Save 127 Acres Involved in Three Battles

We have bad news, 127 of the most historically significant acres of the Kernstown battlefield were recently platted for development. Virtually unspoiled and unchanged since the war, this hallowed ground could become the site of a rural subdivision, paved over, built on and lost forever.  But here’s the good news, after more than a year of negotiations, significant help from our banking partners, and pledges of assistance from the Wilkins and Ridgeway families, we can turn what would have been a preservation disaster into a preservation victory. 

If we act now, we can save 127 acres of core battlefield that saw heavy action in not one, not two, but THREE battles in three of the most pivotal campaigns of the war!

The property is situated along Sandy Ridge west of the Valley Turnpike and the famed Pritchard Farm.  Historically the property was a part of the Rose Hill Farm and for generations has been part of the Glass family estate.  Julian Glass gave the property to the Glass Glen Burnie Foundation, who, after many years, decided to put the property up for sale.  Located between land that Glass Glen Burnie previously opened as a community park, and land preserved by the American Battlefield Trust and now owned by the Kernstown Battlefield Association, developing this property would have been a disaster.  The neighborhood of single-family homes planned for the 127 acres would have permanently divided the previously preserved tracts, severed interpretive access and destroyed forever some of the most fought-over ground in the Shenandoah Valley.

Make no mistake, this is no ordinary preservation project.  Not only are these parcels the scene of significant fighting in three separate battles, but they are also extremely expensive with the final purchase price coming in at more than $2.7 million.  As if the price alone was not bad enough, we had to close immediately with the seller taking back a note on roughly 50% of the purchase price and First Bank providing financing for the other 50%.  First Bank, headquartered in Strasburg, has been a long-time partner of ours, always willing to find creative banking solutions to save the Valley’s battlefields.  To save this property, our friends at First Bank went above and beyond to pull together the loan package, working through collateral issues, short timelines, and changing deal terms to provide the funds needed to get this project underway.

Even with the seller agreeing to finance part of the purchase and the extremely fair lending terms being offered by First Bank, the loans would do us no good if we couldn’t make the payments.  Those payments include the interest – significant interest - more than $15,000 a month.  Interest is not refundable through state or federal battlefield grants and is a significant burden on the overall project and the cash flow of the Foundation.  That’s when the Ridgeway and the Wilkins families stepped in to help. Realizing that the cost of the financing would make the project impossible for us to tackle, they offered to provide the funding needed to cover the interest payments; buying us the time we need to pull together the funding that will preserve the property forever.

So, with their unbelievably generous support and a $25,000 down payment provided by the Kernstown Battlefield Association we signed the agreement and have already secured a $1.7 million grant from the state of Virginia to put toward the purchase.  That grant was the largest single grant ever awarded in the history of Virginia’s Battlefield Preservation Fund!

With all the support already pulled together for this effort and even counting the more than $1,080,000 we expect to receive from the American Battlefield Protection Program, we still need to raise with $55,363.00 to complete this project.  It’s a small amount compared to the millions this purchase requires but it’s a lot of money when you don’t have it.

We already have a lead gift to get the ball rolling toward the last $55,000 that we need! Compadre, the beloved canine companion of our longtime friend and supporter Amy Kennedy, unfortunately passed away recently.  He was a battlefield lover and had attended many of our conferences through the years.  In April, Amy gifted us Compadre’s “estate”, making a legacy gift in his name for $6,000!  Compadre loved walking the Kernstown Battlefield, so the decision was made to make his gift the first to be put toward the purchase of these 127 acres.  He’s our first canine donor and the first to make a gift to this project!

With Compadre’s gift we are left with just $49,363 to raise!  We’re asking you to join the Ridgeways and the Wilkins – we’re asking you to join Compadre and us – please join the fight to save 127 acres of core battlefield at Kernstown, we’re almost there but we need your help.