ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Tuesday, July 2, 1996                  TAG: 9607020056
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-4  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: FREDERICKSBURG
SOURCE: Associated Press 

WASHINGTON'S HOME SAFE FROM WAL-MART THE DISCOUNT STORE LIKELY TO BUILD ON A NEARBY SITE

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. likely will give up plans to build a discount store atop a portion of the farm where George Washington grew up, a spokesman for the retailer said Monday.

Wal-Mart is willing to swap the site for another nearby if a variety of conditions are met, spokesman Jay Allen said.

Plans for the 93,000-square-foot store on property adjoining the remains of the Washington family's homestead drew national criticism, although the land was zoned for commercial development.

``We had to preserve that land, and it looks as though it is safe now,'' said Bill Beck, president of the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation.

Critics of the Wal-Mart plan have worked for several weeks to dissuade Wal-Mart and the family that now owns the property from going ahead.

A local museum is working to raise enough money - estimated at between $2 million and $3 million - to buy the property.

``We have been working behind the scenes for some time now,'' Allen said in a telephone interview from the company's headquarters in Bentonville, Ark.

The first president lived at Ferry Farm on the banks of the Rappahannock River from age 6 to about age 20. The legend of Washington chopping down his father's cherry tree takes place there, although historians don't believe it happened.

The Washington family home is long gone, but its foundation is preserved as a historic site. Grander plans for a museum and restoration work never came to pass.

The Wal-Mart store and a related strip shopping center were planned for land the Washingtons used for tobacco farming, historians believe.

The deal tentatively worked out with the Kenmore Foundation of Fredericksburg would allow the museum to buy the land at cost, a statement from Wal-Mart said.

Kenmore is the restored 18th century home of Washington's sister, Betty Washington Lewis.

Kenmore must prove it has the money in hand by July 22 and commit to terms of the sale by Aug. 15, the statement from Wal-Mart said.

``Kenmore has been working diligently and almost around the clock,'' to raise the money, Kenmore Director Vernon Edenfield said Monday. ``We will work within that time frame.''

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