Volunteers upgrade Civil War site in Dinwiddie

DINWIDDIE Some hardy pioneers have been working to help blaze a trail through one of the Tri-Cities' most important historic sites.

Volunteers from the Virginia Council of New Outlook Pioneers worked last week to build and install two footbridges along a new, 8-mile trail system that's being created at the Five Forks Battlefield in Dinwiddie County. The trail network is part of a major upgrade at the park that also includes construction of a $3 million visitor center featuring video exhibits and a bookstore.

The park is the site of the Battle of Five Forks, sometimes called the "Waterloo of the Confederacy" because of its decisiveness in leading to the defeat of Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. It was fought on April 1, 1865.

Tim Blumenschine of the National Park Service said the purpose of the trails is to "open up this battlefield and make it more visitor-accessible." Currently, the main segments of the park are accessible only from disconnected points along roadways.

Volunteers have been playing a big part in the park upgrades and have included equestrian clubs, Eagle Scout candidates and individual volunteers, Blumenschine said.

The New Outlook Pioneers who were working last week are part of Pioneers Volunteer Network, called the world's largest corporate volunteer organization. Its members are employees and retirees of Lucent Technologies Inc., which was formed in the 1990s from Western Electric, Bell Laboratories and other technology operations of the former American Telephone and Telegraph Corp.

The work involved building frames for the footbridges in the maintenance shop at the Petersburg battlefield, then transporting the frames and other materials to Five Forks, where decks were added and stone placed and leveled at each end.

The trails themselves have been marked and partially cleared, but considerable work remains.

As for the visitor center, the contractor is expected to wrap up work on the building soon, said Bob Kirby, superintendent of the Petersburg National Battlefield.

"As soon as the contractor is done, we'll move in with the exhibits, the videos and furnishings," he said.

The new center will replace a small 1980s building at White Oak and Courthouse roads. When the new center opens, "that building comes down and that site will be reclaimed," Kirby said.