Jennifer Buske has written an article about the area plans for the Sesquicentennial for the Washington Post entitled “As Civil War anniversary nears, Manassas sees a historic opportunity.” In the Friday the 13th article she writes what begins as an ode to deceased event planner Creston Owen and takes us though the history of the arriving at the Sesquicentennial. Included in the article is a comparison between the Manassas Battlefield and Gettysburg.
Any attempts to compare the two battlefields ended about the time of the battles themselves. Manassas is not Gettysburg and never will be, based pretty much on location, location, location, both then and now. Gettysburg pretty much is a dedicated battlefield. Manassas is a suburb of D.C. And here is the gist of the problem.
According to the Washington Post:
Playing off the excitement of the sesquicentennial, Corey A. Stewart, the Board of County Supervisors chairman, said he wants to begin branding Prince William as a military history corridor where people can stop at the battlefield, the National Museum of the Marine Corps and the future American Wartime Museum. That attraction is scheduled to open in 2014 and cover every era of war from World War I to Iraq and Afghanistan.
He said the county is also working to create what Gettysburg has: a Civil War-era town. There is an undeveloped strip outside the battlefield that the county envisions turning into a town center featuring period architecture and shops.
“There is a lot of pressure on the July event, and it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity we need to take advantage of,” Stewart said. “Until a year ago, we hadn’t done a good job marketing the county as a tourist destination. But that is about to change. I hope this is the beginning of the rebirth of tourism here.”
Undeveloped strip? Are Corey Stewart’s eyes beginning to shine over the U word? (Undeveloped) Settle down there, Corey. Accomplishing this development debacle is going to take a little more than promising the Grizzlies some football fields. Born-again tourism is not going to be the order of the day along the Battlefield corridors if commuters or residents have anything to say about it.
No one is taking away from the events of the Sesquicentennial. Hopefully, everything will go off without a hitch and that event planners have made provisions for our awful traffic situation during the festivities. Mistakes made 50 years ago will not be repeated. However, traffic and transportation issues in general are our number one problem in this area , and will continue to be. How do we move people on a inadequate road system?
Prince William County as a military history corridor is laughable. Where is this Civil War-era town planned for? A Strip? If Stewart thinks the day went bad for Disney, he ain’t seen nothing yet until he tries to put more sprawl out near the battlefield. The journey from Manassas to I-66 is already the trip from Hell. We don’t need anything else out there, especially a town center and more tourists. Corey, take your Civil War-era town and shove it. Put that in YOUR back yard and see how YOUR neighbors like it.
Doesn’t Stewart realize that Manassas is not Gettysburg? Gettysburg is a sleepy little town in rural Pennsylvania. It is a dedicated Civil War Battlefield town. Manassas, site of 2 great Civil War battles, is in the suburbs of Washington, D. C. with all the problems a suburb of any major city has. Stewart should try to come down 66 to get to a concert at Jiffy Lube Concert Arena if he has never experienced the concept of ‘You can’t get here from there.’ No one who has ever tried to get down I-66 on a concert night would even think about putting a Civil War town center anywhere in the area. Just getting through Gainesville is enough to make grown men and women weep.
The City of Manassas and PWC can probably handle toilets and traffic for a few days–at least long enough to get through the activities planned for the Sesquicentennial. However, after the events are over, the traffic in this area will go right back to being unmanageable and will dash any hopes of continued interest in the Manassas battlefield drawing a sustained crowd of tourists past the Civil War buffs it has always drawn. Residents of the area would be wise to just not plan to do much during the festivities. Traffic will be rerouted and we will have a bumper crop of Don’s Johns that have sprung up to accommodate the visitors and revelers. Nothing says event like a row of Don’s Johns.
It sounds like Captain Sound-Byte Stewartis back, speaking before thinking. The open mic concept tags Corey again.
I just read that article and the idea of a Civil War era town seemed ridiculous. The visitor’s center at the battlefield and the museum in the City give an idea of what life was like during that time. A person interested in the actual history of the area won’t be impressed with a made up town. It’ll be like having a mini-Disney version of small town America.
Rush hour traffic will be the biggest impediment to these events. It’s hard to live in PWC and find that perfect time when one can travel quickly from point A to point B – perhaps between 9:30 am and 2:30 pm. Weekends aren’t much better.
After all this hoopla, I expect a few more DC area residents who haven’t been to Manassas or PWC to visit for the day, but I suspect that most historians have already done so. I wouldn’t expect big changes from a weekend of Civil War re-enactments.
Civil War-era town, I had the same reaction? I can just picture it now. Prince William County’s version will be at the Atlantic Research Center, the big vacant piece of land semi close to the battlefield. Brookfield Homes will come to the rescue with a terrific plan for Old Abe’s Brentswood, a community of 3000 homes with a civil war themed retail strip. Because the county is concerned about smart growth, we’ll call it mixed use by sticking townhome units on top of the retail units.
So that people who live near don’t get completely up in arms, the Supervisors and their developer friends will swear that all of the traffic will come by train because they are building a super cute old fashioned civil war station. There is no need to worry about traffic. Brookfield Homes will donate two school sites (both located on a cow pasture somewhere in Fauquier County) and a piece of swampy land with some toxic dump problems, which will be promised as fields to the new youth Rugby league. The rugby players, will show up BOCS meeting in their uniforms, brought in by hundreds of horse drawn carriages leased by Brookfield Homes. All the kids will stomp their feet and demand that Old Abe’s Brentswood must be passed or they won’t ever be able to learn about the civil war while playing rugby. All the chamber of commerce members will also come to the board meeting in woolen confederate uniforms to tell the supervisors that this county’s tourism will DIE just like the soldiers on the battlefield if we don’t approve this project. Brookfield will have their workers show up with fake bloody battlefield bandages wrapped around their foreheads and playing fife and drums. The planning department will extol the virtues of the strip center and homes as the absolute must haves for tourism.
So it will be approved and the Prince William County version of Gettysburg will be 3000 homes and a strip center with old fashioned store fronts. The retailer workers will wear hoop skirts to work at Yee Olde Subway, Yankee Nail Salon, General Lee’s Karate Academy and Rebel Mattress Discounter. And if we are lucky, we’ll get a sit down Chinese Grant’s Garden, a Sherman’s Kindercare and an Underground Railroad Drive Thru CVS.
It is a Prince William County Tourism dream come true.
Too funny! Forget you, I would laugh louder except I don’t want some of them to read your plan, lest they learn to like it too much.
Disney would have done it better and cheaper (for taxpayers) and they would
have provided hundreds of PT jobs this summer for our high school and college
kids. A missed opportunity.
Jennifer Buske is one of the best reporters the Post has ever had locally.
She does the research, is fair and reasoned and writes well.
She has another piece today in today’s WaPo PW Section on 9300 Prescott.
The land near the Battlefield has been the source of battles for decades around here. Fortunately, there are enough good people who have warded off the enemies of historic and natural preservation. How the movie theater complex snuck in is beyond me, but if Mr. A-Hole himself wants another fight, he’s asking for one.
You can have PWC be a corridor for history without ripping up the land. In fact, if you want the real history around here, you have to keep the land intact. If Mr. A-Hole cared a damn about history, he wouldn’t even consider building near there.
He’s evil.
Forget You,
That was classic! Loved it. Thanks for taking the time to craft that work of genius!
I think that there is really only one way such a project could be viable and a serious source of revenue: bring in actual and restored buildings from the era in question. This has been done in several places. Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan, is probably one of the most significant of such projects. There are others scattered around the country. Locating, purchasing, moving, and restoration of such buildings — authentic homes of the era, barns, and the like — would be more expensive than building a re-creation; but, I can tell you, if you have ever been to Greenfield Village and walked into the actual Salem courthouse where the young Abe Lincoln practiced law or the home where Noah Webster wrote his dictionary, or the Wright Brother’s bicycle shop….. Obviously the chances of finding notable historical structures a la Greenfield Village is pretty nil; but finding authentic buildings of the era might still be a possibility.
Heaven forbid we could have had Civil Disney a few years back and brought some JOBS to the area at every level imaginable. Nope, NIMBY! Suck it up and commute to DC!
Civil War Disney, that is.
War, war, war; this war talk’s spoiling all the fun at every party this spring.
Ok Miss Scarlett! @ Cindy.
@Emma, may of us feel that way, Emma. And what did we get? More houses and more traffic.
F You(just had to),
Glad to see you are back. We’ve laughed over here about your thoughts. Mr Lafayette and I had already laughed a lot with our thoughts.
All,
I’ve taken my share of heat over comments regarding this grand event. Well, about to come clean on something, and I hopes this makes people understand that I’m not opposed to the festivities. Our staycation this year is planned for the week of the events. We are expecting guests for a couple of days. My cousin has gotten us free tickets from the NPS lottery for one event on Henry Hill. We are already making our plans to make this the best staycation yet. In fact we are starting to attend events this weekend. This weekend Ben Lomond Manor House will have a grand reopening of the house as a hospital. I’ve only seen at as home. I’m looking forward to this. They state that the tour is not advised for those under the age of 11. This weekend the tours are FREE! However, when the “circus” rolls into to town the fee will $15 a person. I’m taking advantage of the free tour, and I’ll walk to save a few pennies on gas. 🙂
I can’t even think about Disney this early on a Monday morning. We could have had jobs, tax revenue, and a much needed FULL service hotels. We don’t have even one at the current time. Instead, we got Vinyl Villages that we have to provide services to such as police, fire, education, etc.. Disney would have been a far better neighbor than what we ended up getting. For all of those that fought to keep Disney away, I hope they like those houses. The area got developed anyways.
I definately want to hear more about this strip of land for the town center.
@Forget You
F-You, the only thing I didn’t like about your post was that I didn’t write it myself.
Disney would have built the roads also and detoured the traffic.
@Laf, if I see you hoofing it up to Ben Lomond House, I will offer you a ride.
As for that strip of land, bwaaaahahahahahahahaha! I think it was a land stryp…like a sound byte.
Does this mean that everyone is going to be fighting over the new moniker, F You?
@Moon-howler
Moon, F-You, replacing “Forget” with a word I’m sure you don’t want posted on MH sums up precisely the attitude of developers such as Brookfield Homes and supervisors whom they have purchased toward the citizens of Prince William County.
I agree, NTK!!
Moon, You won’t be able to offer me ride unless you are on a tandem mountain bike. We’ll be walking through the fields of SMS, park land, and then we’ll be in the backyard of Ben Lomond. I’ll be looking for you. 👿 We’ll be marching like soldiers.-lol
When is THIS going to happen? Howler JR might be on a mountain bike but it won’t be tandem.
By the way, is your car ill?
I’m so glad that the people down here in Richmond don’t worry about this Civil War stuff.
“twisted”
Now…if you’re talking about that recent unpleasantness during which that Northern Country invaded a peaceful country…The War of Northern Aggression…..
I see a lot of folks having fun with this, but I’d like to add my thoughts:
Leveraging the historic aspects of Manassas City and Western PWC, as well as the Marine Museum and the planned American Wartime Museum in the East County in principle, is a smart, forward-thinking thing to do. Several have made the comparison to Gettysburg, and how being a “Civil War” town works for them, but we are a DC suburb, so it won’t work for us. I’d tend to agree. If we try to be “Gettysburg South”, the results may not be as anticipated by our leaders. However, if we market the whole experience, the museums, the historic sites, the close-relationship PWC has with the military, then Manassas/PWC can pull this off, and reap the economic rewards.
Back about 6 years or so, I served on the Manassas City Future Task Fo
Dangit…hit send. Hate this touchpad…
Back about 6 years ago, I served ont the Manassas City Future Task Force. One of the challenges identified by the taskforce was the idea that Manassas was a DC bedroom community. Folks live here, but they work somewhere else. There was little to “draw” people from elsewhere to come spend their time & money in Manassas. Naturally, “solutions” centered on Old Town. Why would someone want to come to Old Town? The “historic nature”, of course.
Now I’ve lived here many years. Old Town is quaint, and walkable. Nice place to spend an afternoon strolling about. But calling it “historic” because we have old buildings is a bit of a stretch. A historic district needs a “story”. This story can be introduced in a central area, like the museum, vistors center, or both. We need to tie the City’s history into the greater story of the two battles, and then tie those two battles into the greater Civil War. Take it a step further, and tie the Civil War into the larger US Military History, and now you have a draw.
This region is rich in military history. This history is still being written on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. We have the 150 anniversary that we can leverage. We also have a long list of wars and conflicts that are part of the American Story. Our military has been a great source of pride for our country. Consider this:
The US is engaged in what has become the longest war in our history. What makes this different from so many of the other major conflicts is this is Iraq and Afghanistan are being fought 100% by volunteers. No draft. We have a major military installation in PWC, and a Museum that celebrates the history of the branch operating that installation. The proposed Wartime museum would be an additional draw, and would create a synergy between the two. The BRAC will being thousands of new military members to the region. They and their families will go to these museums. Now we just need to do a good job of making a visit “an experience”, to bring in those folks passing through, or deliberately making the trip.
On the Western side, the City & County need to come up with a plan to better leverage the battlefield and museum. Sending visitors down 234 in their cars isn’t very appealing. I would suggest a shuttle-bus that runs on weekends during peak visitor times, between the Manassas Museum and the Battlefield visitors center. I would suggest that Manassas City needs to develop a cogent story that explains the reason why 2 battles were fought here, and why this railroad junction was so important to both sides. Having the shuttles route through the proposed “town centre” out at GMU, and properly marketing Old Town’s historic nature, would benefit the retailers in the area. The problem with Gettysburg is you go for the day, but there’s little to keep you there once you’ve seen the battlefield. A few sandwich shops and stores selling “billy yank & johnny reb” hats made in China, ain’t gonna cut it. But I don’t think that is what is being planned.
Is anything really being planned, Steve, or is it all bs and blather?
I expect we are going to end up eating the tank farm.
We don’t need a battlefield anything at this point. I have seen first-hand what happens when plans are withdrawn. We don’t have full service hotels to accommodate a bunch of tourists. They will all go to Fairfax after one night at a few of the local cheapos here that serve as homes for the substance abusers. (ahem….no need to light up anyone’s lights today.)
If this is Stewart’s vision, why is he waiting until now to spring it? I suspect he is laying down a 2-fer. One for supervisor and one for whatever else comes to mind if he is elected.
I managed the reservations dept and front desk for years at two local Hyatt Hotels. The general manager and others loved the fact that I knew Manassas and it’s historical sites. Guests that were staying in Fairfax Co. were always wanting to visit Manassas Battlefield and other sites all the time. There’s is a demand, how big? I’m not sure. I do feel until we have at least one full service hotel we can not realistically consider tourism to be a big part of our future. Now, once we have a full service hotel, we can talk seriously about tourism.
I know this is a day late and a dollar short, but as for Ben Lomond’s prices…the Grand Opening this weekend is FREE but the tours are regularly only $5 per person, not $15. The higher priced stated in a post above is for a special evening tour on July 23rd. But every day regular tours are $5…
I can’t speak for the County at this point, but I am currently serving on the Manassas Historic Resources Board. We are in the process of developing our ten-year strategic plan. All of the things I mentioned above are considerations being discussed, to include a major hotel/conference center. The plan for this facility is in the Rt 28/Liberia sector redevelopment plan. I do think the success/destiny of both the county and the city are interdependent.
The major hotel in the area is a good idea. The Down Town Inn and Best Western just dont have the ambiance.
Agreed about the interdependency.
I just shudder over attracting more traffic to the area for any reason.
I stated they were $15 when the "circus" rolled into town. I meant during the "big event" this July. Sorry, I didn't state that to YOUR liking. Furthermore, Ben Lomond Manor House is not a huge attraction. It's only open 4 days out of the week, NOT every day as you stated and it sits in a neighborhood.
If you want to come along and correct my post…I'll be happy to correct your post as well.
Traffic will come with the influx of BRAC relocations. It’s inevitable. Parking will be another issue. That is why I like the idea of a shuttle between sites, to be run during the peak visitor times, like weekends.
Making PWC and Manassas something worth coming to see, is a good idea IMHO, considering the two major travel corridors pass the the existing or planned major attractions. Give the people a reason to stop, look, and spend, and they will.
@Steve BRAC = base closings?
@Steve, we needed you back in the Disney days. Unfortunately, that ship has sailed and a fair number of us are still somewhat bitter over it. Not only do we not have Disney, we also don’t have some of the land still on the books.
My problem is that tank farm. I have a very bad feeling about that. I think we are going to get stuck with the bill, like so many other things.
Battlefield at one end, Pot. Mills and Quantico at the others. How about attracting some full service hotels? What we have is 2 star and no stars demanding primo prices for the most part.
BRAC= Base Realignment And Closure. Due to actions by the BRAC commission, Quantico, Belvoir and the Arlington/Alexandria area will be gaining positions, along with the contractors seeking future contracts, or supporting current contracts. I’ve sat in on a few briefings on the net impact to our region. It will be a boon for us job-wise, housing-wise, etc., but it will also strain the existing commuter infrastructure greatly. I will question any politicans transportation plan that is based solely on “build more roads”. That, to me, demonstrates a lack of understanding of the scope of what we are looking at. I’ve seen figures like 250K positions (military & defense contractors) in NoVA, centered on the three areas previously mentioned, more when you include the families. This is a great economic opportunity for PWC & Manassas, but is not 100% upside, and there is a great deal of “screw-up potential”.
@Steve Thomas
Time to buy some nice foreclosed houses in the areas affected. Rental income! Just make sure that the rent is low enough for married E-5’s to afford it and you’ll make out.
Yes, it would be a good investment. But, for better or worse, Mrs T. and I have “checked out” of the “crazy cycle” and have recently sold our rental properties. We are 100% cash now. Paying off the few remaining debts we have takes precedence over anything else. As Dave Ramsey says: “Debt is Dumb. Cash is King, and the paid off mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice…”
@Lafayette
ACTUALLY Lafayette, starting with the Grand Opening the weekend, Ben Lomond’s hours are 11-4, Thursday-Monday, May-October. Check out the website http://www.pwcgov.org/benlomond. And no, there is NO raise in price this July or any other time of year, the admission fee is $5. The evening program on July 23rd is $15…but thats for reservation only tours, not their standard fare. Check out the website for facts and information
@PWCOvertaxed
You & Bob miss my point..The point was it’s FREE this weekend, and then a fee after. Geesh! There are many people that look for FREE stuff to do with the family on the weekends. I’ve been in the house for numerous events in my life, and I’ve never paid one red cent to visit. You might want to recheck YOUR facts, the event this weekend starts at 10am, and not 11am as you stated. I did state they are only open 4 days a week.
From the website;
Grand Opening and Tour: Join us for a special ribbon cutting and day of activities at Ben Lomond Historic Site on Saturday, May 21 beginning at 10 a.m. We have recreated the field hospital where hundreds of soldiers were taken during the American Civil War. Learn more about Ben Lomond Civil War Hospital Grand Opening.
The Civil War Hospital Grand Opening on Saturday is nicely timed since it is Armed Forces Day.
Cargo-
Some local folks did well buying resolution trust properties during
the S&L mess several decades ago. It takes ready cash and the ability to
hold on for 3 or 4 years before you can sell at a decent profit.