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Preserving Our Culture and History
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This information was last updated in 2003 and 2004.
Please check back as this information will be updated soon. |
The Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia is filled with historic and archaeological sites, with names and places important to the history of the United States and West Virginia. Highway builders are sensitive to this, and plan routes which have minimum impact. Both state and federal agencies review the plans, and must approve before construction begins.
Charles Town to Virginia State Line
The West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH) is proposing to relocate and upgrade WV Route 9 from U.S. Route 340 (the Charles Town Bypass) to the Virginia state line in Jefferson County.
Five construction alternatives have been considered, which could possibly affect 88 historic resources at least 50 years old. The Preferred Alternative (see Route) involves only three. The DOH developed what is called a Minimization Alignment to reduce the impact to an absolute minimum so that only Fleetwood and Belvedere are adversely effected.
The "minimization," or mitigation, on those sites will effectively shield both sites. At Fleetwood, the grade of the roadway will be depressed so that the highway will not be in the immediate view of the historic structures there. The natural topography at Belvedere will minimize the visual impact, particularly from the main house. The visual impact from that structure will be similar to the existing Charles Town Bypass. Both at Fleetwood and at Belvedere, trees and shrubbery will be planted within the relocated Route 9 right of way to further minimize visual impact.
Modern highway planning also requires that experts test the highway right of way for potential archaeological sites that could yield important information to those studying the pre-history and history of the area.
Within the proposed Route 9 preferred alternative, six archaeological sites appear to have such potential. None of these, however, are potentially eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.
Martinsburg to Charles Town
By January 1999, the WV Division of Highways (WVDOH) had identified at least 189 individual cultural and historic resources and three historic districts. The term "historic resources" refers to any above-ground building, structure, district or object that is at least 50 years old. This distinguishes it from historic archaeological sites, which are below the ground surface.
As a result of public input, and as documented in a Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS), the Division developed what is called a Preferred Alternative route (see Route). This plan reduces the number of historic resources impacted by the highway, as compared to the three original alternatives in an earlier draft impact statement.
At this point, using the Preferred Alternative as the model, only one of the 189 cultural resources in the area will be directly affected by the project.
In addition, another inventory was completed in January 2000 in the vicinity of Bower Road/Border Road. A comprehensive field view found eight properties with standing structures meeting the age criterion for possible historic sites.
National Register eligibility assessments indicate that four of those sites (Western View, A.M. Widmyers Farm, Locust Grove Farm and Minor Hurst House) appear to meet the criteria for listing in the National Register.
Many of the resources identified as eligible by both federal and state agencies are historic farms with associated buildings, structures and farmland that reflect more than 200 years of historic agricultural use. A letter from the Keeper concluded that the "boundaries for these historic farms should include not only buildings but farmland historically, not currently, associated with them if it retains historic character." As a result, the boundaries of some historic farms were enlarged to reflect the Keeper's conclusion.
Stay tuned to this section of the web site. Cultural and historical information will be posted soon on the other sections of Route 9.
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