Stones River National Battlefield: Cultural Landscape Report, Stones River National Battlefield

Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc; John Milner Associates, Inc

Stones River National Battlefield is located about three miles northwest of downtown Murfreesboro, Rutherford County, Tennessee. The existing national park includes a portion of the Civil War battlefield of Stones River, a key battle in the campaign to control middle Tennessee, which occurred December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863. The park was established by an Act of Congress in 1927 as Stones River National Military Park under the administration of the Army Quartermaster General. The park was transferred to the administration of the National Park Service in 1933. This Cultural Landscape Report has been developed primarily to provide treatment recommendations for managing the overall landscape of the park. The treament recommendations will support future development of an alternative tour route and other physical changes to the park and will identify possible strategies to mitigate the effect of the contemporary urban environment on the historically rural battlefield. Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. (WJE) of Northbrook, Illinois, was the lead firm for this study. WJE staff performed archival research for the project and prepared the management summary and site history portions of the written report. The Charlottesville, Virginia, office of John Milner Associates, Inc. (JMA) provided landscape architectural services for the study, including existing conditions documentation and physical condition assessments, comparative analyses and integrity evaluations, and preparation of treatment recommendations. The treatment plan drew from the condition assessments and the results of the comparative analyses and integrity evaluations in order to determine appropriate treatment alternatives for the park. An overarching treatment concept was developed to direct treatment guidelines and recommendations. Guidelines and recommendations responded to existing issues, such as maintenance concerns and the proposed tour road, and offered suggestions that would preserve and enhance the park’s historic landscape character, as well as enhance interpretation efforts. The project team was provided with a detailed statement of work for this CLR by the National Park Service. The CLR study includes the core battlefield, the McFadden Farm/Artillery Monument site, General Bragg’s Headquarters site, General Rosecrans’s Headquarters site, the Hazen Brigade Monument site, and the Fortress Rosecrans parcels. Detailed study of the national cemetery is not included, nor is study of the larger historic battlefield beyond the park boundaries. The CLR describes the historical development of the site; documents the existing conditions; analyzes the landscape’s potential National Register significance; identifies character-defining landscape features; determines an appropriate treatment strategy; and develops specific treatment recommendations

Stones River National Battlefield: Cultural Landscape Report, Stones River National Battlefield

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