ABT President David Duncan & CVBT President Tom Van Winkle
Victory!
CVBT Plays Role in new Culpeper Battlefields State Park
In August 2013, CVBT received a grant for $770,000 to assist the American Battlefield Trust in a 56-acre acquisition of Fleetwood Hill on the Brandy Station Battlefield.
The entire battlefield preservation community including the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust, the Journey Through Hallowed Ground, and the Brandy Station Foundation, along with support of the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program and the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Civil War Sites Preservation Fund had a hand in saving this long sought after parcel of the Brandy Station battlefield.
”Preservation, It’s Chess, Not Checkers”, stated CVBT President Tom Van Winkle. So, some 11 years after CVBT’s contribution to help protect Fleetwood Hill, this chess piece is now part of Virginia’s 43rd State Park and the battlefield, now 1,000 acres and about to grow to 2,200 acres after a series of land transfers are completed, will include parts of the four major Civil War battles fought in Culpeper County: Brandy Station, Cedar Mountain, Kelly’s Ford, and Rappahannock Station.
David Duncan, president of the American Battlefield Trust, said “nothing about today was inevitable,” meaning, there were many competing visions of what should happen to the land.
Present for the June 8th dedication ceremony, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin stated “Teaching our history and the history of the Commonwealth of Virginia is not just complicated, it is filled with extraordinary highs and very dark lows,” Youngkin said.
“We must teach all of it — the good and the bad.”
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin & CVBT President Tom Van Winkle
NEWSLETTER SIGN-UP
Join our community! Sign up for our newsletter to receive exclusive updates, event information, and preservation news directly to your inbox.