Battlefields surrounded, preservationists warn

Antietam National Battlefield survived the bloodiest day in American history. Now, historic preservationists say, it’s under threat from modern technology.

The patch of western Maryland farmland where bucolic vistas remained virtually unchanged since the day in 1862 when 3,650 Americans died fighting, was named one of the nation’s most endangered battlefields Wednesday. The threat: a proposed cellphone tower that would rise 30 feet above the tree line -- marring, critics say, views from nearly all the battlefield’s famous vantage points.

“It is the best-preserved battlefield east of Shiloh,” a Tennessee battlefield, said O. James Lighthizer, president of the Civil War Preservation Trust, which announced its 2008 list of the 10 most endangered battlefields at a news conference in Washington. “It is absolutely a model. We’ve got too big an investment in that battlefield to let some organization come and stick a monstrosity like that.”

Also making the endangered list: Maryland’s Monocacy National Battlefield, which preservationists fear will be visually marred by a proposed waste-to-energy plant nearby. The South Mountain battlefield site in Georgia was named one of 15 “at-risk” sites due to a natural gas compression station proposed nearby.

In a report titled “History Under Seige,” the trust -- a private group that has spent $100 million in the last eight years to preserve more than 25,000 acres at 99 sites in 18 states -- describes a nation rapidly losing touch with its heritage.

The endangered list includes other historic sites in Kentucky, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Florida, Arkansas, Georgia and Tennessee.

“Each and every day, 30 acres of hallowed ground are lost forever,” said Cricket Bauer Pohanka, a trustee for the organization. “In the Metro D.C. area, we have several battlefields within easy distance, and in some ways they are the hardest hit by the development in this area.”

She cited the telecommunications tower that a Rockville, Md., company is considering building near Antietam.

Mike Hofe, president and chief operating officer of Liberty Towers LLC, called it a “stealth” structure, disguised as a farm silo to blend in with the area.

Liberty Towers has yet to file for permits, but the company recently floated a tethered balloon to illustrate the height of the proposed tower. Hofe said the site is one of several the company is considering but added that zoning restrictions and preservation guidelines limit the number of locations where it could be erected.

“We’re working on a set of scenarios,” he said. “We’re very early in the planning stages.”

Preservationists say the structure would dominate the view from Gen. Robert E. Lee’s headquarters and the Bell, Piper and Reel farms located around the battlefield.

Lighthizer, a former Anne Arundel County, Md., executive and state transportation secretary, vowed to fight the proposal “until hell freezes over.”

“When you put up a monstrosity of a cell tower,” he said, “you really desecrate the visual environment.”

At Monocacy, the trust says, the 150-foot-tall smokestack of the proposed plant would be visible from much of the battlefield. The Frederick County, Md., Board of Commissioners has not yet decided to build the plant.

Michael G. Marschner, director of the Frederick County division of utilities and solid waste management, says several sites are under consideration, but the one in question has the advantage of already being owned by the county. Marschner says a smokestack from a cement kiln and a Toys R Us warehouse already are visible from the battlefield.