Private session on Appomattox museum plan denied

APPOMATTOX -- The head of the Museum of the Confederacy wanted to talk privately with the Appomattox County Board of Supervisors on Monday night about plans to build a satellite museum in Appomattox, but the board declined.

S. Waite Rawls III, president and CEO of the Richmond-based museum, had come to town to update the supervisors. He asked to speak to the supervisors in closed session, but the board chairman said no.

The board must follow state law to meet in closed session.

The museum wants to open an $8 million satellite in Appomattox, part of an expansion to bring the largest collection of Civil War artifacts to sites throughout Virginia. Other locations include Fredericksburg and Fort Monroe in Hampton.

The original proposal was for the town of Appomattox to buy 4 acres and then lease it to the museum at a nominal charge. Since then, there have been discussions that the county would purchase neighboring land to lease to the museum.

Rawls said negotiations regarding property for the museum site remain under way, but he declined to elaborate.

Susan Pugh is a staff writer for The News & Advance in Lynchburg.