It’s been a few years since I’ve had to use this phrase – but I need you to help save the Wilderness! This iconic battlefield, known for its dense foliage, scenic roadways and rural character, is again threatened by development. But this time, the sheer amount of industrial, commercial and residential development is staggering: 2,600 acres of rolling woodland overrun with 5 million square feet of industrial space (for data centers and distribution centers), up to 5,000 residential units, and 200,000 square feet of mixed-use commercial development. This is a scale of development truly unprecedented for this rural county.
Worse still, it’s all located immediately adjacent to land we’ve fought for before.
Longtime Trust members will probably have a bit of a flashback when they read “Stop the Wilderness Walmart.” They’ll remember the years-long advocacy campaign that emerged when Walmart wanted to build a supercenter at the gateway of the Wilderness Battlefield, on property used as a Union Army command post and artillery park, and best remembered for the famous panorama drawing by combat artist Edwin Forbes. The site is also adjacent to the intersection where the Civil War changed course – where, after a three-day bloodletting led to stalemate in the Wilderness, Lt. Gen. Ulysses Grant turned his army south, advancing for another 10 months until the fall of the Confederate capital at Richmond.
Well, in 2009 and 2010, preservationists kept advancing the colors too. Along with our partners in the Wilderness Battlefield Coalition, we ultimately had to go to court – convincing Walmart to build elsewhere in the county, outside the gateway area.
The Walmart controversy also resulted in a broader conversation about responsible growth in the battlefield gateway vicinity, which stands at a busy intersection near the boundary between relatively rural Orange County and more suburban Spotsylvania County. In response, the Wilderness Battlefield Coalition collaborated with community groups, local officials, residents and landscape architects on the 2012 Wilderness Gateway Study that provided a blueprint for balancing development and open space in the region. The principles it espoused were later adopted by Orange County in its 2015 Germanna-Wilderness Area Plan.
Fast forward eight years: The Wilderness Crossing mega-development plan going before the planning commission this month ignores the hard-won, consensus-based recommendations of the Wilderness Gateway Study and the Germanna-Wilderness Area Plan in favor of development on a scale never before seen in Orange County. Already congested roadways will be utterly overwhelmed, resident services will be stretched to the breaking point and beyond.
Once again, we are calling upon preservation advocates and local residents to take a stand for the Wilderness Battlefield. Please attend the Planning Commission hearing on March 23 and urge the county to adhere to its own guidance for development in this sensitive area. If you live further afield or cannot attend in person, you can sign a letter urging county officials to reconsider.
Learn more about the Planning Commission Hearing
Orange County Residents: Sign the Letter
Concerned Preservationists: Sign the Letter
A decade ago, we took a stand for the Wilderness in one of the most hard-fought grassroots efforts in Trust history. Now is the time to hold the line, to insist that Orange County follows through on its own recommendations in order to protect this priceless piece of history.
With great appreciation,
Jim Campi, Chief Policy and Communications Officer
American Battlefield Trust