Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park covers more than 7 square miles of rolling Virginia countryside. Here, park rangers preserve and interpret the history of four of the Civil War’s bloodiest battles — Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness and Spotsylvania, which together left more than 100,000 dead or wounded. Situated where the Piedmont and Coastal Plain meet, the park is rich not only in history but in natural resources as well: fields, forests, wetlands and 23 miles of trails.
Yet some 140 years after the battles it enshrines, the park was the site of another conflict — a proposal to build 2,000 homes and 1.2 million square feet of commercial space on a 790-acre rural property where the Battle of Chancellorsville began.
NPCA was a leader in the coalition that advocated for the site’s protection, swaying the local board of supervisors to deny the rezoning request necessary to build the development. Common sense prevailed … for a while.
Five years later, retail giant WalMart announced its plans to purchase 50 acres of Wilderness Battlefield land adjacent to the park to build a new super-sized retail complex.
Despite the significance of our national parks, the integrity of these and other historic treasures is often entrusted to local officials. This case demonstrates what can happen when that public trust isn’t taken seriously.
It’s a familiar story: No victory for the parks is ever fully assured. But NPCA has a long and successful track record of working with communities, in courtrooms and on Capitol Hill on lobbying, legal and legislative efforts that have positively influenced the policies affecting national parks.
Our national parks are set aside for all of us — but protecting and defending them, now and for the future, requires all of us to stand up and speak out on their behalf.
Walmart withdraws plans for a Virginia superstore atop the nerve center of a key Civil War battle.
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