Fighting to Preserve 35 Acres in the Heart of the Hupp’s Hill Battlefield

Our preservation efforts are costly and time consuming and always on the brink. In the last twelve months alone, we have racked up more than $180,000 in unbudgeted and unfunded expenses to save battlefield land throughout the Valley.  It’s going to be hard to continue to save sites like this amazing property at Hupp’s Hill that I’m writing to you about today, unless we cover some of those costs.  These unfunded project costs are weighing us down and preventing us from tackling projects like this.

We’re preserving 35 acres that are in the heart of the Hupp’s Hill Battlefield – land that also witnessed the early morning’s fight during the Battle of Cedar Creek – and I’m writing to ask you to pitch in to support our preservation efforts.

This property is situated amid hundreds of acres that have already been preserved.  Until we got involved, the property was once slated to be part of a new retirement village, and then was planned as the site of a new college summer baseball league field, complete with grandstands and stadium lighting.  We became involved several years ago and have worked behind the scenes to advise a process that would lead to preservation and negotiate a deal to transfer ownership of the property to the Battlefields Foundation and preserve the property forever.

This is a beautiful site on the banks of Cedar Creek that feels much larger than it is because of its location and setting.  More important than its scenic beauty, the site is core battlefield – the last large parcel of ground that can be saved on the Hupp’s Hill Battlefield.

Target Tract in Yellow

Saving this property was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up, 35 acres of core battlefield that we can open to the public as yet another place of learning and reflection, where outdoor recreation can lead to a better understanding of our history.

Once protected we can link this property to other preserved properties with an interpretive trail and create a new battlefield experience.  We can preserve this last best piece of the Hupp’s Hill Battlefield and we can open it to the public but none of this work can happen without you and others like you across the country. But without supporters like you, projects like this won’t be possible.

Please help us raise $180,000 so that we can announce a win at Hupp’s Hill and clear the way for more preservation victories. I’m asking you to do all you can; to join the fight for Hupp’s Hill and for the Valley.

The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation is a registered Section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization and contributions are tax-deductible.