Unfinished Railroad: Cultural Landscape Report, Manassas National Battlefield Park

Quinn Evans Architects; Louis Berger Group, Inc; Williams, Brenda

This Cultural Landscape Report (CLR) for the physical landscape associated with the portion of the unfinished Manassas Gap Railroad Independent Line that is located within Manassas National Battlefield Park, documents, evaluates and provides treatment guidance for a 40 acre project area. It includes a roughly eighty-foot wide strip that runs in a southwestern route between Sudley and Pageland Lane. The project area widens in three locations to include resources associated with the Unfinished Railroad including: the Sudley area north of the railroad grade and adjacent to Sudley Road; the Groveton/ Deep Cut Monument south of the railroad grade and west of Featherbed Lane; and a quarry site south of the rail-bed and east of Pageland Lane. A project team led by Brenda Williams, Historical Landscape Architect with Quinn Evans Architects (QEA) included Lindsey Pickornik, design technician and QEA staff. Sarah Grosbeck, historian with Louis Berger Group (LBG) conducted research, and John Bedell, archeologist at LBG assisted with preparation of a contextual overview of the project site. Most of the field survey was conducted in 2012-2013 by Brenda Williams with assistance from Jim Burgess, Manassas National Battlefield Park museum specialist. The team utilized the extensive secondary information for Manassas National Battlefield Park including: Unfinished Railroad Resource Survey (Lowe 2013); Cultural Landscape Inventory for Northwest Quadrant (Joseph 1996); Brawner Farm Cultural Landscape Report (Earley and Fanning 2005); archeological reports; National Register nominations; and Zenzen's account of the history of preservation efforts related to the park. The project area is a portion of the Manassas Battlefield Historic District that is historically significant for its association with the First Battle of Manassas on July 21, 1861 and the Second Battle of Manassas on August 28-30, 1862. Dissatisfied by the high shipping costs of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad Company, the Manassas Gap Railroad Company decided to construct their own railroad line from Gainesville to Alexandria. In 1854, an eighty-foot wide corridor was acquired from land owners within the Sudley/Groveton area. The grading for the alignment commenced soon afterward, where the trees were cleared from the right-of-way to establish an even grade with a series of cuts and fills. The Manassas Gap Railroad Company strained their resources and went bankrupt soon after the grading operations were nearing completion in 1858. The railroad bed was left abandoned for possible future use. Its use by Confederate forces during the Second Battle of Manassas elevated its significance as a makeshift fortification. In 1940, the Secretary of the Interior officially designated the Manassas battlefield as part of the National Park System. The parcels from the rail corridor were acquired between 1940 and 1980, as part of the park. The comprehensive survey of the Unfinished Railroad resources by David Lowe provided the project team a detailed documentation of current conditions (2013) for the railroad corridor. Lowe’s report included thorough GPS survey data for the 2.7 mile segment of the Unfinished Railroad within the park boundaries. This information was utilized for the preparing the extensive existing conditions mapping and developing the treatment plans. General recommendations were prepared for vegetation, fencing, and archeological resources for the overall project area and specific recommendations addressing trail treatment, accessibility and vegetation management. The CLR also provides standard operating procedures for general issues, vegetation management, trails (trail surface and standardization for structures).

Unfinished Railroad: Cultural Landscape Report, Manassas National Battlefield Park

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