“Blue, Gray & Green’ — Economic Benefits Of Preservation
By Deborah Fitts
July 2005
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A report that details the economic benefits of battlefield preservation was unveiled in May by the Civil War Preservation Trust. “Blue, Gray and Green: A Battlefield Benefits Guide for Community Leaders” offers measures that local officials can use in deciding whether saving a battlefield makes good sense economically.
“Civil War battlefields are not just national treasures,” said Trust President James Lighthizer. “Each one is also a treasure-trove of benefits for its neighboring community. Millions of Americans are willing to spend their money to visit these historic shrines — as long as local officials have the wisdom to not pave them over.”
The three-year study, now in its second year, will survey the economic impact of 21 different battlefields on their local communities. The guide supplies “an easy-to-use index” so that leaders of communities not in the study can match their own locale to one of those surveyed.
“The study does show there is enormous benefit from battlefield preservation,” said Trust spokesman Jim Campi. He pointed to Spotsylvania County, Va., as an example, where recent preservation of the Mullins Farm on the Chancellorsville battlefield has brought a rash of requests to see the property.
Campi said that in undertaking the economic benefits study, care was taken to select “a broad cross-section of battlefields around the country,” including sites large and small, and battlefields owned by the federal government, state government or private owners.
He said statistics in the report will provide information that could be crucial in making the case for preservation. “If you’re already working with elected officials who lean towards preservation,” he said, “this gives them the ammunition they need.”
To date, the study has surveyed 13 of the 21 battlefield communities. It found that visitation to the battlefield at Mill Springs, Ky., provided $19,000 in state tax revenue annually and $6,000 in local taxes. Visitors to New Market, Va., left $144,000 in state revenue and $122,000 in local revenue. And visitors to Gettysburg provided nearly $12 million in annual state tax revenue and over $5 million in local taxes.
The study also found that the typical battlefield visitor is affluent and well-educated. The average household income of battlefield visitors is $65,000, the average visitor is 50 years old, and more than half have college degrees. At Bentonville, Ark., visitors spend an average of $30 per person per day; at Corinth, Miss., $55 a day; and at Shiloh, Tenn., $40 a day. Across all 13 sites studied so far, the average expenditure by a battlefield visitor is $49 a day.
On an annual basis, Civil War tourists spend $11 million at the Antietam battlefield, $90,00 at Brice’s Cross Roads, Miss., and $358,000 at Port Hudson, La.
The report also notes the high cost of development for a community. While open space like a battlefield uses only 36 cents in services for every dollar paid in taxes, residential development demands $1.15 in services for every dollar paid in taxes.
Campi said “Blue, Gray and Green” was inspired by a book by Frances Kennedy of the Conservation Fund a decade ago, The Dollars and Sense of Battlefield Preservation. He said battlefield supporters have asked the Trust for updated information to make the case for historic preservation.
The study will total $150,000 when it is completed next year, Campi predicted. Funding is mostly from private foundations, but the American Battlefield Protection Program, an arm of the National Park Service, supplied $18,500 to market the study. The work is being done by Davidson Peterson Associates.
Of the battlefields surveyed to date, six are national parks, (Antietam, Corinth, Gettysburg, Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania, Shiloh, Wilson’s Creek, Mo.); four are state parks (Bentonville, N.C., New Market, Va., Perryville, Ky., Port Hudson, La.); and three are privately owned (Brice’s Cross Roads, Miss., Mill Springs, Ky., Franklin, Tenn.).
