Thoughts on the Wildeness Wal-Mart

When someone looks at the map of the Wilderness Wal-Mart site from my earlier post on this, one may not see fully the impact that this tract of land will have on the battlefield.  But when you look at it in “real life” from Google Maps, you can see how fully the “empty” ground connects to  the land already part of the Wilderness Battlefield.

The more I sit and think about the Wilderness Wal-Mart, Kevin Levin’s ego, the past and future I am reminded of why I am so captured by history of places like the Wilderness.  I shall let Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain do the talking…

“In great deeds something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear, but spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of souls. And reverent men and women from afar, and generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them, shall come to this deathless field to ponder and dream; And lo! the shadow of a mighty presence shall wrap them in its bosom, and the power of the vision pass into their souls.”

Speaking at the dedication of the Monument to the 20th Maine
October 3, 1889, Gettysburg, PA

Well, let us hope that when (dare I say IF) the Wilderness Wal-Mart is built that we can still ponder and dream about the brave deeds committed on that ground despite the sound of “jobs, tax revenues and cheap shopping” buzzing all around us.

Wilderness Lost

Orange County Supervisors Approve Wal-Mart Superstore on Wilderness Battlefield

County rejects national and local voices urging protection of battleground and National Park

(Orange, Va.) – The Orange County Board of Supervisors today approved a proposal to build 240,000-square feet of big box retail on the Wilderness Battlefield. James Lighthizer, president of the Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT), issued the following statement in the wake of the vote:

“I am deeply disappointed by today’s vote. The Orange County Board of Supervisors had an opportunity to protect the battlefield by embracing a reasonable compromise approach to the Wal-Mart superstore proposal. Instead, they ignored rational voices on the national, state and local level encouraging them to work with the preservation community and local landowners to find a more suitable alternative location.

“Today’s vote is not just a setback for preservationists. Orange County residents are losers as well. If the county had embraced the preservation planning process first proposed by the Wilderness Battlefield Coalition in January, there would have been an opportunity to mitigate the transportation and development impacts of the proposal. Instead, the board voted to repeat the mistakes made by other localities, who are now struggling to address the problems created by similar piecemeal development and rampant sprawl.

“The ball is now in Wal-Mart’s court. Wal-Mart better understands the nationwide anger generated by its proposal to build on the doorstep of a National Park. It is in the corporation’s best interests to work with the preservation community to find an alternative site. After all, building a big box superstore on the Wilderness Battlefield would belie recent attempts to portray Wal-Mart as environmentally sensitive. We are optimistic that company officials will see the wisdom of moving elsewhere.

“The Civil War Preservation Trust and the other member groups of the Wilderness Battlefield Coalition will now carefully weigh options for continued opposition of this misguided proposal. This battle is not over yet.”

Among those who urged Orange County to chose another location for the proposed Wal-Mart were Senator Jim Webb (D-Va.); Virginia Governor Tim Kaine (D) and House of Delegates Speaker Bill Howell (R); actors Robert Duvall, Richard Dreyfuss and Ben Stein; and more than 250 historians, including Pulitzer prize-winning authors David McCullough and James McPherson and acclaimed documentarian Ken Burns.

Since a Wal-Mart superstore on the Wilderness Battlefield was first publicly announced in June 2008, CWPT has been one of the leading voices against the proposal. Earlier this year, the organization identified the Wilderness Battlefield as one of the most endangered battlefields in the nation because of the Wal-Mart plan. CWPT is a member of the Wilderness Battlefield Coalition.

Too bad…the all-mighty-dollar over something that cannot be replaced.

Levin, Casteel, Williams…Oh My!

In a recent series of post on both Kevin Levin’s Civil War Memory and Richard Williams’ Old Virginia Blog there as been a great deal discussed and argued over the Casteel statue called “Brothers“.  I will not go into a detailed discussion here, for you can follow the links and read it for yourself, but I must make comments on Williams’ latest post about reconcilation at Gettysburg.  Here is another picture from the same reunion…

It is a picture of blacks whose job it was to pass out blankets to White veterans North and South.  They were not included in the discussion of the war as if the war had nothing to do with their ancestors or their ancestors bondage.  I think Kevin is saying that we have enough memorials or statues to this type of interpretation…we get it…now lets move beyond the typical understanding of the war…one that is in the vacuum of race.  Let us add race into the picture and then we will have a fuller understanding of why there was a Gettysburg and why there was a reunion.

Spending Quality Time with a 112 Year Old Beauty!

I have for the past week been getting to know a 112 year old beauty…

This is her in about 1898 just after it was built…

Here she is in the current paint colors…and if you know me…grey is not my color…neither is pink.  Currently, I am painting the house in a new color scheme using a 40 foot boom lift to get the high spots and second floor and I will post picutes of the new colors when she is done.

Corey