Chapman's Mill

Press Release

OBSERVORS NEEDED MONDAY

Dear Volunteers and Friends--

On Wednesday, October 20, 2010 T- Mobile will perform another balloon fly over Chapman/Beverley Mill from 8:30-10:30 AM

T- Mobile has reapplied for a 100 foot cell monopole to be placed on Rt. 55, a half mile east of Chapman/Beverley Mill in Prince William County. Despite the shortening of this monopole it will still rear 60 feet above the tree line thus disturbing the historic view shed at the Mill and for visitors and passerby on I 66 and Rt. 55.

PLEASE KNOW THAT WE REQUESTED T- MOBILE TO WAIT UNTIL NOVEMBER WHEN THE LEAVES WOULD BE DOWN, AS THEY ARE SEVEN MONTHS A YEAR. T- MOBILE REFUSED.

It is also our mission to interpret the history of Thoroughfare Gap, site of the pivotal Civil War battle. If you haven't already seen Bud Hall talk about the Battle of Thoroughfare Gap and the impact of this monopole cell tower on The Gap, which currently looks very much as it did during the August 28, 1862 Battle of Thoroughfare Gap, please go to http://www.civilwar.org/video/at-thoroughfare-gap-with-bud.html

In May The Civil War Preservation Trust placed the Thoroughfare Gap Battlefield on its "ten most endangered battlefields" list because of this cell phone tower.

Civil War Historian Bruce Slawter stated that the plateau on which the cell phone tower is proposed to be situated was a key terrain feature which influenced how the battle evolved in the late afternoon and evening of August 28, 1862. Please go to Chapmansmill.org for further information about the importance of this site during the battle.

In addition, Todd Benson, a Theodore Roosevelt historian, noted that the proposed tower will be placed on the site of the Pennsylvania 6th Regiment Camp when they were part of the 10,000 Spanish-American War troops sent to an encampment in Thoroughfare Gap in 1898 to avoid the typhoid outbreak in Alexandria where they awaited transport to the battlefield.

So it is observers I am asking for. If you are free would you please come to the Mill and be a witness regarding where you see the balloon. Photographs are also needed. We will submit observers' photos and comments to the VA Dept. of Historic Resources who are evaluating the impact on this historic area. Please come and bear witness so that T- Mobile and public agencies understand that people are concerned.

Chapman/Beverley Mill is:

• the tallest stacked stone building in the U.S.
• on the National Register of Historic Places since 1972
• on the Virginia landmarks Register
• in the Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area
• in the Chapman/Beverley Mill Historic District
• on the Virginia Civil War Trails Site
• in the Thoroughfare Gap Battlefield Historic District
• in the Broad Run/Little Georgetown Rural Historic District
• very involved in the Prince William & Fauquier County Virginia Civil War Sesquicentennial Committee events
• the visual Gateway to Prince William County

Thoroughfare Gap is:

• on a state-designated Scenic Road
• the site of a 1898 Spanish-American War military encampment potentially eligible for National Register listing
• a major east-west thoroughfare for Native Americans since prehistoric times
• a escape route during the French an Indian War from 1754-1763
• a route east to take up arms during the Revolutionary War 1775-1783
• an active passageway for both the Union and Confederate armies 1861-1865
• a site of the Battle of Thoroughfare Gap, many skirmishes between Union and Southern troops and Mosby Ranger activity 1861-1865
• the site of Interstate 66 and Route 55 (state-designated Scenic Road) which move forty- two thousand daily commuters as well as heritage tourists
• in the Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area
• in the Chapman/Beverley Mill Historic District
• in the Thoroughfare Gap Battlefield Historic District
• in the Broad Run/Little Georgetown Rural Historic District
• the visual Gateway to Prince William County

Ellen PercyMiller
Executive Director
Turn The Mill Around Campaign