136 Acres Saved At Manassas
By Deborah Fitts
MANASSAS, Va.

Celebrating the rescue of a 136-acre piece of the Manassas battlefield from "the jaws of development," the Civil War Preservation Trust held a press conference Nov. 28 on Henry House Hill.

The Trust cobbled together the $600,000 purchase price for the wooded tract, located on the west side of Featherbed Lane near Sudley Church. Neighboring homeowners secured a $10,000 option earlier this year after learning that the property was being offered for sale.

At the press conference, attended by four dozen people, Trust President James Lighthizer remarked that the Manassas battlefield was particularly vulnerable because it was "surrounded by sprawl." "It is indeed a pleas-ure to be able to snatch such a historic piece of real estate from the jaws of development," Lighthizer said.

The $600,000 in purchase funds includes $300,000 supplied by the Trust; $200,000 from the federal Land & Water Conservation Fund, fun-neled to the Trust from the Virginia Department of Conservation & Rec-reation; and $100,000 from the neighbors, represented by the Sudley Mountain and Stony Ridge Civic Association.

Trust spokesman Jim Campi said another $30,000 in "expenses" would likely be covered by the homeowners as well. The neighbors were concerned about the impact of intensive development of the tract.

The 136-acres site lies directly across Featherbed Lane from Manassas National Battlefield Park, but it is outside the park boundary. Campi said the Trust plans eventually to donate the land to the park, but if the nec-essary congressional boundary adjustment is delayed for a period of years, the Trust may seek a grant to interpret the property and open it to public access.

Union troops under Gen. Philip Kearny attacked across this ground Aug. 29, 1862, during the battle of Second Manassas. John Hennessy, author of Return to Bull Run and assistant superintendent at the Fredericksburg national military park, told the Trust that historians "would be hard-pressed to find a more significant tract" than this one. The property was "at the top of the list of unprotected land at Manassas." Manassas Superintendent Robert Sutton hailed the "team effort" that made the purchase possible.