Help Us Preserve the Yonley Farm at Second Winchester Battlefield!

We have the opportunity to save 172 acres in the heart of the Second Winchester Battlefield! Not just 172 acres, but the 172 acres where Dick Ewell had Jubal Early launch his surprise attack against Milroy’s Federal defenders, where Cannon thundered so loudly it was heard 20 miles away and Hay’s Louisiana Brigade made their grand charge to capture West Fort and Battery #6! This is the 172 acres where it can be said, Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia kicked down the door and cleared the way for their invasion of Pennsylvania and opened the road to Gettysburg! 

Our ever-growing communities and competing land use needs seem to often put battlefield preservation behind the curve, it’s like we’re always fighting from behind with never enough time and more battlefield acres than we have dollars to save. Nowhere are the pressures of growth being felt more than in Winchester and Frederick County. For the 4th year in a row that area has been named the fastest growing in Virginia. That’s what makes the opportunity that we have now, all the more amazing. 

Not only is this particular property where some of the most intense and most consequential fighting of the Battle of Second Winchester occurred, its more than 170 contiguous acres and a property that due to its location and high per acre value, most thought would never be preserved. And that might have been the case if this property wasn’t owned by a family who cares about the land and cares about its history and wants to do all they can to see the property protected. Diane Kearns, the current owner, represents the third generation of the Solenberger family to call this property home. Through hard work and a great deal of determination, her grandfather pieced together large land holdings and established one of the most substantial orchard operations in the region. It was in a time when the Shenandoah Valley was known for apples the way the Napa Valley is for wine, and the Solenberger Orchards produced some of the best. 

Diane’s mother and father continued in the business, growing the operation over decades, and today Diane and her family are operating some of the last commercial valley orchards in the Winchester area. Well aware of its battlefield history and deeply committed to keeping the property intact, Diane’s parents began talking about the possibility of preserving the land more than a decade ago.