CONSENT AGENDA REQUEST

Sponsor:                                                      Board of Supervisors Meeting Date:

Harry F. Atherton, Chairman, Marshall District Supervisor          November 17, 2003

Staff Lead:                                                                                        Department:

Richard Calderon, Senior Planner                                       Community Development

Topic:

A Resolution to the Virginia Board of Historic Resources and the National Park Service Supporting the Inclusion of Ashville, Morgantown, and Delaplane on the Virginia Landmarks and National Registers

Topic Description:

On October 27, 2003 , the Virginia Department of Historic Resources conducted an evening public hearing and information meeting concerning the merits of including Ashville, Morgantown and Delaplane on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places.  Property owners and community representatives received a briefing from the County’s architectural consultant, Maral Kalbian, and responded positively to her reports.  Mrs. Kalbian had found that both Ashville and Morgantown provide a unique record of African-Americans establishing strong religious, educational, and community foundations in the aftermath of the Civil War.  Mrs. Kalbian also identified Delaplane as a very well preserved 1850 railroad-induced community, which had played a historic role as the first troop shipment point in the same Civil War.

The Virginia Department of Historic Resources will present these findings to the Commonwealth Board of Historic Resources on December 3, 2003 .  The Department has indicated that a letter and resolution of support from the Fauquier County Board of Supervisors would be of value to the referenced Commonwealth Board.

These three communities are all located within the Marshall Magisterial District.

Requested Action of the Board of Supervisors:

Consider adoption of the attached resolution.

Financial Impacts Analysis:

No impact analysis was performed.  However, designation of these communities on the Commonwealth and the National Registers should enhance Fauquier County as a tourist destination.  Property owners in the three communities may be eligible for certain Virginia and Federal tax credits.

Identify any other Departments, Organizations or Individuals that would be affected by this request:

Property owners in the three communities.

RESOLUTION

A Resolution to the Virginia Board of Historic Resources and the National Park Service Supporting the Inclusion of Ashville, Morgantown , and Delaplane on the Virginia Landmarks and National Registers

            WHEREAS, Ashville and Morgantown were formed in the Reconstruction Era, shortly after the conclusion of the Civil War as two centers of rural ethnic community; and

            WHEREAS, Ashville and Morgantown present a uniquely preserved, 125 year architectural record of African-American determination to establish a viable heritage, to the fullest religious, educational and commercial extent; and

            WHEREAS, the communities of Ashville and Morgantown succeeded in this endeavor, thereby presenting the Nation with a historical record of community success; and

            WHEREAS, Delaplane –formerly Piedmont Station—was founded in 1852 by the creation of the Manassas Gap Railroad and remains endowed with a unique collection of extant brick, antebellum structures of that period; and

            WHEREAS, Delaplane was the first place that troops were boarded on trains and moved to battle, thus signaling “the arrival of a new era in military transportation” (John Salmon, A Guidebook to Virginia’s Historical Markers,  Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press, (1994), 12); and

            WHEREAS, Delaplane now represents a unique collection of transportation related, industrial, agricultural, religious, mercantile and residential building types spanning three quarters of the Nations history; now, therefore, be it

            RESOLVED by the Fauquier County Board of Supervisors, this 17^th day of November 2003, that the Board hereby supports and encourages the Virginia Board of Historic Resources to include Ashville, Morgantown and Delaplane, all within the Marshall Magisterial District, in the Virginia Landmarks Register; and be it

RESOLVED FINALLY, That the Virginia Board of Historic Resources recommend to the National Park Service, due to the established and unique history and National significance of Ashville, Morgantown and Delaplane, that these villages be enrolled in the National Register of Historic Places.