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| Joined: | Wed Jun 13th, 2007 |
| Location: | North Carolina USA |
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so the 'threat' to the batlefield is pretty much non-existent...
HankC
I suppose it depends on how you define 'threat.'
But let's put it this way — when was the last time you saw a stand-alone Walmart? Once a Walmart goes in, then usually follow a host of smaller vendors and perhaps a couple of restaurants and suddenly you have a shopping center adjacent to the battlefield. Then convenience stores. Then traffic. Diesel fumes. And then a housing development.
All you have to do is look a few miles down the road to see what has happened to Salem Church, which has been virtually gobbled up by commercial development. Even Chancellorsville, to my mind, is not quite the same as it once was.
http://www.nps.gov/frsp/photosmultimedia/salem.htm
In my mind, battlefields should be repositories of history, reflection, retrospection, education and adventure. It's harder to get that when you're dodging 18-wheelers with smiley faces painted on them.