Fredericksburg Battlefield - Lee Drive: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Fredericksburg And Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial National Military Park
Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation. 2021. Fredericksburg Battlefield - Lee Drive: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Fredericksburg And Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial National Military Park. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 975162. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Boston, Massachusetts / CRIS-CL Database
Fredericksburg Battlefield–Lee Drive is part of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park (NMP), located in northeastern Virginia halfway between Washington D.C. and Richmond, Virginia. Covering over 7,000 acres, the park was designated by Congress in 1927 as a national military park for the purpose of preserving and commemorating the Civil War battles of Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania Court House, Wilderness, and Chancellorsville. Initially administered and developed by the U.S. War Department, the park was transferred in 1933 to civilian administration of the National Park Service (NPS). The Fredericksburg Battlefield–Lee Drive unit of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania NMP is located southwest of downtown Fredericksburg. Encompasses approximately 1,398 acres, the long, irregularly shaped property straddles Lee Drive, a park road that runs from Lafayette Boulevard on the north to Mine Road on the south. The battlefield includes the sites of combat during the First and Second Battles of Fredericksburg in December 1862 and May 1863. It is bounded by CSX Railroad tracks along the east and northeast, Mine Road along the south, and residential neighborhoods and light industrial sites on the east and west. The Fredericksburg Battlefield–Lee Drive unit represents the southern portion of the Fredericksburg Battlefield; the northern portion is located approximately 1 mile west of downtown Fredericksburg and immediately adjacent to the Fredericksburg National Cemetery. It is addressed in the “Cultural Landscape Inventory for Sunken Road.” The Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park (NMP) Historic District is significant at the national level under National Register Criteria A, B, C, and D in the areas of Military, Commemoration, Conservation, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Archeology. The four battlefield units – Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania Court House, Chancellorsville, and Wilderness – and three discontinuous sites – Ellwood, Jackson Shrine, and Salem Church – that constitute Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania NMP derive their primary significance as the site of military activity during the American Civil War from 1863-1864. The park’s overall period of significance is 1768-1965, with the beginning of construction of Chatham, and extending to 1965, with the Civil War Centennial and associated commemoration efforts within the park. Fredericksburg Battlefield–Lee Drive is significant under all four National Register criteria in the areas of Military, Commemoration, Conservation, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Archeology. The period of significance for the battlefield is 1862-1965, from the Battle of Fredericksburg (December 11-15, 1863) through the completion of the Lee Hill Visitor Kiosk facility in time for the centennial of the end of the Civil War.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation
- Date of Issue
- 2021-09-22
- Publisher
- U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
- Units
- FRSP , NER
- Keywords
- Ambrose E Burnside, Archeology, Architecture, artillery emplacements, battle, Battle of Fredericksburg, CCC, Civil War, Civilian Conservation Corps, colonial revival, Commemoration, Conservation, Deep Run, earthworks, field patterns, George G Meade, Georgian Revival, historic site, Joseph Hooker, kiosk, Landscape Architecture, Maryland, Military, Mission 66, Robert E Lee, Thomas C Vint, Thomas J "Stonewall" Jackson, visitor facility, War Department