American Battlefield Trust

Originally published December 2023 · pp. 20–21

Opportunity to Save 15 Acres at Gettysburg First Day Battlefield The American Battlefield Trust has launched a $3 million national fundraising campaign to acquire the remainder of the former Gettysburg Country Club and remove modern structures, continuing a preservation process begun nearly 15 years ago in partnership with The Conservation Fund and National Park Service. Thanks to a generous major donor and other considerations extending the window for payment, the Trust seeks to raise $375,000. Located along the Chambersburg Pike between McPherson Ridge and Herr’s Ridge, and just past Willoughby’s Run, this 15-acre property saw intense fighting in the opening phase of battle on July 1, 1863. This vestige of the Emmanuel Harman Farm was proposed for intensive residential development last summer but won a reprieve following significant local advocacy to save the site. Denied permits for a sprawling apartment complex, the developer appealed the decision but gave preservation groups an opportunity to purchase the property. Local residents and preservation advocates came out in force to oppose the plan, and the local Board of Supervisors denied permit approval. Although the developer appealed that ruling and worked to address the specific issues raised in the process, the door was open for preservation discussions. Through a series of goodfaith negotiations, the Trust and the developer were able to reach mutually agreeable terms for the Trust’s purchase in collaboration with other preservation allies. After taking ownership in November, the Trust will also begin envisioning a landscape restoration plan that removes intrusive 21st century elements but retains the original clubhouse currently leased by the Gettysburg Day Spa.

Over the past two-plus decades, the Trust has helped protect nearly 1,240 acres across the Gettysburg Battlefield. Learn more and support this current effort at www.battlefields. org/15AcresWilloughbysRun.

Trust Pursuing Restoration Efforts at Previously Preserved Properties As part of its mission to preserve, educate, and inspire, the Trust has successfully completed several demolition projects to help restore historic Trust-saved properties, including the removal of an abandoned mini-golf course in Gettysburg, Pa., a dilapidated motel at Lookout Mountain, Tenn., and neglected modern structures at Eutaw Springs, S.C. One of the Trust’s most high-profile recent restoration projects includes the demolition of the Mulligan MacDuffer Adventure Golf & Ice Cream Parlor in Gettysburg. Entering Gettysburg National Military Park from the east, visitors have for years driven past portions of the abandoned and overgrown mini-golf course. This fall, the Trust removed the dilapidated adventure park structures, hauled away old concrete, graded the land, laid down soil and grass seed to restore the earth here, the site of an important position on the Union right flank during the Battle of Gettysburg. Meanwhile in Tennessee, a former 1940s travel motel blemished an approximate acre of land next to the ChickamaugaChattanooga National Military Park for decades on ground that played an important role in the Battle of Lookout Mountain. In June 2023, with the support of its members and donors, the Trust was able to demolish the motel and lay down sod to restore the field. In South Carolina, the Trust has cleared the surroundings of a spectacular, centuries-old oak tree that witnessed the Battle of Eutaw Springs on September 8, 1781, the last major engagement of the Revolutionary War in the Carolinas. Until this summer, the tree stood alongside neglected modern features like a house, car port and chain link fence. With the generous help of the Trust’s members, donors and partners, especially the South Carolina Battleground Preservation Trust, its surrounding landscape has been restored to a grassy field reminiscent of September 1781.

Speaking Out Against Development at Bristoe Station For more than two decades, preservationists have been able to hold up the Bristoe Station Battlefield in Prince William County, Va., as a success story. Despite its location in a rapidly urbanizing area facing immense development pressure, the Trust worked with local officials and developers to protect a significant part of the battlefield that is known to contain burials from both an 1861-62 winter encampment as well as the 1863 battle. Despite the 309 acres preserved, critical portions of the battlefield remained vulnerable. Tragically, in 2022, an 85-acre property adjacent to Trustprotected land and associated with William Kirkland’s charge against the Union II Corps was sold to the Trammell Crow Company for $54.8 million. The tract is slated to connect with an adjacent parcel for a proposed 772,000-square-foot warehouse distribution complex, a facility more than four times the size of the U.S. Capitol. Due to current land-use regulations, no county approval is necessary for the project to proceed although, because of its impact on wetlands and tributaries of Broad Run Creek, review by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is necessary. Although in its preliminary stages, this review has confirmed that the project would have a significant adverse impact on historic resources on the battlefield, including archaeological resources dating to a Confederate winter encampment and likely hundreds of Civil War-era military burials. The lack of transparency surrounding the project has raised further concerns with residents and local officials and saw Bristoe Station placed on this year’s Preservation Virginia Most Endangered list. The Trust, while not opposed to sensible development, recognizes that a project of these dimensions will significantly impact the lives of nearby residents and dramatically alter the Bristoe Station Battlefield’s landscape.

Therefore, it is urging officials to reevaluate the project’s potential consequences. Additionally, we are asking county residents and concerned preservationists to add their names to letters and petitions in support. Please visit www.battlefields. org/SpeakOut to keep abreast of the latest happenings in this and other evolving situations.

Digital Resources, In-Person Gatherings Mark Anniversary of Revolution’s End This October, the Trust turned its attention to Virginia’s Historic Triangle, both through the launch of a brand-new Yorktown virtual driving tour and in-person events that positioned audiences and attendees to gain a deeper love of history and preservation. With the 242nd anniversary of the Siege of Yorktown eliciting pride in the country’s hard-fought independence, the Trust launched its virtual tour of the Yorktown Battlefield at Colonial National Historical Park. Meanwhile, the weekend of October 13-15 saw battlefield preservationists gather for the nonprofit’s annual Grand Review in nearby Williamsburg and, not long after, on October 19, local Yorktown Day celebrations remembered the momentous events of October 1781 when “the world turn’d upside down” and the British Army surrendered, leading to the end of the Revolutionary War. The newly released virtual driving tour is the fourth in a series that puts historians in the driver’s seat while mounted GoPro cameras capture a landscape brimming with stories of years past. The Yorktown tour is the first to focus on a primarily Revolutionary War site. In just over 90 minutes, viewers gain an overview of events that led British General Charles Cornwallis to surrender on October 19, 1781, and see locations like the French Grand Battery, Redoubts 9 and 10, the Moore House, and Surrender Field, among other battlefield highlights. The free tour is available on the Trust’s YouTube channel and website.

A Treasure Trove of Virtual Fields Trips The Trust has a growing library of virtual field trips, enabling teachers and students to connect with critical historic sites from afar. The latest additions include Charleston, S.C., Vicksburg, Miss., and New Orleans, La. In Charleston, host and historian Chris Mackowski brings viewers along as he explores the iconic city on the land and on the water. Sites include Fort Sumter, the Powder Magazine, the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon, Charleston’s City Market and Boone Hall Plantation and Gardens.