Preservationists Focus On 175-Mile Route 15 Through Three States
By Deborah Fitts
August 2005
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A 175-mile stretch of U.S. 15 that extends from Gettysburg in Pennsylvania to Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello in Virginia has been designated one of the 11 “most endangered historic places” by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
“There aren’t many places that encompass a greater variety of significant historic sites, from founding fathers’ homes to Civil War battlefields,” said Trust President Richard Moe, “or that face a more serious range of threats.”
In addition to an array of Civil War battlefields along the Route 15 corridor are six presidents’ homes and Indian and African American historic sites.
On the heels of the June announcement, preservationists kicked off a campaign to preserve historic sites along the three-state corridor, which includes portions of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. Dubbed “Journey Through Hallowed Ground,” it comprises a coalition of 120 local, state and federal agencies, private groups and individuals. Among the nonprofit groups in the coalition are the National Trust itself and the Civil War Preservation Trust.
Cate Magennis Wyatt of Waterford, Va., executive director of the coalition, noted that a million acres lie along the corridor, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. While the roadway is packed with history, the appetite for development in the region is devouring swaths of open land.
Wyatt told the Loudoun Times-Mirror of Leesburg, Va., that preservation groups had learned important lessons in their successful fight a dozen years ago to stop the Disney Co. from building a historical theme park off Route 15 in Haymarket, Va. “The biggest mistake was they didn’t finish the job,” Wyatt said. “They didn’t buy the land.”
Journey Through Hallowed Ground actually got under way in 1996, in the wake of the Disney battle.
Now the coalition hopes to purchase key properties along the highway, place easements on them and resell the land. Farmers who often find a market only with developers will now have another alternative, explained Wyatt, who formerly served as Virginia’s secretary of commerce and trade.
The group will also work to encourage tourism and support rural economic enterprises like farms and wineries.
At its recent press conference the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Initiative announced results of a survey of registered voters in the region. According to Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, 96 percent of voters rated the region’s parks and natural resources as important to their quality of life, 94 percent said the region’s historic and cultural assets were important and 93 percent said farmlands and agricultural community were important to their quality of life.
Thirty percent felt that the quality of life had deteriorated over the past five years and 61 percent attributed that to the impact of growth and sprawl. Eighty-two percent said that their quality of life would deteriorate further if the current type and pace of growth continues.
The Hallowed Ground corridor begins at Gettysburg and travels south past Emmitsburg, Pa., and Frederick, Md., before crossing the Potomac River at Point of Rocks. In Virginia, it passes Leesburg, Haymarket, Warrenton and Culpeper. Turning from Route 15 onto Route 20 at Orange, the corridor ends at Monticello in Charlottesville.
Modern-day Route 15 began as a trade route from New York into the Carolinas. Originally an Indian trail, during the colonial period it became a prominent north-south artery known as the Carolina Road.
For more information about the initiative visit www.hallowedground.org
