preserving maryland’s civil war battlefields · national concern for american civil war...

Preserving Maryland’s

Civil War Battlefields

1989 – 2007

H. Grant Dehart Formerly: Director of Program Open Space, Maryland DNR

Director of Maryland Environmental Trust

Member, Governor’s Civil War Heritage Commission

Member, Enhancement Technical Committee, MDOT

National concern for American Civil War Battlefields

(PBS Ken Burns Series on The Civil War)

1986 Manassas National Battlefield threatened

Shopping Center proposed on 542 acres (Til Hazel)

1988 Congressional Quick-take of Manassas property

$118 million to purchase site @ $217,712 per acre

Civil War Sites Advisory Commission appointed

American Battlefield Protection Program established (NPS)

Civil War Trust formed (now Civil War Preservation Trust)

Battlefield Threats and Responses Background

Threats to Antietam Battlefield Area

Sprawl Harpers Ferry Road - Sharpsburg

Threats to Antietam Battlefield area Subdivision of the Grove Farm - Sharpsburg

Antietam Station proposal

Proposed Shopping Center & Motel site

The Grove Farm

Responses to Antietam threat SHAF sues county to stop subdivision of Grove Farm

National Trust for Historic Preservation lists Antietam area as one of Nation’s “11 Most Endangered Historic Sites” in 1989, 1990 & 1991

Maryland Environmental Trust received a grant from the National Trust’s Critical Issues Fund to implement a Rural Historic Village Protection Program, includes Sharpsburg and Burkettsville among 10 villages

MET established the Washington County Land Quality Foundation as a local land trust

MD General Assembly approved the MET Land Trust Grant Fund to help with land trust acquisitions

SHAF grants $100,000 MET* $100,000 CWT APCWS & CWRT

SHAF bought 40 acre Site, 10 lots extinguished

First State Civil

War Site Project The Grove Farm

1991-1992

* Land Trust Grant Fund

ISTEA enacted 1991 authorizing enhancements

Gov. Schaefer appoints Civil War Heritage Com.

Lighthizer invites DNR plan for POS & ISTEA $

Prioritized acquisitions by importance & threat (with help of Civil War historians, landowners, counties & land trusts)

Gave landowners protection options

Worked with willing sellers – no condemnation

Offered appraised market values

MD’s Protection Strategy and Plan

Antietam

Protection

Plan

Progress at Antietam

Keedysville Keedysville

Sharpsburg

Antietam National

Battlefield - NPS

Progress at Antietam

Progress at Antietam

Progress at Antietam

Progress at Antietam

Progress at Antietam

Progress at Antietam

AFTER

Antietam viewshed

Scheller Farm

Keedysville Road

Kefauver-Poffenberger Farm Mansfield Road

The Rohrbach House - Before

The Rohrbach House - Today

Accomplishments* Antietam

61 properties $20,725,587 8,769 acres – MDOT&POS $ 8,425,587 3,504 acres

– Rural Legacy $ 10,900,000 3,901 acres

– MALPF $ 1,300,000 1,324 acres

– MET & private $ 100,000 194 acres

South Mountain 54 properties $16,512,346 6,100 acres

Monocacy 3 properties $2,741,516 434 acres

TOTAL: 118 properties $39,979,449 15,303 acres

* Not included: 8,445 acres of State, Federal & land trust acquisitions within park boundaries

(2,750 acres at Antietam)

Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation (MALPF)

MET Land Trust Grant Fund

Program Open Space (POS)

Transportation Enhancement Program (ISTEA/TEA21)

Rural Legacy Program (RLP)

American Battlefield Protection Program of the National Park Service (ABPP)

The Conservation Fund

Civil War Preservation Trust

Leverage Multiple Fund Sources

What have we learned? Political leadership and support is key

Schaefer, Lighthizer, Brown, Munson, Bowers, et.al.

Steady and predictable fund sources are needed

Work with local leaders – County Commissioners,

State legislators, landowners, land trusts

Work directly with landowners and the farm community

Foster partnerships between government & private groups

NPS, ABPP, MD BPW, Washington Co, Sharpsburg, SHAF, CWPT,

SHARP, TCF, WCLQF, Citizen’s Advisory Committee, et.al.

What have we learned? State investments in Civil War site preservation pay

dividends in the form of tourism revenue

Maryland Civil War Trails established by DBED

South Mountain Civil War State Battlefield designated

Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area established by MHT

Success of POS/TEA21 Civil War site preservation was model for Rural Legacy Program in 1997

Targeted multiple-resources for preservation around protected Civil War sites – expanded contiguous land preservation

Multi-agency State & Local land preservation strategy

Mid-Maryland Washington Rural Legacy Area around Antietam

Mid-Maryland Frederick Rural Legacy Area around South Mountain

Preserving Maryland’s

Civil War Battlefields

Thank You!

H. Grant Dehart

(410) 280 6272

grantdehart@comcast.net