Repairs to the Sudley Post Office
Ziegenfuss S. 1994. Repairs to the Sudley Post Office. Historic Structure Report. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Washington, D.C.
The guiding principle of the proposal in the General Management Plan is to establish a unified program of historic scene restoration and battlefield interpretation to further the visitors' understanding and appreciation of events which ravaged the Manassas countryside during the Civil War. The overall objective is to strive towards restoration of the historic battlefield scene through a phased program of landscape manipulation and historic structure preservation. The Sudley Post Office is part of the Historic Protection Zone, and the proposed treatment was to stabilize the building exterior. This report contains documentation about the plan to rehabilitate and maintain the Sudley Post Office, including project details, cost estimates, a draft Historic Structures Report, and chronology of development. The Historic Structure Report included in this document was prepared to provide guidance for the repair of the Sudley Post Office, which was in poor condition at that time. The report provides a history of the structure that is the basis for the historical data in the report. The post office was one of three structures that existed during the Civil War, giving the building historical significance as part of the battlefield. This area was also the site of heavy fighting on August 29, 1862 during the Second Battle of Manassas (Bull Run) as Union troops attempted to turn the Confederate Army’s left flank that ran roughly along the "unfinished railroad" just south of Sudley. During both battles, the church at Sudley as well as the buildings on the site of the Sudley Post Office were used as field hospitals. After the Civil War, the area around Sudley prospered as a farming community. During this period, the two buildings that make up the Sudley Post Office were combined to form one building and the function of post office was established. The building was both house and post office. By 1900, Sudley consisted of a post office, a mill, a hotel, a church, a general store and several houses nearby. In 1903, the function of post office was discontinued. The building continued to function as a house until being acquired by the National Park Service in 1966.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Ziegenfuss, Stephen
- Date of Issue
- 1994-01
- Publisher
- U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
- Units
- MANA , NCR
- Keywords
- agriculture, Battle of Bull Run, Battle of Manassas, Civil War, field hospital, interpretation, lead paint abatement, PMIS, post office, stabilization