Walmart Shits on Your History and Shrugs

Posted on | 3 years, 5 months ago, in the early evening | 1 Comment

(Via my old friend Andrea:) Despite opposition from the community, historians, and Civil War enthusiasts alike, Walmart is planning to build a 141,000 sq. ft. Superstore next to the Wilderness and Chancellorsville Battlefields — just feet away from the battleground that hosted the first showdown between Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant.*

The store will be built at the intersections of routes 3 and 20 in Orange County, VA. This is within the historic limits of the Wilderness battlefield, but not technically within the boundaries of the national park — and therefore, the state historic commissions cannot block the development. Not only would this Superstore pave over land where soldiers from both sides fought and died, this little corner of Virginia is one of those places where Mom & Pop general stores still actually flourish, and Wal-Mart will very likely put an end to that.

But the Civil War Preservation Trust** is kicking back, rallying the opposition forces in a valiant effort to force Walmart to reconsider. Before you roll your eyes about another internet petition, do be aware — these kinds of movements have worked before, successfully blocking Walmart and other major retailers from environmentally and/or historically sensitive locations.

So if you’ve got a minute, please consider visiting this helpful website, operated by the Trust. Fill out their survey, send off a sternly worded letter, and customize your message right there on the screen before sending it off to the Walmart executives. You can also poke around and find specifics and documentation on the process, as well as historic context, maps, and photographs.

It’s a good cause, guys.
Go check it out.


* This was, in fact, twice-fought ground, seeing action during the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863 as well as in 1864, when soldiers fighting the Battle of the Wilderness discovered the bones of men killed the year before.
** An organization that has already managed to preserve 25,000 acres worth of threatened battlefield property, north and south alike. The Trust also promotes educational programs and heritage tourism initiatives to inform the public of the war’s history and the fundamental conflicts that sparked it.

Category: misc

Comments

One Response to “Walmart Shits on Your History and Shrugs”

  1. Jadielady
    August 20th, 2008 @ 8:24 pm

    Dude that’s only a few hours away from me. Thank you for sharing this news I will DEFINITELY fill it out and do what I can.
    We have 3 Walmarts within a 20 mile radius and its re-di-cu-lous.

Leave a Reply





Bad Behavior has blocked 764 access attempts in the last 7 days.