Save the Historic Manassas Gap Railroad

Join the fight to preserve 450 acres that are critically important to our Civil War history – in fact, critically important to the early history of Virginia and the United States as a whole. There are only a few properties that were specifically identified for preservation by the Congressional Commission that established our National Historic District, and this is one of them.

As if that didn’t make this project important enough, these 450 acres are key to preserving the sense of place and agricultural feel of the entire Shenandoah Valley. Even more, this property is a potential driver of heritage tourism on a massive scale.

So, on what battlefield is this property located? Well, it’s on the Cedar Creek Battlefield and the Battlefield at Front Royal. The property stretches across the Fisher’s Hill Battlefield and cuts through the center of the Tom’s Brook Battlefield. A portion of the 450 acres is in Mount Jackson and just west of hundreds of acres already preserved at New Market. Uniquely, this particular property stretches for 48 miles through the Shenandoah Valley, traversing the Valley’s battlefields and historic towns. Only 66 feet wide in most spots, the property that I’m referring to, the one that I am asking you to help protect, is none other than the storied and extremely historic Manassas Gap Railroad.

This railroad, first established in the 1850s, was constructed to link Alexandria, Virginia with the rich agricultural region that lay over the Blue Ridge mountains in the Shenandoah Valley. Passing into the Valley through the Manassas Gap, the line drops down into Front Royal and on into Strasburg before bending southward, up the Valley toward Harrisonburg. The builders of the railroad had no way of knowing that the rail line that they were cutting into and up the Valley would, in just a few short years, be an object of war. By 1861, the railroad was completed as far as Mount Jackson and the roadbed graded and ready for the installation of track as far south as Timberville – a ready-made resource for the Armies that would vie for control of this part of Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia has created a new trails office and appropriated $35 million to facilitate the purchase of the rail corridor. With the support of Virginia and the renewed interest among Valley leaders, an effort to buy the line from Norfolk Southern Railway and develop its tourism potential has gained serious momentum and is well underway. The effort has separated into two camps with two different design approaches for the potential trail corridor. One concept calls for the railroad to be torn up, the roadbed to be cut down by several feet, and a paved trail to be constructed on top of what had been the historic railway. This plan would destroy the historic integrity of the railroad itself and prevent any realistic possibility of using the railroad in the future. The historic Manassas Gap Railroad would be no more – and for the first time since Millard Fillmore was president, there would be no rails in the central Shenandoah Valley.

Anyone who would support or promote that plan – a plan that calls for the destruction of this historic rail line – is not preservation-minded or does not have the capacity to understand the project and its alternatives. Period. That’s it. This includes Civil War Trails, Inc. and the Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley. Both are long-standing partners of ours who not only refuse to help protect this historic resource but are actively fighting for its destruction.

We have helped lead the effort to achieve another vision for this corridor. One that can be summed up as the “Trails Plus Plan” – a rail WITH trail design that would allow for the preservation of this 450-acre corridor as the nationally significant corridor that it is – rails and roadbed preserved forever – with a newly constructed trail running safely beside the rail line. The corridor would be managed as a linear park connecting our existing battlefield sites. Rail operators would have the opportunity to lease the line, generating income for construction and maintenance of the corridor, and new businesses could be developed that utilize the rails and trail as economic drivers

So, in short, I’m asking you to preserve the Manassas Gap Railroad and open it as a battlefield parkway, where visitors can hike or bike the Valley to visit our battlefields and historic towns; a battlefield parkway where the historic rails could one day be used for excursion trains and rail biking – as a truly unique resource that provides memorable experiences for visitors, and keeps the historic railroad intact; a parkway that gives leaders and planners of tomorrow a wider array of options and leaves open the possibility of future rail service that could help preserve the Valley’s sense of place and agricultural heritage.

We will need to raise $350,000 over the next two years to have any hope of bringing the totality of this project to fruition. In the short term, we have to raise the first $130,000 to cover the costs we’ve already incurred, complete our concept plan and pull together the preservation partnership it will take to preserve these 450 acres forever. This is a typical project, but not a typical ask – we need funds now for planning and advocacy . . . without those we will never need the funds to purchase the property because the opportunity will be lost forever.

Please join the fight to save the Manassas Gap Railroad by making your contribution today - it might be one of the most impactful properties we ever protect or open to the public.