There will be a dedication ceremony June 29, 2014 in Leesburg, Va., to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War. Here, 500 trees have been planted, part of the "Living Legacy Tree Planting Project,' whose goal is to plant 620,000 trees, each one honoring a soldier who died in the Civil War. This is tree #1.
Photo: Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership

 

The native tree palette for the "Hallowed Ground' corridor, a 180-mile long by 75-mile wide historic region, is themed "red'. It will include redbuds, red oaks, red maple and red cedar. A secondary palette will include black gum and evergreen trees (e.g., sassafras), winterberry shrubs and groundcovers.

The Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership (JTHGP) is a nonprofit, four-state partnership dedicated to raising awareness of a 180-mile long, 75-mile wide historic swath stretching between Gettysburg, Penn., through Maryland and Harpers Ferry, W.V., to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Charlottesville, Va. Hallowed Ground is home to 9 presidential homes/sites, 18 national and state parks, thousands of historical sites, hundreds of Civil War battlefields and recognized by Congress in 2008 as the "Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area.'

Hallowed Ground holds the largest concentration of Civil War battlefield sites in the country, including those in the beginning of the war (Harpers Ferry and Manassas), the middle period (Antietam and Gettysburg) and the end, (Appomattox).

JTHGP has an ambitious tree-planting project to create a 180-mile all????(R)???(C)e within the Hollowed Ground, a tree for each of the 620,000 soldiers who died during the conflict. The project was launched to create a legacy for the Civil War Sesquicentennial. Each tree is GPS-tagged to allow smart phone users to learn the name and the life story of the soldier represented by each tree.

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, JTHGP will host a ceremony June 29 at Oatlands Historic House and Gardens in Leesburg, Va., to dedicate 500 new trees planted adjacent to the property. On hand will be 60 members of the U.S. Marine Corps Drum & Bugle Corps and Color Guard. Oatlands Plantation was established in 1798. It began as a wheat farm, but later added grist and saw mills and vineyards. Oatlands, the geographical center of the Hollowed Ground, is just one piece of the tree planting project. There have been six previous tree planting ceremonies, including in Williamsport, Md., and Gettysburg, Penn.

Cate Magennis Wyatt is the founder and president of JTHGP; the chairman is the Journey Chair David Williams. JTHG is actively raising funds to complete this $65 million initiative. Support for the project is coming from the heritage area's 350 organizational partners, and from $100 private contributions. Donors can even select a soldier to honor.