[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 31 (Wednesday, February 26, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E287-E288]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CEDAR CREEK AND BELLE GROVE NATIONAL PARK

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 25, 2003

  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, on January 31, 2003, America opened its 388th 
park in the National Park Service: Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National 
Historical Park. The establishment of this park represents years of 
hard work by many dedicated individuals and institutions. I am 
inserting into the Record an editorial by Adrian O'Connor, ``History at 
Belle Grove'' which appeared in the Winchester Star on February 1, 
2003. This piece outlines the unique partnership which helped create 
this park and the plans for its future. Following this editorial is a 
list of those who played a seminal role in bringing this park into 
existence.

        History at Belle Grove--Now There Are 388 National Parks

       History was made--or, should we say, further history was 
     made--on a chilly, muscle-tightening morning near the front 
     steps of Belle Grove Plantation.
       With a gentle snow falling, cattle contentedly lowing in a 
     distant pasture, and a late fog rolling across the 
     surrounding fields--the latter a historical symmetry not lost 
     on Virginia's senior senator, Republican John W. Warner--
     Cedar Creek Battlefield and Belle Grove Plantation because 
     the 388th star in the National Park Service constellation.

[[Page E288]]

       Observing the pristine carpet of snow around Belle Grove, 
     Dr. Stanley Hirschberg, former president of the Cedar Creek 
     Battlefield Foundation, likened it to a ``fresh beginning'' 
     for the historic acreage and manor house near Middletown.
       And so it is--a ``fresh beginning'' born of a partnership 
     to preserve or, as Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-6th, called it, ``a 
     new way to protect and preserve.'' On Friday, the National 
     Park Service officially joined the Cedar Creek Battlefield 
     Foundation, the Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation, and 
     Belle Grove Plantation as caretakers of this historical gem--
     now known as the Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National 
     Historical Park.
       These four entities are now partners in a new-model 
     national park, one whose very approach to land acquisition 
     plows virgin ground in this field. Suffice it to say, at a 
     time when rampant development is threatening the 
     Chancellorsville battlefield park near Fredericksburg and 
     dollars for such new endeavors are scarce in the federal 
     budget, this is soil that needed to be furrowed in such 
     fashion. And a steadfast combination from Virginia's 
     congressional delegation--legislators eager to set a new and 
     different precedent in the creation of national parks--saw 
     that it was done.
       What is new and different about this national park? For 
     starters, the approach to acquiring land. There will be no 
     acrimonious condemnation by the Federal government in this 
     process; it will only purchase private property inside the 
     3,000-acre park when owners express a willingness to sell. 
     Such guidelines, Mr. Warner said, need to be ``replicated'' 
     across America.
       ``There's little money left for national parks,'' he said, 
     after noting the weather and the fact that Confederate Gen. 
     Judal A. Early attacked the Union Army ringing Belle Grove 
     under a similar cover of fog on Oct. 19, 1864.
       ``Uncle Sam doesn't have to buy every square foot of land 
     to bring about preservation.''
       In addition, all three lawmakers on hand for the ceremony--
     Messrs. Warner and Goodlatte as well as Rep. Frank Wolf, R-
     10th--noted that current residents and businesses will be 
     able to live and work within the park's boundaries, and will 
     be free to change or renovate their property as they see fit. 
     And, as Mr. Wolf pointed out, this will be the first national 
     park to allow historical re-enactments--i.e. the annual 
     Battle of Cedar Creek--within its confines.
       ``There will be a partnership with the community, a 
     reaching out beyond our boundaries,'' said Fran Mainella, 
     director of the National Park Service.
       Significant as well is the broad historical scope of this 
     park. Though known primarily as the site of the climactic 
     Civil War battle in the Shenandoah Valley, Cedar Creek/Belle 
     Grove is more than just a Civil War battlefield. Much as its 
     current watchwords--``Back Country to Breadbasket to 
     Battlefield and Beyond''--duly suggest, the park will embrace 
     a wide swath of our blessed heritage. Emphasis will be placed 
     on Native American and French and Indian War history in 
     addition to that of the Civil War. Central to these themes 
     will be the Belle Grove manor house designed, so local lore 
     has it, by Thomas Jefferson.
       Thus, Mr. Wolf had it right when, taking in the panoramic 
     surroundings Friday morning, he said that ``we stand on the 
     shoulders of giants.'' Now, however, it is time for us, as 
     residents of this Valley, to build on the vision of these 
     latter-day statesmen who strove so diligently to craft a new-
     model national park, one of which we can all be proud.
                                  ____

       Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation: Suzanne Chilson, 
     executive director; L.A. ``Butch'' Fravel--vice president; 
     Joseph Whitehorne, President; Board Members: Daniel Ambrose; 
     John Cadden--Secretary; Martin Downey; Stanley Hirschberg; 
     Mike Kehoe; Richard Kleese; Kay Ely Pierce; Sam Riggs; and 
     Gary Rinkerman.
       Belle Grove, Inc. Trustees: The late Mr. Jay Monahan; Mr. 
     Frederick Andreae, past president and Belle Grove Park 
     Working Group representative; Mrs. Lilburn T. Talley, past 
     president. Officers: Mr. Robert W. Claytor, President; Mrs. 
     Harry F. Byrd, III, first vice president; Mrs. Charles 
     Schutte, second vice president; Mrs. Mary Potter Robinson, 
     immediate past president; Mr. David N. Carne, treasure; Mrs. 
     Kathryn Perry Werner, assistant treasurer; Mrs. David Powers, 
     secretary; Mrs. Charles O. Davis, assistant secretary; Mr. 
     Jay Hillerson, at-large member, Executive Committee; Mr. D. 
     Richard Hottel, Jr., At-Large Member, Executive Committee. 
     Members: Mrs. Frank Armstrong, III; Mr. Douglas C. Arthur; 
     Dr. Byron Brill; Mrs. Stuart Butler; Mrs. H. Robert Edwards; 
     Mrs. Lee Fawcett; Dr. Clarence Geier; Mr. Lawrence P. 
     Goldschmidt; Mrs. Jeffrey Harris; Ms. Maral Kalbian; Mrs. 
     Thomas Larsen; Mrs. William H. Leachman, III; Mr. Christopher 
     Lewis; Mr. Ron Llewellyn; Mrs. Gilbert McKown; Dr. Thomas S. 
     Truban. Belle Grove staff: Elizabeth McClung, executive 
     director, Park Working Group representative; Amy Keller, 
     administrative assistant; Jacquelyn Williamson, Museum Shop 
     manager/buyer; Ed Presley, program coordinator; Christopher 
     Taucci, maintenance technician. Selected Belle Grove Advisory 
     Council and Docent Guild Members: Advisory: Mr. Malcolm 
     Brumback; Mr. John Copeland, mayor, Middletown, VA; Mr. and 
     Mrs. H. W. Lyon; Mrs. Eve Newman; Mrs. Gee Gee Pasquet. 
     Docent Guild Members: Mrs. Jean Allen; Mr. Charles Davis; 
     Mrs. Robert Dever; Mr. and Mrs. Kermit Frey; Mrs. Dolores 
     Fridinger; Mrs. Mary Ellen Gross; Ms. Paula Hite; Mrs. Wanda 
     Kruetzfeldt; Ms. Barbara Moss.
       National Park Service (NPS): Jeffrey P. Reinbold, NPS 
     planner; Alexander ``Sandy'' Rives, NPS Virginia director; 
     Wendy L. O'Sullivan, NPS project manager; Marie G. Rust, NPS 
     Northeast regional director; Donald T. King, NPS chief of 
     lands, Martinsburg office; Charles F. Blouser, NPS realty 
     speciality, Martinsburg office; Fran P. Mainella, NPS 
     director; Denny Galvin, former NPS deputy director; Alma 
     Ripps, NPS legislative affairs specialist; Donald J. 
     Hellmann, NPS deputy assistant director Legislative & 
     Congressional Affairs; Steve Griles, Department of the 
     Interior deputy secretary; Howard G. Miller, lands 
     coordinator & control officer; Richard Moe, president, 
     National Trust for Historic Preservation; David Brown, 
     executive vice president, National Trust for Historic 
     Preservation; Paul Edmondson, vice president and general 
     counsel, National Trust for Historic Preservation; James 
     Vaughan, vice president, Stewardship of Historic Sites, 
     National Trust for Historic Preservation; Robert Nieweg, 
     director, and regional attorney, Southern Field Office 
     National Trust for Historic Preservation; Patrick Lally, 
     director of Congressional Affairs, National Trust for 
     Historic Preservation; Emma Panahy, program assistant, 
     Southern Field Office, National Trust for Historic 
     Preservation.
       Members of Congress: Senator John Warner; Senator George 
     Allen; Rep. Bob Goodlatte; former Senator Chuck Robb, the 
     late Rep. French Slaughter.
       Shenanndoah Valley Battlefields Foundation Trustees: 
     Patricia L. Zontine, chair of the Board of Trustees; Joseph 
     E. Callahan; Vincent F. Callahan; Faye C. Cooper; James A. 
     Davis; Beverly H. Fleming; Kay D. Frye; Nancy H. Hess; Susie 
     M. Hill; Kathleen S. Kilpatrick; Richard B. Kleese; William 
     B. Kyger, Jr.; Allen L. Louderback; John W. Mountcastle; D. 
     Eveland Newman; David W. Powers; Alexander L. Rives; Dan C. 
     Stickley, Jr.; Kris C. Tierney; James L. White; the late 
     Carrington Williams.
       Shenandoh Valley Battlefields National Historic District 
     Commissioners: Daniel J. Beattie; Larry D. Bradford; John L. 
     Heatwole; Donovan E. Hower; Richard D. Kern; Janet O. Kilby; 
     Scot W. Marsh; Nicholas J. Nerangis; the late Eugene L. 
     Newman; William G. O'Brien; Joseph W.A. Whitehorne; H. 
     Alexander Wise, Jr. Staff of the Shenandoah Valley 
     Battlefields Foundation: Howard J. Kittell; John Hutchinson, 
     V; Nancy R. Long; Elizabeth Paradis Stern; Sherman L. Fleek.
       Rep. Frank R. Wolf staff members: Daniel Scandling, chief 
     of staff; Chris Santora, legislative assistant.
       Senator John Waner staff member: Ann Loomis, legislative 
     director.

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