THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 22, 1996 TAG: 9608220416
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ANNE GEARAN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: STAFFORD LENGTH: 61 lines
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and an historic preservation group struck a deal Wednesday night to stop a discount store from being built atop land that was once part of George Washington's boyhood farm.
Instead, Wal-Mart will build a 100,000-square-foot store a half-mile from the historic site.
``We did this gladly because it became evident this was the best thing for all parties concerned, including Wal-Mart,'' said Jay Allen, the company's vice president for communications.
As part of the deal, Historic Kenmore will take over the land once planned for the store, as well as a small park that contains the remnants of the Washington family farmhouse. The Ferry Farm plantation on the banks of the Rappahannock River was the site where legend holds a young George Washington chopped down his father's cherry tree.
``We care deeply about this land, in part, because of the story of a young boy and a hatchet,'' said Bill Beck, an antiques dealer who led the opposition to the Wal-Mart project.
``I'm glad we're here and we can all bury the hatchet,'' Beck said before the Stafford County Board of Supervisors approved zoning changes that Wal-Mart needed to build the store on the replacement site.
Wal-Mart originally proposed a 93,000-square-foot store and 30,000-square-foot shopping center in February. But the proposal angered historians, who said it would undercut efforts to preserve the remnants of the Washington property as a national tourist spot.
The Washington family probably grew tobacco on the land Wal-Mart optioned for its store. The tract lies next to a small park area that includes preserved sections of the Washington home's foundation.
The retailer later agreed to give up its controversial plan in return for permission to build a similar store and shopping center nearby.
The Kenmore group offered $2.2 million for the land, but drew the line at paying Wal-Mart the additional $450,000 the company said it and its development partners spent on the scrapped project.
It would be ``unethical'' for Kenmore, with an annual budget of about $1 million, to pay the bills of a retailer with annual revenues of nearly $100 billion, Vernon Edenfield, the museum's executive director, said last week.
Both sides declined Wednesday to give details of the financial terms of the property transfer, which should be final in about 60 days. But Allen said Wal-Mart forgave much of what the company spent defending its original plans. He would not say how much.
Construction on the new site will begin late this year or in early 1997, Allen said.
The Kenmore group oversees the nearby home of Washington's sister, which is preserved as a museum.
The Ferry Farm site near Fredericksburg is the only one of Washington's three homes that is not already a museum.
The foundation of the Washington house, which burned in the 1800s, is preserved and signs tell tourists a little about the family's life there. But grander plans for a visitor's center and much-needed preservation work have foundered repeatedly.
The site is mostly open fields, with a view of the river. Suburban houses and a shopping center are visible nearby.
KEYWORDS: FERRY FARM PLANTATION by CNB