Photo credit: Terry Rensel
Preservation Updates and News
From the President's Desk
It is February already and several major snowstorms are thankfully behind us. Hopefully, they are the last we will see. The ambient temperature may be cold, but things for CVBT are now starting to heat up.
As Terry mentions below in this February newsletter, our legal proceedings with Orange County regarding the ill-conceived Wilderness Crossing development are moving forward. CVBT, along with the American Battlefield Trust, Friends of Wilderness Battlefield, and several private land owners are plaintiffs in this litigation.
There is also word from our friend and historian Bud Hall that the Culpeper County Board of Supervisors has just unanimously approved a resolution in support of a Tech Zone, backing data centers and several electrical substations there. This comes on the heels of Spotsylvania County filing plans to create a data center campus on the Hylton tract along I-95 between Route 3 (Plank Road) and Cowan Boulevard.
This unpleasant news makes me long for the days when we only had to deal with subdivisions and retail development projects.
Virginia is poised to become the data center capital of the world, and this is no exaggeration. Fine, we need them in the modern world but why build them next to the Manassas battlefield, the Wilderness battlefield, and others? OK, I'm off my data center rant.
On Wednesday, February 5th, CVBT was invited to and attended a preservation reception for Virginia legislators facilitated by the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation and held at the John Marshall Ballrooms in Richmond. Representing CVBT were myself, Executive Director Terry Rensel, and Chief Administrative Officer Tim Talbott. Nine Virginia preservation organizations were in attendance as Virginia Delegate Alphonso Lopez and Delegate Chris Runion announced their Caucus for Preservation in the Virginia General Assembly. Director of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, Julie Langan, also announced their continued commitment toward preservation with approximately $6 million to be awarded in grants in the next several years.
Our interaction with state legislators and fellow preservation organizations certainly strengthens CVBT’s outreach and network partnerships. We are all working toward one goal, preserving our history, and together we are stronger.
Warmer weather is coming and CVBT will soon return to our work on trails and interpretive signage so that we can open several more of our sites to the public. The Beckham tract has been cleared of the huge garage structure, and soon the modern house, returning it to its 1863 appearance.
Additionally, we are about to raze a structure from our Wilderness Crossroads property which will remove the last modern eyesore there. Unfortunately, the majority of the properties we now identify and purchase to preserve have non-wartime structures on them. Removing them in order to restore their Civil War-era viewsheds leads to additional time-consuming and expensive work but is necessary.
The developer who seems to be intent on building on the westbound Route 3 property, just several hundred yards away from the Chancellor house ruins, has now advertised the property available for lease. Not much can be stated about this presently due to legal reasons, but we and our partners are hopeful this threat will be mitigated.CVBT has struck a deal with a developer of a new housing development being built across Route 3 from the First Day at Chancellorsville battlefield. The developer was not willing to sell the property, but working closely with CVBT President Tom Van Winkle, they did agree to provide a two-acre open space fronting Route 3 with a trail, wayside markers (which CVBT will write), and a small parking area. This will allow for the interpretation of the battle's action that occurred there while overlooking the First Day battlefield as well. The developer has included these changes into their proposals to Spotsylvania County and has also agreed to pay for it. CVBT will manage the wayside signage in perpetuity after its initial installation.
Information and registration for the 2025 CVBT Annual Conference (September 12-14) will soon be released, hopefully on our new and exciting website. This year’s Annual Conference theme is “The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House.”
Our 2025 Spring Seminar, which will be on March 15, has sold out with 150 attendees. A waiting list is available to fill any cancellations.
So, as you can see, we are busy at present with the above-mentioned projects, and we have additional properties in our sights for 2025. We have already contacted landowners and made inroads to preserve some major battlefield parcels this year.
See you on the battlefields!
Tom Van Winkle
Wilderness Crossing Update
A court date has been set in the Wilderness Crossing development project lawsuit for March, in the Orange County Circuit Court.
This a demurrer hearing, which is a legal pleading that objects to a legal action filed by an opposing party and asks the judge to dismiss it. In effect, a demurrer says to the judge, that even if we do not dispute the facts as provided by the other party, there is no legal basis for this lawsuit. We obviously contend there is a legal basis for the suit.
2025 Spring Seminar
The 2025 Spring Seminar is sold out. Thank you for your support! If you would like to be added to the current wait list, email Terry at executivedirector@cvbt.org
Save the Date
Tickets will be on sale soon!
CVBT Out and About
Photo credit: Dean Chester. (Left to Right: Joe Trahan, Georgia Battlefields Association; Anthony Hodges, Tennessee Civil War Preservation Association; Terry Rensel, CVBT; Robert Jenkins, Save the Dalton Battlefields.
Executive Director Terry Rensel was recently in Dalton, Georgia. While there, he met fellow preservationists from the Georgia Battlefields Association, The Tennessee Civil War Preservation Association, and Save the Dalton Battlefields and heard them talk about their organizations' work while at the Dalton Relic Show.
Witness Trees - Sentinels of the Battlefield
Photo credit: Terry Rensel
Tim Talbott talking about the Battle of Chancellorsville during the recent Youth Community Service Day event under one of the witness trees on a CVBT Chancellorsville Flank Attack property.
Over 60% toward the goal!
Witness trees are a living connection to the people and momentous events of the American past. They stand as mute observers of enormous change over time, linking numerous generations through their continued existence.
People have recognized and respected the enduring nature of trees for centuries. However, of particular interest to modern Americans are those rather rare trees that have survived droughts, storms, fires, lightning strikes, insects, diseases, and the ax and chainsaw and that are located where particularly significant historical events occurred. If nothing else, their survival through the years is a testament to their durability and a lesson in enduring the challenges of life.
Recently, an oak tree on one of CVBT’s Chancellorsville Flank Attack battlefield properties—estimated by arborists to be over 200 years old—fell victim to a powerful windstorm. While it is tragic to lose such a treasured veteran tree that witnessed the pivotal events of May 2, 1863, it also serves as a call to action.
On the same piece of preserved CVBT battlefield, there are other Civil War witness trees, possibly up to eleven, which is an extremely rare amount in one location. Imagine what those trees saw while standing near the Orange Turnpike during that one day alone. Gen. Joseph Hooker rode by them to check on XI Corps troops and their line early that morning. That evening, as the attack commenced, some Federal soldiers fled precipitously, while others attempted to stem the power of the assault, including Medal of Honor recipient Capt. Hubert Dilger and his Ohio artillerists. Gen. Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson also passed these trees, twice; once going east among the flow of his massive assault force, and later, after being wounded by his own troops going west to receive medical attention near Wilderness Tavern. These trees witnessed it all and should receive all the protection and care they can to help them survive and thrive as living connections to these momentous events. Witness trees are truly living Civil War relics.
Caring for witness trees does not come without expense. Periodic checkups for tree health, nutrition treatments, and preventive maintenance trimming, along with lightning prevention apparatus and other care measures by professional arborists cost thousands of dollars to do properly and have a continuous annual cost as well. Will you help us ensure the health of our surviving Chancellorsville Flank Attack witness trees so that they remain on the historic landscape for future generations? We also plan to install markers designating each tree and what they witnessed.
CVBT is currently raising $20,000 to begin the process of protecting the first two of what may be many more witness trees on our property on Jackson's Flank Attack. Learn more, and how you can help here.
Beckham Tract Landscape Restoration
Work has begun to remove the modern structures on the Beckham Tract in order to return the land to its natural appearance. Thanks to the generosity of the Roy A Hunt Foundation, we have made our fundraising goal. You can learn more at our website.
Park Day 2025 - CVBT's Nine Mile Run Property
Park Day is Saturday, April 26, 2025. This year, CVBT will be working on our Nine Mile Run property, as we continue our efforts to create public access and interpretation. If you are interested in helping out, please email Terry at executivedirector@cvbt.org.
Historic Quote
“We left our winter quarters on the 17th of February, and then the snow was falling rapidly. It lay over four inches deep on the ground, and continued either to snow or rain for three days after, during which time the army struggled through everything-floundering in mud and rain-with most incredible suffering."
Unknown Confederate solider known as "Tout Le Monde," writing about leaving the winter camps near Fredericksburg and published in the Savannah Republican, newspaper on March 17, 1863.
Photo credit: Terry Rensel
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