Project Description: This project supports the documentation and evaluation of the historic landscape of the Wilderness Battlefield, a unit of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields National Military Park (FRSP) that encompasses 2,774 acres in Spotsylvania and Orange counties, Virginia. This project supports the documentation and evaluation of the historic Wilderness Battlefield landscape as phase 1 of research for a Cultural Landscape Report (CLR). The SUNY project team will work in close partnership with the NPS Olmsted Center and FRSP staff throughout this project. The scope of the project includes research, writing, and graphics for completion of the Site History, Existing Conditions, and Analysis & Evaluation components of CLR Part I, comprising Component A of PMIS statement 208243A. Research will incorporate or refer to findings from the Ellwood CLR completed under a prior task agreement. Recommendations for treatment of the cultural landscape (CLR Part II), which will be based on the research findings of phase 1, will be addressed in a second phase and separate task agreement (Component B of PMIS statement 208234).
Lead Principal Investigator: John Auwaerter, SUNY, College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Co-Principal Investigator: George Curry, SUNY, College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Partner Institution: SUNY, College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Federal Agency: National Park Service
Federal Agency Technical Contact: Robert Page
Federal Involvement: John Auwaerter worked with James Mealey, NPS Historical Landscape Architect, in completing the analysis and evaluation of the Wilderness Battlefield cultural landscape. NPS Olmsted Center Director Bob and James Mealey assisted with project oversight, meetings with park staff, and in editing, layout, and printing of the final report.
Project Type: Research
Project Discipline: Cultural Resources
Project Sub-Discipline(s): Cultural and Historic
Start Year: 2016
End Year: 2018
Initial Funding Amount: $60,000.00
Federal Grant Number: P16AC01225
Location: Wilderness Battlefield, Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park
State(s): Virginia
Virginia Counties: Orange
Student and Other Involvement:
- Masters Students: 1
- Interns: 1
- Staff: 1
Summary of Student Involvement: Master of Landscape Architecture student Kyle Stillwell was the research project assistant full-time for summer 2017 and 10/hr week for AY 2017-2018. Kyle assisted with field work, inventory landscape characteristics and features, and preparation of existing conditions maps.
Summary of Other Involvement: John Auwaerter, PI, researched and wrote the site history, Co-PI George Curry assisted with field work and the landscape feature inventory, and both advised graduate assistant Kyle Stillwell.
Products Associated with this Project:
- Auwaerter, John, James Mealey, and Kyle Stillwell. 2022. Cultural Landscape Report for Wilderness Battlefield, Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park (Technical Report (Published))
Photographs from this Project:
SUNY ESF Research Project Assistant Kyle Stillwell at the site of the Wilderness Tavern, Wilderness Battlefield
Photo credit: George Curry, SUNY ESF
Image Date: July 16, 2017
NPS Olmsted Center Director Bob Page and FRSP Cultural Resource Program Manager Eric Mink
Photo credit: John Auwaerter, SUNY ESF
Image Date: May 14, 2016