Valley Battlefield Sites Slated for Volunteer Clean-up
For immediate release—March 2, 2011
Contact: Elizabeth Paradis Stern/SVBF (o: 540-740-4545 x205)
NEW MARKET, Va. —As part of an annual effort to improve battlefield sites across the country, volunteers will be turning out on Saturday, April 2, to help clean and restore four battlefield properties in the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District.
Park Day, now in its 15th year, is an annual hands-on preservation event created by the Civil War Trust to assist local groups with the maintenance of Civil War sites. The project is underwritten with a grant from History™, formerly The History Channel, and has been endorsed by Take Pride in America, a division of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
This year, four sites throughout the Valley—including two owned by the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation—will be participating in the clean-up. At the Foundation’s Star Fort property in Winchester, volunteers will be laying a mulched trail bed, and doing general trash clean-up, brush removal, and cutting firewood to be donated to local social service agencies. At Third Winchester properties owned by the Foundation and the Civil War Trust, volunteers will be clearing trash from trails, cleaning interpretative signs, and replacing benches on the bridge over Redbud Run.
In addition, the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley will have volunteers at its Rose Hill Farm on the First Kernstown battlefield clearing fields, trails, and the wall area, cleaning up around current trail signs and installing new signage. At the New Market Battlefield State Historical Park, volunteers will be building rail fence, clearing trash, repairing gravel road areas, and dragging brush into piles in the Bloody Cedars section of the battlefield.
“This is a great opportunity for families, groups, and individuals to spend a spring day outside benefitting our community and helping to preserve these nationally-significant landscapes,” said W. Denman Zirkle, the Foundation’s executive director. “We hope folks from throughout the Valley and beyond will turn out for what should be a fun and productive day.”
In exchange for their hard work, volunteers can expect to receive t-shirts or patches and learn about the site’s history from local experts and reenactors. Volunteers of all ages and ability levels are welcome, and many activities are appropriate for groups such as scout troops.
Specific site details—including location and contact information—are below and online at www.civilwar.org/aboutus/events/park-day.
Star Fort (Second and Third Winchester battlefields)
City, County, State: Winchester, Frederick County, Virginia
Webpage: http: //www.shenandoahatwar.org/
Meeting place: Volunteers will meet at the American Red Cross parking lot at 561 Fortress Drive, Winchester, Virginia, 22603 (just north of Winchester, along US Rt. 522)
Meeting time: 9:00 AM
Planned Activities: Work with Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation on laying down a mulched trail bed around and inside Star Fort. Assist in general trash clean-up, wood cutting, and brush removal.
Bring tools?: Volunteers need to wear gloves and long pants; tools needed will be wheel barrows, rakes, wide shovels for spreading mulch, loppers, and/trash bags to clean up trash.
Food provided: Yes - drinks (water, soda, sports drink)
Contact Name: Chase Milner
Contact Phone: Cell: 859-421-2500, Office: 540-740-4545 ext. 203
Contact Email: chase@svbf.net
Rain date: Rain or Shine
Redbud Run area (Third Winchester battlefield)
City, County, State: Winchester, Frederick County, Virginia
Meeting place: Volunteers will meet at the 3rd Winchester parking lot on Redbud Road just north of Winchester, 0.9 miles east of US Rt. 11.
Meeting time: 9:00 AM
Planned Activities: Clean trails of trash, clean interpretative signs, replace benches on Red Bud Run bridge, work with Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation on Huntsberry property clean-up
Bring tools?: Volunteers need to wear gloves and long pants; tools needed would be rakes, loppers, and/or rags to clean signs.
Food provided: Yes - drinks (water, soda, sports drink)
Contact Name: Mike Perry
Contact Email: mperry@visuallink.com
Rain date: Rain or Shine
Rose Hill (First Kernstown battlefield)
City, County, State: Winchester, Frederick County, Virginia
Webpage: http://www.shenandoahmuseum.org
Meeting place: 1850 Jones Road, Winchester, VA 22603
Meeting time: 10:00 AM
Planned Activities: Clear fields, trails, and wall area. Clean up around current trail signs. Put up new signage.
Bring tools?: Wear protective clothing (i.e. long sleeves, heavy gloves, boots). Can bring clippers, rakes, loppers, hand pruners, chain saws.
Food provided: Please bring a bag lunch. Snacks and water will be provided.
Contact Name: Deborah Hilty, Education Coordinator
Contact Phone: 540-662-1473, ext. 224
Contact Email: dhilty@ShenandoahMuseum.org
Rain date: Saturday, April 16, 2011
New Market Battlefield State Historical Park (New Market battlefield)
City, County, State: New Market, Shenandoah County, Virginia
Webpage: http://www.vmi.edu/newmarket
Meeting place: Volunteers should meet in front of the Hall of Valor Civil War Museum. The address is 8895 George Collins Drive, New Market, VA 22844 or GPS coordinates [N38 39.716 W78 40.244]
Meeting time: 9:00 AM
Planned Activities: Activities will include rail fence building, trash pickup, gravel road repairs, and dragging brush into piles in the Bloody Cedars section of the battlefield.
Bring tools?: No
Food provided: Yes - light food and drinks (snacks, desserts)
Contact Name: Troy Marshall
Contact Phone: 866-515-1864
Contact Email: marshalltd@vmi.edu
Rain date: Rain or Shine
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As authorized by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation serves as the non-profit manager of the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District, partnering with local, regional, and national organizations and governments to preserve the Valley’s battlefields and interpret and promote the region’s Civil War story.
Created by Congress in 1996, the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District encompasses Augusta, Clarke, Frederick, Highland, Page, Rockingham, Shenandoah, and Warren counties in Virginia and the cities of Harrisonburg, Staunton, Waynesboro, and Winchester . The legislation authorizes federal funding for the protection of ten battlefields in the District: Second Winchester, Third Winchester, Second Kernstown, Cedar Creek, Fisher’s Hill, Tom’s Brook, New Market, Cross Keys, Port Republic , and McDowell.
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ON THE WEB:
Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation and
Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District:
www.ShenandoahAtWar.org
National Park Service 1992 study of the Shenandoah Valley ’s Civil War battlefields:
www.cr.nps.gov/hps/abpp/shenandoah/svs0-1.html.
