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On Friday, October 7, George Mason University dedicated a historic site in Virginia, celebrating the university-community partnership that has contributed to its preservation.
Just off Parking Lot K at Fairfax Campus is Redoubt, one of three Confederate forts built along Braddock Road in 1861. An essential part of any Virginia trip.
Among those who spoke at the dedication ceremony were Bull Run Civil War Roundtable’s Blake Myers, Jim Lewis, Brian McEnany, Virginia Senator Chap Petersen, and Mason’s history professor Brian Platt, who decided to promote the project to the University. Brought to the administrator of
The event included a performance by 8th Green Machine Regiment Bandthe Masons Green Machine ensemble playing 19th century brass band music on authentic 19th century instruments and mouthpieces.
“This project is the culmination of many years of hard work,” Pratt said in his remarks, outlining the steps taken to preserve the site.
The fort was built at a strategic location known as Firs Cross Road. You’ll see both Braddock Road, which was used to reach the Shenandoah Valley from the port of Alexandria, and US 123, the main thoroughfare for traffic from Okoquan. Cross the river to the former Fairfax County Courthouse near present-day Tysons Corner. The redoubt changed hands many times between the United States and the Confederate Army during the Civil War.
The preservation and interpretation of this site is the result of a partnership between Mason and the Bull Run Civil War Roundtable that began in 2016. Over the years, a Roundtable expert has made instructional visits to students taking her HIST classes to foster interest in the site. 373: Civil War and Reconstruction taught by Christopher Hamner, Masonic History Professor.
The Roundtable and the Mason’s Office of History and Art History have submitted documentation regarding the site to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, which has inscribed the site on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places.
Pratt emphasized the people it took to bring this project to fruition. These include ground crews who cleared the remains of masonic facilities and grounds, constructed a walkway from Lot K, and kept the grounds up for visitors.
“When the leaders of the Roundtable first showed up in my office to call attention to the fact that there was an important Civil War site here on campus, my first thought was that this site was It’s on campus, not in the viewfinder of private property or real estate developers,” Pratt said. “After all, if a conservation project is to take place anywhere in a highly developed suburban landscape, it is undoubtedly a university, a place that has an academic interest in preserving our historical and cultural heritage. will be held at
Learn about the history of the redoubt and Fars Cross Road
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