Page Title
News Archives
Future of Confederate White House Unknown
By DIONNE WALKER
The Associated Press
Saturday, July 23, 2005; 4:29 AM
RICHMOND, Va. -- In the 1800s, the idea of a separate Southern nation seemed real enough to warrant a grand executive office _ a Confederate answer to the White House that would symbolize the lasting Dixie empire. Officials chose a hilltop mansion in the Shockoe Hill section, a former doctor's home that dominated the then-sparse landscape. But what was once a Civil War centerpiece is now an afterthought.
Curators of the Museum and White House of the Confederacy say runaway development from nearby Virginia Commonwealth University has all but erased the site, cutting into attendance and threatening to elbow the landmark right out of the city.
Don Brickey, left, of Cottontown, Tenn., sits with others dressed in Civil War costumes at the 110th Sons of Confederate Veterans meeting, Friday, July 22, 2005, in Nashville, Tenn. Brickey is a first cousin four times removed of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. The organization was once known mostly for its Civil War preservation work, but now sees some of its members taking an aggressive stand about figting attacks against Southern symbols. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Don Brickey, left, of Cottontown, Tenn., sits with others dressed in Civil War costumes at the 110th Sons of Confederate Veterans meeting, Friday, July 22, 2005, in Nashville, Tenn. Brickey is a first cousin four times removed of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. The organization was once known mostly for its Civil War preservation work, but now sees some of its members taking an aggressive stand about figting attacks against Southern symbols. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) (Mark Humphrey - AP)
A group of state lawmakers met Friday to discuss ways to save the 187-year-old site, including moving the entire complex.
"We are simply in their way and their expansion is simply in our way," executive director Waite Rawls III said during the first of four scheduled public meetings.
Rawls told the 11-member panel of the challenges facing the complex, including limited parking, incessant construction noise and looming buildings that leave the historical site lost in the mix.
All have contributed to shrinking museum attendance _ from a peak of 91,000 in the early 1990s to just 54,000 visitors this past year.
Raised in 1818, the building was scheduled for demolition by the 1890s. Members of the Confederate Memorial Literary Society saved the home, converting it into a museum. Society members later restored it as a home in the 1980s; a separate museum housing artifacts such as Confederate flags and period paintings now stands next door.
The committee will review such solutions as relocating the museum or even the entire complex. The state-convened panel can only make recommendations for the privately owned site; the literary society has the final word, offficials said.