CULPEPER, Va. — The Virginia General Assembly's recently approved budget appropriates money to create a new state park in Culpeper County that would include two Civil War battlefields.
The spending plan sent to Gov. Glenn Youngkin earlier this week would create a 1,700-acre park focused on Culpeper County's Brandy Station and Cedar Mountain battlefields, which have been preserved by the American Battlefield Trust, the Star-Exponent reported.
Proponents say Culpeper’s location between Manassas National Battlefield Park and the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park will boost visitation. Many of the sites the Culpeper Battlefields State Park will include are already open to the public, under the stewardship of the battlefield trust or other organizations.
“As awe-inspiring as these preserved lands are, we came to realize the wherewithal and marketing muscle of the Virginia State Park System was needed to make the battlefields into a genuine heritage tourism destination and economic engine for the community,” Jim Campi, the battlefield trust’s chief policy and communications officer, told the newspaper.
The budget is awaiting action from Youngkin, who has indicated his support for the park, according to the newspaper.
Under the budget language, the park would be created by July 1, 2024.
