Preserving South Mountain Battlefield
Commentary By Phyllis Baxter

We're all committed to buying and preserving significant battlefield lands, but what happens after the purchase papers are signed and the initial hoopla dies down?

Rich Mountain Battlefield Foundation (RMBF) is 10 years old this year. An organization dedicated to preserving our own little piece of local Civil War history in the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia, the foundation commemorates the July 11, 1861, "battle that made McClellan famous."

Over the last 10 years we've had the help of many foundation members and donors, local organizations, private foundations, and state and federal agencies and grants. The land has been purchased however possible: the core battlefield by APCWS, much with federal grants, and the rest by our organization.

RMBF is responsible for managing it all. We've built trails and put up signs. We even have a Visitor Center. On this 140th Anniversary of the battle, we continue to ask ourselves - what now?

Continued Needs
The challenges we face are ongoing. We have received generous grants for purchase, interpretation, or infrastructure development. But the less glamorous tasks of operating and protecting the property still fall to our small non-profit organization. We do not charge any admission fee to the battlefield or the Visitor Center, and we receive no continuing governmental or foundation funding.

We still need to maintain the property, mow the grass, pick up the trash, keep up the trails, and discourage vandals and diggers. Our Visitor Center and offices, located in the historic "McClellan's Headquarters" building in nearby Beverly, require mortgage payments, upkeep, and staff to help visitors and run the organization.

We also undertake educational programs, public relations, visitor advertising, fundraisers and events, and extensive partnership work with other local, regional, and statewide efforts.

So how do we keep the effort going, the organization viable and growing, bills paid, visitors satisfied, and the battlefield protected? It takes a combination of efforts, learning as we go, and lots of dedication.

Heritage Tourism
Heritage tourism fuels the economic engine that helps to make a preservation effort like this viable. Gift shop sales and direct donations provide some income even without admission fees. Visitors provide support for the Battlefield effort, sharing with us their interests, questions and knowledge, and continuing membership support after they return home.
Tourism provides economic development benefits for our entire local economy. Visitors who come to Rich Mountain and related heritage sites stay in motels, eat in restaurants, buy antiques and gifts. Tourism providers and marketers in our community therefore support RMBF. We keep working to demonstrate that heritage sites are bringing in business, and that we need their continued and substantial support.

Members and Volunteers
Rich Mountain membership starts at only $10, which we deliberately keep low to encourage broad participation. Staying in touch with our members - sending notices and thank-you letters, newsletters, etc. - takes significant time and resources, but is vital. Our web page at www.richmountain.org has been an invaluable and cost-effective tool. Coverage in publications like The Civil War News, and support and visibility from national organizations like the Civil War Preservation Trust, give us significant out-of state membership, in addition to our strong statewide and local support base.

The success of the organization depends first and foremost on our volunteers. One of our most important growth steps was hiring part-time staff, but it is a measure of the strength of our organization that the board and other volunteers have kept working, instead of expecting the staff to do it all.

A wide variety of tasks - from picking up trash to giving tours, finding that critical large donation to resource surveys - are still done by volunteers who stay involved in and committed to the organization. We try to maintain an awareness of our mission of preservation and education, so volunteers - and donors - know they are helping with something worth believing in. And we try to keep it fun, so that people will want to come help again!

Fundraising, Public Relations
Creative fundraising is a continual challenge. We keep looking for some big, unique fundraising event that will bring in enough to keep us going all year. Instead, we've had our share of events where the result was "we just barely broke even, but it was great public relations!"

Our reenactment - scheduled for July 7 & 8 of this 140th Anniversary year - is designed as both a public relations and a fundraising event. It's a challenge! We keep trying to make ours better, more authentic and interesting, and more fun than he many small, free reenactments in the area, while still trying to make money for the organization.

Keeping admission fees low to encourage attendance, the serious fundraising lies more in added activities such as an auction and a "General's Camp" fundraising reception, held in conjunction with the event.

When our organization was new, and the need for purchase funds clear and dramatic, we had good success getting our story out. Press releases, photo ops, media activities and programs for civic groups all helped to build visibility for our efforts. Keeping that interest going long term is more difficult, but equally necessary. Developing, and following, a good long-term public relations plan is vital. The organization must remain visible not only when putting on a big event, but throughout the year.

Such continuity has other long-term benefits as well. People hear about the battlefield repeatedly, talk to visitors who have come to see the battlefield, hear from their kids about school field trips to the site, and see for themselves the work and successes of local volunteers. This results in more buy-in and pride from the local community. The more local folks see it as their battlefield, the more successful the whole preservation effort will be.

Direct donations are crucial to our fundraising efforts. A successful track record makes it easier to ask for support from those who have the means and believe in our mission. Doing good preliminary research on donors, building relationships, and demonstrating tangible results can bring in further crucial support. Success breeds success, and successful efforts will attract substantial donors who not only support the cause, but can see that their money will be used effectively.

Partnerships and Vision
An important part of our mission has been building partnerships beyond our specific site. By coordinating our in-terpretation with the other Civil War sites in our campaign, with the historic turnpike at issue in the battle, and with the entire local historic community, we can tell our story in context, more accurately and more interestingly.

We coordinate our tourism development and marketing, so that visitors will drive from a distance, will have more to interest them here, and will stay longer. Rich Mountain Battlefield Foundation has helped develop and support the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike Byway and preservation efforts in Historic Beverly.

We also participate in a variety of regional and statewide heritage tourism efforts, including the WV Civil War Task Force, which is working to develop and coordinate Civil War interpretation and tourism statewide.

Both our activities and our vision keep growing each year. We have annual strategic planning meetings, revisiting our goals and objectives and trying to look farther ahead. We don't just sit back and say "well that's done"; we celebrate "good job, what's next!"

The board has shown the faith to take risks even when it's not clear where the money will come from. But most of all, as many others have discovered too, continuing success in historic preservation takes commitment, persistence and a lot of hard work. For more information about the Rich Mountain Battlefield Foundation or this summer's reenactment, contact P.O. Box 227, Beverly, WV 26253, (304) 637-RICH, or visit www.richmountain.org

Phyllis Baxter is a public historian, with a MA in American History from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Public History certificate from West Virginia University. Coming to an interest in Civil War history first as a reenactor, she was a founding member and is current executive director of Rich Mountain Battlefield Foundation. She is also active in the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike Alliance, Historic Beverly Preservation and Beverly Historic Landmarks Commission, Randolph County Historical Society, West Virginia Reenactors Association, and Preservation Alliance of West Virginia. She lives in Elkins, W.Va., with her husband Peter and two children.