Campaign pushes to protect U

Campaign pushes to protect U.S. 15's Hallowed Ground

(Note from LS: Same players, same deceptions, same modus operandi. The National Park Service and its "partners" -- only on a grand scale, and it has nothing to do with "historic preservation." If "historic preservation" were so important, why have thousands of war memorials to brave soldiers from past wars been summarily removed from cities and towns nationwide?)

(Note: Language Deception is used to downplay the scale of this land theft, which is made to look all "warm and fuzzy." Not. Of course land prices will skyrocket -- as there is less and less private land that is not under such Draconian restrictions and controlled by a few ultra powerful "land trusts" and other "coalitions," what's left will be priced out of reach to farmers and anyone hoping to ever own their own home and land. Re-enter the feudal days of landlords and tenants/peons/peasants. It's here in America, and non-governmental, very questionably "non-profit" behemoths like The Nature Conservancy are the 21st century land barons and landlords. Public education that tells the truth -- not "public awareness" of "visions" -- is a must! No, TNC isn't specifically mentioned by name, but you can bet that it -- and its 119 partners -- is a "major stakeholder," and this is in its corporate back yard.)

May 31, 2005

By J.J. Ebro jebro@timespapers.com

Times Community Newspapers - "Times Community Newspapers is a group of 18 contiguous Northern Virginia newspapers with a combined circulation of 260,000 featuring "local, local" print and Internet news of each community served."

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"But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract ..."

When Abraham Lincoln spoke those words at Gettysburg in November 1863, he could not have imagined that this battlefield and others likewise consecrated by blood would be paved over for strip malls and tract housing.

The Battle of Gettysburg, which resulted in a staggering casualty figure of more than 50,000 on both sides, shifted the advantage to the Union in the Civil War.

Proponents of a three-state-spanning "Journey Through Hallowed Ground" [JTHG] say they hope their effort might represent a similar turning point in the war against sprawl along the historically vital U.S. 15 corridor.

The Journey campaign kicks off at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Thursday.

The campaign will unveil a comprehensive plan aimed at protecting a 175-mile swath from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to Monticello from encroaching suburbia and traffic congestion. It will also disclose the results of a Mason-Dixon public opinion poll that demonstrates broad supportive sentiment.

"There is a staggering number, a million acres of land within that corridor, which is in the National Historic Register," said Cate Magennis Wyatt, of Waterford, executive director of the JTHG coalition.

"There is more American history concentrated here than in any other part of the United States, but it is one of the fastest-growing regions in the country as well.

"Our objective," said Wyatt, "is to demonstrate that preservation can be economically sustainable, that nothing we are suggesting constrains landowners' rights, and that it will ensure quality of life for the communities along the corridor."

Political viability

Despite the support of Rep. Frank Wolf (R-10th) and Virginia Sens. George Allen (R) and John Warner (R), such assurances are essential in precluding opposition from property rights advocates and powerful developers.

The JTHG coalition includes 120 federal, state and county agencies, such as the National Park Service, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, transportation departments of the three states, and private organizations such as the Piedmont Environmental Council, Scenic America, Protect Historic America, the Civil War Preservation Trust and the Prince Charitable Trusts.

Also involved are groups that cut their political teeth in the campaign that defeated Disney's plans to establish a theme park in Haymarket in the early 1990s.

"I'm a developer," Wyatt said. "We are not against development, so long as it is context-sensitive" -- meaning that development respect the history of a piece of land.

She said the preservation groups had learned from their mistakes after Disney. "The biggest mistake was they didn't finish the job. They didn't buy the land," she said.

The JTHG coalition hopes to avoid repeating that mistake.

With most of the property along the corridor in private hands, JTHG is exploring an innovative mechanism for raising money and purchasing vital sites and large parcels through a real estate investment trust.

"It will be a long-term investment hold and appeal to socially conscious investors," Wyatt said. After purchase, the trust would place easements and restrictive uses on the properties and then sell them.

"Our experience shows that property values tend to appreciate if there is confidence that the area is protected."

Now, "farmers and landowners have no place to go but to a developer," she said. "We want to give them an alternative."

Road reality

U.S. 15 through Loudoun County is essentially two-lane interstate highway, teeming with 18-wheelers and commuter traffic with a 45-mph speed limit.

It is already a protected highway, meaning that to widen it would be difficult. The JTHG coalition hopes to build on that.

"We are seeking to obtain National Scenic Byway Status for the entire corridor," Wyatt said.

Under such a classification, the Virginia Department of Transportation would have to use parkway standards "and not 65 mph and jersey barriers" for future improvements.

To the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance (NVTA), though, the proposal is not bad, but carries risks.

The group is advocating a Western Bypass that would bring a multi-lane road on a north-south path in Loudoun. "We're asking for a western parkway, well east of Route 15," said NVTA president Bob Chase.

Such a road would take some of the trucks off U.S. 15.

"Absent such a bypass, you can designate Route 15 as a historic corridor all you want, but you will not change the fact that it would be, by default, a major north-south traffic route," Chase said. "That would make Route 15 more congested and dangerous and will result in future pressures to widen Route 15 with more impact on historic sites along there than building a western parkway."

Heritage tourism

There's another offshoot from preserving the Hallowed Ground corridor: tourism.

Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia state tourism agencies and their county counterparts see the historic sites within the corridor as resources that represent potentially hefty incomes if conserved and properly marketed.

Cheryl Kilday, president of the Loudoun Convention and Visitors Association, is excited by the JTHG idea. "We are well-positioned to be a gateway for a heritage tourism itinerary along the Hallowed Ground corridor," Kilday said.

Fauquier County Tourism Director Mary Princes envisions a major impact. "The most positive results of the JTHG would be felt by our bed-and-breakfasts, our restaurants and our wineries," Prince said.

The Civil War is not the sole reason driving the Hallowed Ground effort.

The corridor used to be a buffalo trail and, subsequently, an Indian trade route, Loudoun historian Eugene Scheel said.

There are burial mounds and archaeological digs relating to the presence of the Catawba, Delaware, Algonquin, Susquehannock and Iroquois tribes up and down the corridor.

In Colonial times, this trade route became a major north-south artery leading from New York into the Carolinas and was thus known as the Old Carolina Road. It figured in the French and Indian War, the War of Independence and the War of 1812.

There are six U.S. presidential homes along the JTHG corridor, along with Camp David in Maryland.

While Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and James Madison's Montpelier are relatively well-known, there is also a cottage used by Dwight Eisenhower and a cabin owned by Teddy Roosevelt. The fact that General George Marshall drew up the Marshall Plan in his Leesburg home shortly after World War II shows that the corridor's history, which shaped this nation, helped shape the world as well.

The learn more about the Journey to Hallowed Ground or to watch its progress, visit http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/journey/intro.htm

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