[Quoting the Books-A-Million website]
"The Virginia Piedmont, the gently rolling country east of the Blue
Ridge, is one of the nation's most treasured rural landscapes - and
one of its most endangered. In 1993, the Walt Disney Company's
announcement of its plan to build an American history theme park in
Haymarket, Virginia, within miles of some of the area's most
significant historic sites, sparked intense debate about the impact
of the proposed development on the Piedmont and its residents. The
struggle that ensued, and Disney's eventual withdrawal of the plan,
focused international attention on this beautiful and historic part
of the world. With evocative photographs and delightfully
informative text, Hallowed Ground takes readers on an insider's
excursion down the scenic byways and into the storied past of this
special region. Home to Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and a host
of other great Americans, the Piedmont's graceful foothills and
fertile soil helped nurture the ideas that inspired the American
Revolution. During the Civil War, Piedmont fields and forests became
bloody testing grounds for the nation's survival at places like
Manassas, Chancellorsville, and the Wilderness. Today, the region's
quaint villages and quiet valleys face a different kind of threat
from a 'blacktop and concrete revolution', as historian James M.
McPherson notes in his introduction. . . ."
The Anderson bookstores use the above-quoted description in its web offer of HALLOWED GROUND:
Preserving America's Heritage, by Rudy Abramson, who attended Central
High just north of Florence, Alabama; Kenneth Garrett, who is from Broad Run, Virginia; and Jack Kotz, who is son of journalists/authors Nick Kotz and Mary Lynn Kotz . Jack's mother and father are still associated with Protect Historic America, which was originally set up to lead national opposition by Shelby Foote and others to Disney plans for legacy Foote/Foot land. The son Kotz has worked on books with the director of the National Park Service, and Garrett is a National Geographic Society photographer. Books-A-Million stores and chain's sister Bookland chain trace the 1917 founding to an
Anderson family sidewalk newsstand location in Florence that is down Court Street from the University of North Alabama and a former Abramson Antiques store. Abramson Antiques was owned by the Hallowed Ground author's  family. Richard Moe, president, The National Trust
for Historic Preservation, announced 2 June 2005 that "Journey through Hallowed Ground", a three-state historic swipe that includes the Virginia Piedmont along Routes 15 and 20, had
been named to 2005-2006 list of threatened historic places. Route 15 passes the historic Foote/Foot family home location that Michael Eisner selected for the Disney's America history theme park.
The Washington Post, 3 June 2005 front page, reproduced below,
featured an article about Moe's announcement on page one in lower left corner. Look below for headline, "Trust Decries Development in Three-State Historic Area" and then read the story at your local library.
Jump to: The Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) in Dublin, Ohio for a complete list of libraries in any state or worldwide that loan
HALLOWED GROUND:
Preserving America's Heritage. Abramson, who mainly handled writing of the book, included Brent Town's (Brenttown or Brenton) history along with detailed background on the Disney's America defeat. There were four original Brent Town partners: George Brent and Richard Foote/Foot, whose son Richard of Chotank in King George County helped coordinate the project; Nicholas Hayward, whose father was also named Nicholas and who with Robert Bristow resided in London. Nicholas Hayward's sister Hester married Richard Foote, Sr., while Nicholas' brother Samuel Hayward of Virginia married a sister of John Washington, George Washington's ancestor. The Hallowed Ground photo used in the www.hallowedground.org image (shown below) is from the book jacket. The legacy Foote/Foot land is near the "n" in Ground.
Richard Moe said of Abramson's book soon after its publication in 1996, "This book makes a compelling and gloriously illustrated case for preserving one of the great historic and cultural landscapes in America." The Smithsonian magazine
has a May 2006 article, "Hallowed Highway", with quotes about the significance of Route 15, that includes a map with Haymarket shown about half way between Gettysburg and Charlottesville. Legacy Foote/Foot land, the site of the failed Disney's America, is just north of Haymarket.
The Encyclopedia of Appalachia, edited by Rudy Abramson, from the University of Tennessee Press (2006) has a sketch on Books-A-Million by Abramson. The Times Daily of Alabama, a New York Times newspaper, reported 24 March 2006 that the Shoals Chamber of Commerce has named Joel Anderson, chairman and director of the Anderson Companies, to be Shoals Citizen of the Year. According to the paper, the Anderson Companies are composed of the "Anderson Media Corporation, Books-A-Million, TNT Fireworks, Anderson Press, Whitman Publishing Co., H.E. Harris Co., C.R. Gibson and the Clark Group". In 1945, the Anderson family invested in WJOI, Florence, under the management and majority ownership of Joe Van Sandt. Get more on Van Sandts connections to the Andersons, Foote/Foots, and Sam Phillips and details of son Tommy Van Sandt's friendship with Elvis by jumping to the endnotes page for BLOG:09.
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