The National Park Service and the Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation are seeking volunteers to complete work projects being planned for Park Day on Saturday, March 28.
This annual hands-on preservation event, created and sponsored by the Civil War Trust, brings history enthusiasts nationwide together in an effort to help keep our heritage not only preserved, but pristine. Started in 1996, battlefields and historic sites across the country take part in Park Day, in order to complete maintenance projects large and small.
At Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park, both the National Park Service and the Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation (CCBF) are organizing different maintenance projects on their properties. These projects will both preserve historic resources and properly prepare them for the upcoming visitor season.
The National Park Service will have volunteers perform a variety of tasks associated with the newly opened trail to the 8thVermont Monument. Work will include trail improvement, trash removal and fence work. Volunteers are being asked to bring work gloves, a shovel or rake and to wear sturdy work boots. Water and safety equipment will be provided by the park. The work project will last from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm. For planning purposes, prospective volunteers are being asked to pre-register by Saturday, March 21st. For more information, or to register, call (540) 869-3051 or email:[email protected]
Volunteers will gather at the Visitor Contact Station (7712 Main Street, Middletown, VA) at 8:00 am on Saturday, March 28th and then carpool to the project site. Following the work project, the National Park Service will offer a ranger program on the role of the 8th Vermont Regiment at Cedar Creek.
The Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation’s Park Day projects include trail maintenance along the 19th Corps trenches, fence repairs, maintenance and trash pickup around the Heater House property and other items as needed. Volunteers are asked to bring gloves, good working shoes, and although some tools will be available, bringing a shovel and other hand tools will be appreciated. The CCBF project will last from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm and volunteers will gather at the CCBF Headquarters at 8437 Valley Pike, one mile south of Middletown. Please call (540) 869-2064 for more information, or email: [email protected].
Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park and its partners are currently in the process of planning new trails in the park, along with other visitor infrastructure, such as signage and interpretive waysides. These projects will thus open up preserved tracts of land within the park that have previously been inaccessible to visitors. “Park Day is a wonderful opportunity for local citizens, history enthusiasts and supporters of our national parks, to take an active part in preserving the historic resources of Cedar Creek and Belle Grove and to make them more accessible to the public,” according to Site Manager Amy Bracewell. “Both the National Park Service and the Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation welcome everyone who would like to volunteer and help take care of the national park in their own back yard.”
For more information about the park, call (540) 869-3051 or see: www.nps.gov/cebe
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