Shenandoah Valley Civil War Battlefields Assessment (Draft)

National Park Service

This report recommends the creation of a Shenandoah Valley Heritage Area-a necklace of protected battlefields and other resource sites throughout the Shenandoah Valley, linked with high quality interpretive sites, land formations, and related visitor services. Some mechanism, agreed upon by the local jurisdictions, needs to be created to ensure that valuable resources of all types are preserved and promoted for the benefit of residents and visitors alike. The key is a locally based planning process leading to a partnership preservation plan; thus giving some assurance that resources will be protected in the long-term through a combination of local, state and private action and, where appropriate, federal action. Through this public planning process, consensus can be reached about what resources could be included in a unit of the national park system. The partnership preservation plan would accomplish two things beyond the scope .of past and current National Park service studies of the battlefields. First, it ·would look beyond the battlefields to assess associated Civil War resources, as well as other cultural, historic, natural, and recreational resources. The productive ~arms which line the valley from end to end, the antebellum farm houses and the remaining barns and mills which are as much a part of the Civil War story as the battlefields they surround, the historic towns that line the old Valley Turnpike (modern us 11), the abundant architectural resources, and the natural and recreational resource sites could all be important contributors to the Shenandoah Valley Heritage Area. Secondly, it would develop a comprehensive agenda for the conservation, management, interpretation, and promotion of the cultural, historic, natural and recreational resources of the Shenandoah Valley. The Shenandoah Valley is not going to be preserved by acquisition. Appropriate resource preservation must balance the attitudes, needs, and desires of property owners and local officials intent on cultivating economic development, with the desire of the American people to preserve these places for posterity. It is clear that any effort to preserve the valley's significant cultural landscape beyond the preservation of isolated battlefield sites, would require local will, determination and cooperation. The most important next step is the creation of a locally-based commission charged with developing the partnership preservation plan for the heritage area. The rewards would be three-fold: (1) nationally and locally significant resources would enjoy a greater measure of protection, thereby assuring the ability to interpret the significant stories of the Shenandoah Valley; (2) local residents would continue to experience the high quality of life to which they are accustomed; and (3) the attractions themselves would stimulate tourism and begin to contribute to the local economy in a more meaningful way.