion in profit-sharing, millions of dollars in merchandise discounts and $933 million in bonuses. The average cash bonus for employees will be $667.
It does not help to have the anti-WalMart forces involved in this either
(posted by
larryg
, Mar. 20, 2009 6:45 am)
There are folks who don't like WalMart that don't give a
whit about Historic Preservation including efforts to find
compromise and their involvement is unhelpful to those
who want to find a better outcome that must involve
compromise.
I think the way this is being portrayed regionally and
nationally - ultimately HARMS the cause of historic
preservation when people find out about the existing
development that is often not even shown on the maps
that seek to show how WalMart "threatens" the battlefield.
"too close" and "too late"
(posted by
larryg
, Mar. 20, 2009 6:36 am)
If Route 3 and Route 20 did not already have a 7-11, Sheetz, McDonalds and about 20 other businesses and the Preservation groups had worked with Orange
County to designate that area as a Gateway AND worked to identify alternative commercial venues... then there would be amble room for "outrage" but it's
really hard to understand how the proposed WalMart can be on the OTHER side of all of this existing "sprawl" development and make this case.
It's really disingenuous to portray this the way it is being.
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