An earlier post mentioned that Holy Cross Abbey has placed over 900 acres of historic land–the site of the Battle of Cool Spring–into easement with The Civil War Trust. This post is a follow up to begin considering some issues related to easement and some of the specifics of this particular easement.
Some Misconceptions. The biggest misconception about any easement is that the original owners lose their property. Already people are saying, “Holy Cross Abbey sold it’s property to the Civil War Trust.” That is not at all true. The Cistercian Order still owns the property that houses the community of Holy Cross Abbey; the Civil War Trust does not own the property.
But Holy Cross Abbey has entered into a responsible relationship with the Civil War Trust and we are accountable by that agreement not to develop or exploit the land for industrial use or real estate and to preserve it as green space, as an historical battlefield for future generations.
Green space: that is to say, for example, that the Civil War Trust will not turn the property into a Civil War Theme Park. Our tenants, Great Country Farms cultivating the fields along the River, and Ronnie Hope grazing his cattle on our pastures, will continue to work the property. You would not have to worry about Vespers being punctuated by canon fire during a battle recreation. If you’re expecting to find gentlemen in Civil War uniforms and their ladies dressed crinolines, you’ll be greatly disappointed.
Some Responsibilities. Holy Cross Abbey will continue to live out its monastic routine here. The difference is that while the community’s presence insured for the time being the preservation of the battlefield and the green space, future generations of monks may not decide to build a new monastery building or a factory or add an extension of the Retreat House intruding onto the battlefield. We could never have a large subdivision of this property and we have relinquished a number of Dwelling Unit Rights. That means we could not, for example, sell lots of the protected area for real estate development; we could not construct homes and rent them or sell them outright. Nor can this be done by future generations.
If in the distant future the monks were to move and sell the property (we can still do that because we still own it) the new owners would have to accept the property only under terms of the easement. It would have to remain as it is now. Any new owner would be buying green space and an historic battlefield in easement with the Civil War Trust. And so the property would remain in perpetuity.
Some Advantages. Ed Leonard, an employee of the Abbey who saw the Easement through to its completion for us, points out that this easement “directly benefits taxpayers because open space requires almost nothing in terms of the County budget spending. All of Clarke County’s citizens are getting a direct financial benefit from the easement in the form of holding down taxes generated by future development and the subsequent roads, schools and infrastructure necessary to support the development.” That sort of development will never be taking place on this extensive property
Further Posts. Of course, the ecological advantages are enormous but we’ll take that up in a future post. Future posts will also cite the opinions of community leaders and environmental activists in our County.
Do you have specific questions or areas of interests about this Easement? Please send them to this site through the comment box.