SHENANDOAH'S CIVIL WAR STORY GETS NEW GUIDE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 16, 1993                   TAG: 9304160156
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WINCHESTER                                LENGTH: Medium
SHENANDOAH'S CIVIL WAR STORY GETS NEW GUIDE
Tourists who want to visit the Shenandoah Valley's major Civil War battle sites have a new starting point: the Civil War Information Center at the Kurtz Cultural Center.
The center, funded primarily by a $24,500 National Park Service grant, opened this week.
"What we're really doing is putting in another center point where people can come to start a visit," Patrick A. McMahon, director of the Virginia Department of Tourism, said at the opening.
The center, created in three months by Winchester painter-designer Wiley Radford Wine, guides visitors on a brief chronological tour of the valley's 15 Civil War battles, from First Kernstown to Cedar Creek.
Banners define the valley as "the breadbasket of the Confederacy" and a strategic attack route to Washington.
A portrait of Confederate Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson is accompanied by his assessment of the Shenandoah's crucial role: "If the valley is lost, Virginia is lost."
Some guests called the center a large step toward cashing in on the area's Civil War heritage.
"There's people out there that have dream vacations of coming to Winchester," said Civil War re-enactor Tom Landon. "They come here and it brings tears to their eyes to think, `Wow, this is where Stonewall Jackson commanded his troops.' "
The center's east wall contains a framed picture and description of each of the 15 battles.
A large color painting of a mounted Jackson, alone on a ridge overlooking the valley, dominates the west wall.
Wine said he tried to paint the essence of Jackson. "I want you to look at this piece and understand that this is his valley," he said of the Confederate hero who was killed in action near Chancellorsville.
Brandon Beck, director of the Shenandoah University Civil War Institute, said the center is "long overdue. The great thing about it is it's permanent. This is now a part of the Winchester historical landscape."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB