Plan for Five Forks Visitor Ccenter Makes Progress
Deborah Fitts

October 2005

PETERSBURG, Va. — A new, $3 million visitor center for the Five Forks battlefield is coming a step closer to reality, with an invitation for public input into the plan.

Bob Kirby, superintendent at Petersburg National Battlefield, said at presstime in September that the Environmental Assessment for the project was expected by late September and a 30-day period for public comment would follow.

The park is proposing a two-story, 1,300-square-foot building in the woods about a half-mile from the intersection at Five Forks. It is slated for construction in Fiscal Year 2008.

Kirby noted that the Environmental Assessment offers three alternatives: a “no action” plan that would mean no new visitor center, a proposal for a visitor center immediately adjacent to the intersection, and the park’s “preferred alternative” — the visitor center in the woods.

Kirby said the woods location was chosen to keep the “modern intrusion” out of view of the open battlefield. An existing park visitor contact station, located in a 1940s cinder-block garage at the intersection, would be razed under the plan.

The junction of White Oak, Courthouse and Wheeler roads is the focal point of the Five Forks battlefield. The unit comprises 1,186 acres and is located about 17 miles southwest of Petersburg.

Kirby said that from the intersection, a paved walkway “hidden in the woods” would take visitors on “a nice walk” to the new facility. He noted that the location, a troop-staging area, was also wooded at the time of the battle, April 1, 1865.

The building will have a small room for an audio-visual program and a few artifacts on display. The minimalist approach is purposeful, Kirby said. “We’re trying to keep with our theme in the General Management Plan that the battlefields tell the story.” To that end, there will be glass walls at both ends of the building to offer outdoor views.

Kirby said the building would be staffed seven days a week, likely with one interpreter and one maintenance official.
Beside the new building and removal of the old garage, the project also includes a small maintenance facility and parking area.

The General Management Plan for Petersburg calls for four visitor centers, including one each at the park’s main unit, City Point, Five Forks, and, eventually, one in Old Town Petersburg.

The Five Forks Battlefield is at the intersection of VA 613 and 627, some 25 miles southwest of the Petersburg National Battlefield's main visitor center. The Confederate collapse at the Five Forks Battlefield on April 1, 1865, led to the fall of Petersburg and soon thereafter the evacuation of Richmond and surrender at Appomattox.