Preservation groups hope new “endangered historic site” designation will prevent massive development project.
In May of 1864, the Union and Confederate armies came face to face in the thickets of old growth forest along the Orange Turnpike and Plank Road along what now along the Orange County/Spotsylvania County line. It was the beginning of the Overland Campaign that would eventually doom the Rebels and re-unite the United States.
Now, 160 years later, a new skirmish has developed along that same line that could have a major impact on the region’s way of life.
At a press conference on Wednesday, representatives from historic preservation and environmental groups announced that the Wilderness Battlefield has just been listed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as one of “America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places,” setting up an epic battle between preservationists and developers.
The center of the latest battle is 2,600 acres of private land just over the Orange County border near the intersections of State Route 20 and U.S. 3. It’s directly adjacent to 50 acres of land donated to the state of Virginia by Walmart 15 years ago after local residents fought and killed a plan for a Walmart Super Center at the location.
A 2012 study determined that the proposed Wilderness Crossing project was not feasible because of the impact on historical resources and design problems with the roadways, including a realignment of historic Route 20 (Orange Turnpike).
But a year ago, Orange County’s supervisors reversed that decision and approved a zoning plan that could allow for the construction of 5,000 homes in a county that has only about 16,000 homes now.
And the plan would allow as many as 40 data centers, covering millions of square feet, on 732 acres.
The Wilderness area currently receives some 500,000 heritage tourists per year and is an anchor of the Park Service’s Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.
According to the Wilderness Battlefield Coalition, it’s estimated that proposed the residential and commercial development would bring as many as 11,000 new car trips during peak hours over what are now local scenic low-volume National Park roads and would consume a gigawatt of electricity, almost half of what is currently produced at the Lake Anna nuclear power plant in Louisa County.
Several new high-voltage transmission lines would also be required. Critics of the project also point out that the land involved contains more than seven abandoned gold mines that have been leaking mercury into the nearby groundwater.
A lawsuit filed a year ago by the Piedmont Environmental Council, claims the rezoning was done in secret without the proper notification to the public. The coalition charges that Orange County officials even ignored a request for details of the project from planning officials in neighboring Spotsylvania County, which would also be affected.
The legal battle headed by Piedmont has also produced documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act that reveal nondisclosure agreements signed by 10 Orange County officials, including several members of the Board of Supervisors and Amazon—the apparent developers of the proposed data centers.
The groups which have filed a lawsuit include Wilderness Battlefield Coalition, American Battlefield Trust, Central Virginia Battlefields Trust, Cedar Mountain Battlefield Foundation, the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield, Historic Germanna, Journey Through Hallowed Ground. National Parks Conservation Association, National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Piedmont Environmental Council and Preservation Virginia.
The leaders of each group said at this week’s event that they hope the battlefield’s new designation as an “Endangered Historic Place” will help them prevent Wilderness Crossing from ever being built.
The 1864 Battle of the Wilderness, which took 29,000 American lives, was technically a draw. When it was over—according to Bill Sellers, president of the Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area, who spoke at Wednesday’s event—President Abraham Lincoln pressed General Ulysses S. Grant on his next move.
Grant responded, “I intend to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.” To which Lincoln responded, “Hold on with a bulldog’s grip.”
Grant pressed the Confederates every day during the Overland Campaign, which finally ended the war a year later.
The coalition of groups which gathered at the Wilderness Run Winery next to the disputed battlefield land say that’s exactly what they plan to do, putting legal and public pressure on Orange County officials to reconsider the current zoning.
Similar battles over preservationists and developers, especially those who propose to construct data centers, have unfolded near the Manassas National Battlefield Park, Culpeper National Cemetery, Brandy Station in Culpeper County, Sweet Run State Park in Loudoun County, and Savage Station Battlefield in Henrico County.
Here is the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2024 list of America’s Most Endangered Historic Places.
by Hank Silverberg
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