http://www.ohiocivilwar150.org…..nd-events/

"Civil War anniversary chance for promotion"
Preserving History – Zann Nelson/Community Columnist, m16439@aol.com
Published: June 10, 2010
Culpeper,VA Star-Exponent

There is a great talk about the upcoming Civil War Sesquicentennial, including the most puzzling questions: which anniversary year does "sesquicentennial" represent and how does one pronounce it?

The answer to the first is 150 years. As to pronunciation, the accent is on the first syllable and sounded out as follows: ses (like yes), qui (the u is more like a w and the i is short as in quick but without the ck) centennial speaks for itself.

Now past the first hurdle, it is the responsibility of local and regional groups – supported by a state agency and some state dollars – to devise plans for commemorative activities that will span the four-year period.

Imagining that numerous intelligent and caring readers are puzzling over the whys and wherefores of such an extraordinary undertaking, this column intends to open what will hopefully be a productive and positive dialogue on the merits and possibilities.

Tourism revenue is a driving factor of potentially substantial magnitude. The nation (including Congress) is poised for the four-year commemoration, as are states, localities, parks, battlefields, re-enactors, descendents organizations and history departments at 100s of colleges and universities.

Though all activities are not being orchestrated on a national level, states are coordinating plans cohesively within their own boundaries and promoting tourism collectively.

It is a veritable gold mine for small communities with strained budgets to join forces to partake in a significant piece of the tourism revenue pie. Many localities are considering "legacy" projects that will be a sustainable asset long after the close of the sesquicentennial.

Virginia is a cinch to draw perhaps millions of new visitors and each locality has only to research and package its own Civil War history in order to be a contender.

No reinvention of identity or need to create some artificial persona; it is simply a task of knowing the stories and sharing them in compelling styles.

Some of the universal skeptics are already bemoaning yet another reenactment, but from what I have been hearing thus far, this is not your father's commemorative anniversary! The ambitions for this anniversary far surpass simply a recreation of something that occurred 150 years ago.

Some of what it is not meant to be:
- A glorification of war
- An invitation to renew the flames of Southern secession
- A debate as to who was good or evil

A few ideas that will be promoted:
- A scholarly debate on the causes
- The outcomes that changed the nation
- Discoveries and dissemination of untold histories
- Emphasis on the social and humanitarian perspective and less on the military

By no means is this the extent of possibilities and each idea is bound only by the creativity and participation of the organizing group.

Seminars, luminary events, plays, student essays, artwork, publications, tours, self-guided maps of significant areas, oral history project, local cemetery research are just a sampling of possibilities.

Contact the Culpeper County Board of Supervisors to learn how you can have a say.

Until next week, be well.

Zann Nelson is the former director of the Museum of Culpeper History. She can be reached at m16439@aol.com .