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Virginia’s leading heritage group just went on record opposing Wal-Mart’s plan to build a Supercenter in Orange County across the road from a national park. Date published: 5/18/2009
Virginia’s leading heritage group just went on record opposing Wal-Mart’s plan to build a Supercenter in Orange County across the road from a national park.
Preservation Virginia, established in 1889, named the Wilderness battlefield today to its list of the state’s nine most-endangered historic sites. Executive Director Elizabeth Kostelny said the statewide group sides with the historians, congressmen and celebrities who object to siting the 138,000-square-foot store at Routes 3 and 20 in eastern Orange. “The proposed Wal-Mart would degrade the rural character of the battlefield, promote commercial sprawl, and drastically increase traffic through the heart of the park,” Kostelny said. She spoke at Ellwood, a historic house on the Civil War battlefield less than a mile from the store’s proposed site. The retail center tract, which would include the Supercenter and three “baby box” stores, is less than a quarter mile from Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park and the heart of the Wilderness battlefield. The Orange County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing Thursday on Wal-Mart’s plan. -Clint Schemmer
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