[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 46 (Tuesday, April 25, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E591-E592]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 INTRODUCTION OF THE JOURNEY THROUGH HOLLOWED GROUND NATIONAL HERITAGE 
                                AREA ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 25, 2006

  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing legislation to create 
the Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area. Senator 
Allen is introducing companion legislation in the Senate.
  We remember the words of Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address:

       We cannot dedicate--we cannot consecrate--we cannot hallow 
     this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled 
     here, have hallowed it far above our poor power to add or 
     detract.

  The Journey Through Hallowed Ground winds its way along U.S. Route 15 
from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to Jefferson's home of Monticello, in 
Charlottesville, Virginia. Starting as a trail used by the 
Susquehannock and Iroquois, America's early history can literally be 
traced along this corridor. Jefferson's Monticello, Madison's 
Montpellier, Monroe's Oak Hill and Ashlawn Highland, Zachary Taylor's 
homes, Eisenhower's Cottage, Teddy Roosevelt's Cabin, John Marshall's 
home, General George Marshall's home, and Camp David are situated along 
this route also dotted with numerous Civil War battlefields and sites 
from the underground railroad.
  Designation of this historic route as a National Heritage Area will 
create a partnership between the Federal, State, and local governments 
as well as local civic organizations to commemorate, conserve and 
promote the history and resources along the Route 15 corridor between 
Gettysburg and Monticello. It will help link national parks to 
historical sites, package tourism opportunities, and provide financial 
and technical support for sites in the corridor.
  This historic corridor includes a significant part of the 10th 
District of Virginia, which I am proud to represent. I echo the 
sentiments of author and historian David McCullough when he said that 
``[t]his is the ground of our Founding Fathers. These are the 
landscapes that speak volumes--small towns, churches, fields, 
mountains, creeks and rivers with names such as Bull Run and 
Rappahannock. They are the real thing, and what shame we will bring 
upon ourselves if we destroy them.''
  This bill is modeled after the legislation Senator Warner and I 
introduced which created the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National 
Historic District in the Shenandoah Valley in 1996, Through that 
legislation, the Civil War battlefield sites in the Valley are being 
preserved, As with that bill, local, State and Federal officials, 
working along with landowners and business leaders will be able to 
better promote the history of the Journey Through Hallowed Ground 
attracting tourism and an appreciation for the unique history of this 
area.
  I would like to thank the Journey Through Hollowed Ground Partnership 
which has been working to forge partnerships that span the four States 
that fall within the proposed boundaries of the heritage area. This 
group has laid the groundwork in identifying the significant historical 
properties within such a concentrated area along U.S. Route 15. Dozens 
of towns and counties along the corridor have offered letters of 
support as have local civic groups. The Virginia General Assembly also 
has approved a resolution of support.

  Thomas Jefferson in his Notes of the State of Virginia said:

       You stand on a very high point of land. On your right comes 
     up the Shenandoah, having ranged along the foot of the 
     mountain a hundred miles to seek a vent. On your left 
     approaches the Potomac, in quest of a passage also. In the 
     moment of their junction, they rush together against the 
     mountain, rend it asunder, and pass off to the sea. The first 
     glance of this scene hurries our senses into the opinion that 
     this earth has been created in time, that the mountains were 
     formed first, that the rivers began to flow afterwards, that 
     in this place, particularly, they have been dammed up by the 
     Blue Ridge of mountains, and have formed an ocean which filed 
     the whole valley; that continuing to rise they have at length 
     broken over this spot, and have torn the mountains down from 
     its summit to its base. The piles of rocks on each hand, but 
     particularly on the Shenandoah, the evident marks of their

[[Page E592]]

     disrupture and avulsion from their beds by the most powerful 
     agents of nature, corroborate the impression. But the distant 
     finishing, which nature has given to the picture, is of a 
     very different character. It is a true contrast to the 
     foreground. It is as placid and delightful as that is wild 
     and tremendous. For the mountain being cloven asunder, she 
     presents to your eye, through the cleft, a small catch of 
     smooth, blue horizon, at an infinite distance in the plain 
     country, inviting you, as it were, from the riot and tumult 
     roaring around, to pass through the breach and participate in 
     the calm below.

  The landscape Jefferson depicts has been inspirational to American 
leaders for hundreds of years. From Susquehannock Indian trading routes 
and to Revolutionary War battles; from the homes of the founding 
fathers to the first brave pioneers to make a home beyond the Blue 
Ridge Mountains; from the Civil War battles which threatened to divide 
the union to the underground railroad, our Nation was forged along this 
route. From Blue Ridge Mountains to the west and the fertile Piedmont 
to the east of the corridor the route in many ways exhibits the birth 
and development of our Nation's economy, social movements and political 
landscape. Perhaps even more significant than the battlefields that 
cluster along the route are the documents penned in the homes along the 
corridor. The Declaration of Independence, the Monroe Doctrine and the 
Marshall plan have influenced not only this Nation, but the entire 
world.
  Every American citizen should take a trip along this route so that 
they know not only from where our Nation has come, but also to where we 
are going.
  As we come upon the 400th anniversary of America's birthplace at 
Jamestown, I urge my colleagues to join with me in supporting this 
legislation.

                          ____________________