By Kiltie Tompkins and Stacey Grijalva
Local people say it's too early to get wound up about the possibility of the Museum of the Confederacy moving from Richmond to Lexington.
The museum's president and board of
directors met last week with Rockbridge County and Lexington
representatives to discuss the option of relocating to the Rockbridge
County Courthouse site. City and county officials recently approved
construction of a new facility, which will leave the current Main Street
courthouse vacant.
"It was nothing more than an exploratory feasibility type visit to say, 'Would this ever work?'" said Jean Clark, Rockbridge Regional Tourism director.
Lexington is just one of many locations that the museum is considering, museum President Waite Rawls said in a Rockbridge tourism news release. Virginia Commonwealth University has encroached on property adjacent to its current Richmond location, making it impossible for the museum to expand and difficult for visitors to get to.
Lexington officials are considering other options, too. Rockbridge Board of Supervisors Chairman Harvey Hotinger and Lexington Mayor John Knapp said in the news release that no decisions or commitments have been made and that the county and city continue to consider other uses for the old courthouse.
Local officials and representatives of the museum toured the courthouse, the old jail, the First American Bank building, the lawyer's row building and the former children's clinic on Randolph Street, the release said.
The fact that Lexington is an option comes as no surprise. The city is already home to the grave sites of civil war leaders Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, the Stonewall Jackson Cemetery, Washington and Lee University's Lee Chapel, and numerous other landmarks of Confederate history.
"I think it would complement the attractions that we have already," said Sheryl Wagner, director of marketing for Rockbridge tourism.
The museum, established in 1896, has a collection of artifacts, letters, documents, flags, photographs, and other items estimated to be worth more than $500 million. It currently has about 50,000 visitors a year, more than half of whom come from outside Virginia, according to the release.
Michael Lynn, director of the Stonewall Jackson House on Washington Street, said "the richness of their collection is remarkable." However, like Clark, Lynn stressed that the discussions are preliminary and that there is no guarantee the museum will come to Lexington.
"I think it's a little too early to get excited about this," Lynn said.
Produced by Washington and Lee journalism students.
Lead supervisor: Prof. Claudette Artwick
Reporting supervisors:
Technical supervisor: Michael Todd