The Army Corps of Engineers shuts down the destruction at Brandy Station

This is outstanding news, good sir! Congrats & good work to all so involved in the effort to stop such desecration and callous individuals so bent on personal selfishness that they would destroy the natural elements & significant historical features of such hallowed historical grounds as the Brandy Station Battlefield for their own personal gain.

It is also most heartening that the US Army itself would be the instrument by which such a historical land feature will be remediationally restored.

Kudos to you, also, for your support & efforts in preserving our history & heritage, Mr Wittenberg. It is with and by such inspiration that hope for our future is maintained, restored & enabled.

WH

As one of the board members of The Brandy Station Foundation (BSF) for 2010-2011 who resigned in protest over Mr. Joseph McKinney’s elevation to president, I can tell you that I, along with my other colleagues who resigned, assessed last month–before he led the group–that Mr. McKinney was not interested in making the protection of the battlefield a priority. And the other board members were more interested in allowing ghost hunters to look for “ghost cats” in the Grafitti House than protect a battlefield where young men gave their last full measure of devotion. I’m not even kidding about the ghost cat…there is paranormal group investigating the house this month.

The “Board in Exile” made this prediction about Mr. McKinney and his new direction for the BSF over four weeks ago — and now our fears and predictions have come true. However, I am surprised–and elated–it took as little as three weeks for him to show his true colors. I don’t want to say “We told you so,” but guess what folks, “We told you so!”

Some of us did research on Mr. McKinney during the nomination process earlier this year and soon discovered he had a twisted view of historic preservation. See his perplexing op-ed in the Washington Post from 2009, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-opinions/2009/08/if_not_wal-mart.html and his posting on this blog last year defending the McMansion on Fleetwood Hill, https://civilwarcavalry.com/?p=1578 It is unclear to me how a man who leads one of the country’s oldest battlefield preservation groups could condone Disney’s America theme park, the Wal-Mart at the Wilderness, the McMansion on Fleetwood Hill, the widening of Route 3 in Stevensburg, and also participates in massive relic hunts on the very battlefield he was charged to protect. Yes, folks, he is a relic hunter too.

A recurring theme in Mr. McKinney’s strange argument for his stances on preservation is that we, as good citizens, are powerless to do anything against what landowners wish to do on their own property, so why bother making a fuss. Well sir, that is where you are wrong. As Bud Hall demonstrated this week, you can require the landowner to abide by proper regulations — which the landowner had not done.

If people took your appeasement view on preservation, then there would be a mall at Manassas, a casino at Gettysburg, and a racetrack at Brandy Station. As a result of the quick actions taken by the “Board in Exile”this week–led by the indomitable Bud Hall–the Army Corps of Engineers has compelled Mr. Troilo to cease further construction of his pond that rumor has it was intended for his jet skiing hobby. Stopped at least for now.

How embarrassing that the current president and board FAILED MISERABLY to even issue a simple statement of protest over the last two weeks! But more alarming is that Mr. McKinney knew about this project for some time and chose to not to oppose it because Mr. Troilo is a friend and influential member of the community. This is a clear conflict of interest, as Eric has rightly pointed out. Mr. McKinney and current members of the Board should be ashamed of themselves, and if you had any integrity whatsoever, you should resign from the organization and join the local crochet group and leave battlefield preservation to those who actually care.

Great to hear this! I hope the press has gotten wind of this. The whole escapade should be both financially and publicly painful to both Troilo and McKinney.

There can be no doubt the current President, Officers and Board of the Brandy Station Foundation has abrogated their responsibility to the battlefield. The recent damage inflicted upon Fleetwood Hill’s southern slopes and historic Flat Run is heartbreaking in its breadth, depth, and extent. President McKinney and his Board have defied their mission statement; they have forsaken stewardship. Now that we know President McKinney was consulted by the landowner prior to the destruction, everything written by him and his Board sounds hollow and insincere.
To any current Board members who seek, still, to preserve Joe McKinney’s presidency instead of the battlefield, I suggest: go look at the site. Go see it after today’s intense rainfall. The disturbed Virginia red clay now runs swiftly on its way to the Rappahannock River. The soil which stains the water was the battleground you were sworn to protect.
There is an equal stain upon your reputation.

permitting is required on this project, a major oversite by one of Culpeper’s most responsible citizens. To read these peanut gallery comments makes me laugh considering the background and vile nature of their source, if any of you losers had contributed as much to Culpeper as Mr Troilo, you would acknowledge this as an oversight by a very responsible citizen

Bob,

I don’t care what he’s done for Culpeper.
This influential of a person should know that a permit is required. Sounds like he was trying to get it done on the “down low.”

And as for you calling those with differing opinions “losers,” ….

Mike

I find the reference to the “background and vile nature of their source” interesting. They made no sense at all until you revealed that Mr. Currier is looking to do the same thing at Rappahanock Station. I imagine you’ve tousled before. At least he had the decency to sign his own name to it.

For those who want to the plans for Rappahanock Station, I believe the best image can be found at http://culpepercrossing.com/image5.htm though the overlay of the plans on the aerial image is more professional looking (http://culpepercrossing.com/image4.htm)

That’s a little more visual than http://rappahannockstationfoundation.com/

If you want to look at it on Mapquest, try Newbys Shop Road, Remington, VA

I have put 189 acres in a Historic Conservation easement, I think we are all trying to preserve and promote our heritage, but in different ways and there will always be different opinions on the best way.