As an aside, I happened to be working in West Virginia when the District was being created and read about the effort in the Martinsburg Journal newspaper. I called the valley legendary Jack Marsh, whom I had met while giving a tour of Washington family sites in Charles Town. I had no idea at the time what a big deal he was (you should Google John O. Marsh). Jack put me in touch with the Congressional Commission that was developing the District and I actually spoke to Carrington Williams, our organization’s first Chairman, and asked him if the West Virginia counties could be added to the District. He politely allowed me to make my case and then said he was sorry to say that “that horse was already out of the barn,” and there was no way that they could amend the legislation to include the West Virginia Counties at that point. I had no idea then that I would one day work for that very same National Historic District, let alone be fortunate enough to serve as its C.E.O.
Anyway, fast forward to the last few years: with pressures increasing throughout the Valley including in West Virginia, the Berkeley County officials led by County Commissioner Steve Catlett reached out to us and asked if we would consider partnering with them to help preserve battlefield land at Hoke’s Run and Falling Waters. We immediately responded to the call and began working with them to put a strategy in place, prioritize possible target properties, and approach landowners. At the same time, we started discussing a large scale interpretation and tourism reboot for the County’s Civil War sites, and somewhere during those discussions we were looking at maps and aerial images and it was mentioned that a key parcel that was under development was actually being developed by the County and the School District as a community park. The land had been gifted to the School Board to be used as a future school site and in the meantime, officials had decided to construct a recreational park on the site with the possibility of pickleball courts, a community pool, practice fields, etc.
Right then and there, we made the ask. How about selling us that parcel and partnering to turn it into a different kind of a park – a Battlefield Park! The folks in Berkeley County are extremely visionary and great to work with – they listened to the pitch and jumped in right away honing the idea, and within an hour we were off to the races on a framework for the deal. The County agreed to sell us the 10-acre site for 50% of the value and jointly manage the park site in perpetuity. We’ll be responsible for capital improvements and interpretation infrastructure and the County will be responsible for park maintenance
and upkeep. It is an amazing deal and creates the County’s first battlefield park and our first preservation victory in West Virginia!
Within weeks, the partnership was announced and community reaction was extremely positive. So positive, in fact, that a property owner near the new park site reached out to say that he wanted to preserve his 13-acre property nearby. When we looked at the maps to locate his parcel, we were thrilled. His property was immediately adjacent to the 36 acres preserved by the Farmland Protection Board and right in the middle of the core area of the battlefield!
We met with Mr. Ressler right away and he made us an extraordinary offer. If we could raise just $50,000, he would sell us an easement on his property worth three times that amount!! As if that wasn’t good enough, as the discussions progressed, Mr. Ressler also indicated that he’s interested in eventually gifting ownership of the property as a part of his estate plans.
In a matter of months, we went from 0 to 60 and are now on the cusp of preserving two properties totaling more than 23 acres of battlefield. Here’s what we need to come up with to get this done: We are expecting a $500,000 final purchase price for the County parcel. And we know we need the $50,000 for the Ressler easement, giving us an acquisition number of $550,000. We need to add to that an additional $33,000 to pay for our surveys, appraisals, a baseline documentation report, environmental site assessments, attorneys’ fees, and closing costs. That’s a total of $583,000.
We are applying to the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program for $500,000, leaving you and I to raise the remaining $83,000. That’s it! If we can come together and raise $83,000, we can preserve 23 acres at Hoke’s Run – the first battle fought in the Shenandoah Valley! We can achieve our first preservation victory in West Virginia!
For just $83,000, we can come to the aid of Berkeley County and the Falling Waters Battlefield Association and help them save this crucial part of our Civil War History, a battlefield that is quickly disappearing – We can win this fight at Hoke’s Run!
Donation information at the bottom of this link: Hoke's Run Battlefield
