Struggle Is On To Save Stafford County, Va. Crow’s Nest Site

By Deborah Fitts

November 2005

STAFFORD COUNTY, Va., — A struggle between developers and local preservationists is under way for the fate of a wooded peninsula along the Potomac River called Crow’s Nest.

Stafford Lakes Limited Partnership has filed an application for 680 homes on the 4,000-acre peninsula, which is flanked by Potomac Creek and Accokeek Creek near their discharge into the Potomac River south of Washington.

“We’re doing what we can do,” said Patricia Kurpiel, the director of a local water-quality organization who is helping lead the opposition. Among the arguments for saving Crow’s Nest is a wealth of Civil War history.

On Sept. 20 the newly formed Crow’s Nest Preservation Coalition, comprising two dozen local and regional environmental and community groups, rallied at the Stafford government center to oppose the development plan. Kurpiel acknowledged, however, that the plan is a “by-right” development allowed under county zoning.

She said “at least” 300 people attended the gathering. The Board of Supervisors hosted two hours of “very moving speeches. It was really quite wonderful, about why Crow’s Nest should be saved.” The peninsula got its name from the trading vessel Crow that anchored nearby prior to the Civil War.

According to Kurpiel, development opponents have met with the owner of Stafford Lakes Limited Partnership, Kamel Tabara, for more than a year to negotiate purchase of the property, “but we were not able to arrive at a satisfactory price.” The fast pace of growth in Stafford has fueled concerns over environmental and quality-of-life issues.

D.P.Newton, owner of the White Oak Civil War Museum in Stafford, noted that Crow’s Nest and the adjacent ground across Potomac Creek saw intense use during the Civil War. A 1,500-man brigade of the Union 11th Corps camped on Crow’s Nest in the winter of 1862-63, and Union cavalry camped there prior to the battle of Fredericksburg. A mile distant is Aquia Landing, a strategic location that was fortified by both sides in the war.

During the 1864 Overland Campaign a primary Union supply depot was established at Belle Plains, across Potomac Creek from Crow’s Nest. In May 1864, for 10 days following fighting at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania, two Union batteries were posted on Crow’s Nest to control a temporary Confederate prisoner-of-war camp across the creek at Belle Plains that Newton said held as many as 10,000 Southerners. And a large Union hospital was set up nearby on the Potomac River during the winter of 1862-63, housing 5,000 patients in tents.

Opponents of the development plan say that Crow’s Nest would provide a prime opportunity to interpret the myriad Civil War events in the area. Kurpiel noted that at the Sept. 20 meeting, the Stafford supervisors requested an appraisal of the property.

“The supervisors are interested in buying it,” she said, and the county has $10 million available — although that may fall well short of the selling price. “In our community there’s even been talk of eminent domain,” and turning Crow’s Nest into a much-needed park in Stafford County.

“We believe a park would be the highest and best use,” Kurpiel said.