The Wilderness

[penn-state-engr]

Just got my current copy of Civil War News and on the front page !!! Wal-mart submits plans to build on 55 acre plot in The Wilderness.

The request is to build a super Wal-mart plaza in a plot of land directly across from the Fredricksburg / Spotsylvania National Military Park (The Wilderness). The CWPT has already fired a salvo across Wal-mart's bow and I suggest we all do the same. I am writing them a letter stating I will no longer be a patron of their stores and will urge others to do the same.

[Busterbuttonboy]

Just to add on to this, comes just when Spotsylvania is looking to widen Route 3 down near the Salem Church and Orange has just put in turning lanes around Mine Run. Fun times.

Hey here is some food for thought that might put me in the hot seat (what else is new): Did Wal-mart or its sister group who owned the land pay for a site survey? What did it find? What other shopping giants are involved, I bet if we dig and check old newspaper articles we might be surprised to find a Target...
http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/...ad.php?t=17350
check that thread its long and comprehensive.

Maybe we should turn our attention away from Wal-mart and onto Orange County. Apparently its a Herndon, Va development agency. Maybe write them some letters as well.

D.a. Gruber

[penn-state-engr]

here is the front cover.

http://www.civilwarnews.com/

[3rd_PA_Artillery]

I am writing them a letter stating I will no longer be a patron of their stores and will urge others to do the same.

I will do the same. Gettysburg is already commercialized, let's not let it happen to the Wilderness.

[Busterbuttonboy]

Be advised, the last set of phone numbers are listed on a County web-page but however are their home lines. The following e-mail addresses are listed on the County Gov website, which may be more profitable so we aren't taking the fight to their living rooms. (however appropriate I think that is...)
The next series of meetings from what I understand will be on August 12th. This is open to the public.


Chairman R. Mark Johnson
rmj142@yahoo.com

Supervisor Zack Burkett
zburkett@orangecountyva.gov

Supervisor Teel Goodwin
Teel.Goodwin@vabb.com

Vice Chairwoman Teri L. Pace
tpacedist4@aol.com

Supervisor Lee Frame
leeframe@orangecountyva.gov

Letters should be addressed to:
Board of Supervisors
Gordon Building
112 West Main Street
Orange, VA 22960

[Brian Wolle]

I'd be ready to protest at my neighborhood walmart, something that if it were to happen nation-wide would make a definite impact.

[CheeseBoxRaft]

I will do the same. Gettysburg is already commercialized, let's not let it happen to the Wilderness.

Too late. The Wilderness has been "commercialized" for decades. A housing development called Forest Walk was plopped down in the center of the Union line in the early 1970s. Another development, Fawn Lake, was erected on the Confederate right flank in the 1980s, its massive brick gates loom over the Orange Plank Road and the nearby monument to General Wadsworth.

The best that can be hoped for The Wilderness is to prevent the commercialization from getting any worse.

[Busterbuttonboy]

Cheese

"The best that can be hoped for The Wilderness is to prevent the commercialization from getting any worse."

Yes I don't know about you, but I'd like to avoid another Salem Church.


Drew Gruber

[CheeseBoxRaft]

Cheese"The best that can be hoped for The Wilderness is to prevent the commercialization from getting any worse."
Yes I don't know about you, but I'd like to avoid another Salem Church.
Drew Gruber

The Wilderness is different than Salem Church. Salem Church battlefield never had more than a few acres around the church itself to begin with so it was easily swallowed long ago. The Wilderness is sprawling and has been constantly eroded from within and without. The threats there will never end.

This Wilderness Wal-Mart threat will be difficult to counter for various reasons:

1. Wal-Mart is not being built on the battlefield but far behind the lines at a road junction that is already commercialized. Its far-reaching impact into the battlefield is traffic congestion and that can be "solved" with widening Route 20.

2. Route 20 through the battlefield can be widened into four lanes without taking any NPS-owned land. Unlike when Route 3 was expanded through Chancellorsville way back when, the NPS doesn't have to grant VDOT a right-of-way through the Wilderness to widen the highway.

3. The Wilderness is mostly wooded and offers no grand sweeping landscapes like the Mullins Farm at Chancellorsville. Saunder's Field and Ellwood are somewhat "picturesque," but the main impression most average visitors bring back from a visit to the Wilderness is this: there ain't much to see. Just a handful of signs and monuments scattered around a big empty woods.

4. The economy sucks right now. The average Joe Preservationist doesn't have as much money to put toward saving battlefields and Wal-Mart is mega-wealthy after years of "rollin' back prices!"

[wagen dawg]

Be advised. An application for a multi-use strip mall with pad sites and a Wal-mart have been under consideration by the Orange County, Virginia Board of Supervisors. This site is Wilderness Battlefield. The corner of Routes 20 and 3. Many of us have toured and reenacted near this spot. It will only allow for an increase in traffic through the field, and open the way for further development in that area affecting 11 battlefields. The next meeting to discuss this will be August 12th. Please forward your comments as historians and tourists to their members. They can be reached at:

Chairman R. Mark Johnson
<mailto:rmj142@yahoo.com> rmj142@yahoo.com

Supervisor Zack Burkett
<mailto:zburkett@orangecountyva.gov> zburkett@orangecountyva.gov

Supervisor Teel Goodwin
<mailto:Teel.Goodwin@vabb.com> Teel.Goodwin@vabb.com

Vice Chairwoman Teri L. Pace
<mailto:tpacedist4@aol.com> tpacedist4@aol.com

Supervisor Lee Frame
<mailto:leeframe@orangecountyva.gov> leeframe@orangecountyva.gov

Letters should be addressed to:
Board of Supervisors
Gordon Building
112 West Main Street
Orange, VA 22960

*************

It will be sad to see this area go down.

Regardless of what we say and do, it's all about the money. But, I will be there on the 12th to listen and...

Tim