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| Roanoke native Denman Zirkle at a Civil War battlefield site. |
Civil War history has long captivated Virginia Tech/
Pamplin College of Business alumnus
Denman Zirkle, who graduated in 1960. After more than 25 years in the financial
services industry, Zirkle found a second career in helping to protect, manage,
and interpret long-ago fighting grounds. He is the executive director of the
Shenandoah Valley
Battlefields Foundation. The challenges of historic preservation, he discovered,
mean a constant battle for funds and against development.
The Roanoke, Va.-born Zirkle said he has always been fascinated by the Civil
War—its causes, the military brilliance of Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall
Jackson, and “how the defeat of the Confederacy has continued to define our
nation, both politically and socially, through almost 150 years.” His interest
in historic preservation, however, “came later in life, as I became
increasingly aware of our dwindling natural and historic resources and the
relentless commercial pressure to compromise them.”
Some 14,000 acres of core Civil War battlefields have no protection against
development, says Denman Zirkle, executive director of the Shenandoah Valley
Battlefields Foundation.
Zirkle, who also earned an MBA at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton
School and is a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, began his
career in finance in 1983, when he joined Morgan Stanley from Consolidated Rail
Corp. He later moved to Lynch & Mayer, a New York investment advisory firm,
where he was senior vice president in charge of marketing, and Franklin
Templeton Investments, where he was executive vice president for the
institutional business division. More recently, he was chief executive officer
of another New York advisory firm, Carret and Co.
Appointed in April 2009 to lead the battlefields foundation, Zirkle said the
organization’s work must be “ramped up, both in terms of management and
interpretation of the acreage that has been protected, as well as the
acquisition of remaining battlefield land.”
The foundation was incorporated in 2000 to “protect, interpret, and promote”
battlefields in the newly designated Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National
Historic District, created by Congress in 1996. At that time, some 2,100 acres
had been protected—core battlefield land on the 10 battlefields of the
eight-county historic district. “Today, that number stands at almost 6,000
acres, thanks to initiatives by our foundation and our partners—the
commonwealth of Virginia, Civil War Trust, Lee-Jackson Educational Foundation,
and others,” Zirkle said.
The ruins of the tenant house remain on the Huntsberry Farm property, which
is part of the Third Winchester battlefield.
It is an accomplishment, he said, but added that, in Virginia, approximately
14,000 acres of core battlefield remain unprotected, some of it already being
encroached upon by development. “Some of our most threatened battlefields are
those in Frederick County, but the same development pressure is creeping up the
valley into Shenandoah and Rockingham counties. Both interstate highways and
development have already significantly encroached on battlefield land in
Frederick and Warren counties. We do not have long to protect the remaining
acreage.”
The foundation’s biggest challenge, he said, is to continue pursuing the $2
million in land acquisition funding that Congress authorized when it passed
legislation creating the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic
District. The funding has not been consistent, Zirkle said, noting that it was
not available for 2011 and is uncertain for 2012, because of efforts to rein in
federal spending. “But without it, we cannot use matching grants from the state
and other sources to purchase land or even easements on land.”
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| Dirkle at Fisher's Hill |
The 1996 legislation also authorized up to another $2 million in matching
funding for the management, interpretation, and promotion of battlefields. “We
have never received any of this funding,” he said, “thus, some of our protected
battlefield land lies fallow.”
The process of protecting battlefields, he said, involves identifying the
individual parcels, working with interested sellers, and providing the
necessary funding for purchasing the land or placing conservation easements on
the land. “Without funding, it is pointless to engage in the detailed
preparation work.” And after battlefields become protected, they need to be
“respected,” Zirkle said, through proper maintenance and interpretation that
will provide both recreational and educational experiences for the public --
all of which requires financial support.
Denman Zirkle stands at the marker for Fisher's Hill, south of Strasburg. It
is part of the Third Winchester battle site.
The sesquicentennial commemoration of the Civil War this year presents a
timely opportunity for the foundation, he noted. “We have to tell our story to
the citizens of the Shenandoah Valley and the state as well as to a larger
audience across the nation. When more people are aware of our work and future
challenges, I am confident of significantly more private support.”
(Written by Sookhan Ho, Pamplin College of Business Public Information. Virginia Tech photos.)
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