Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 4 · column 6 of 9 · from the scan, no model involved
To the editor:
I have read with interest and concern the article, "Park Trades Rappahannock Land”, by Daphne McCullough, in The Rappahannock News for May 25, 1978. First, this article was my first notice that I had lost my three-fourth-mile common boundary with Shenandoah National Park, and that my new neighbors were Rayner Snead, Twentieth Judicial Circuit Judge, in Washington, Va., Col.' Evan McNear, Zoning Administrator for Rappahannock County, and Judge Snead's son-in-law, Eric Adamson, Town Attorney for Front Royal, Va.
Second, 1 am interested in the implications of this article for the maintenance of ‘‘our Rappahannock Heritage" and of the national parks of the Country, some of which were apparently paid for by collections made by school children and donated to the Park.
Mr. Adamson describes the transaction as a fair exchange, by which their land in Greene County was traded to the Park for three parcels in Rappahannock County and one in Warren Coupty, in his words, “lousy lanti for lousy land”. I do not know about the land in Greene County, which I have not seen. I do know something of the one parcel in Rappahannock County, which borders my property and contains somewhat over two hundred acres. It is located on the eastern end of Oventop Mountain to the north of Sperryville. The new boundary appears to leave the 2250 foot high peak, with its spectacular 360 degree sweeping view, some 400 feet inside the Park. With my new neighbors safely ensconsed in their new property, what might that view be expected to include in the near future?
A housing development? Maybe. Adamson is quoted in the News. “It’s physically undevelopable...from a practical standpoint (and) has value only to adjacent property owners.” I agree with his statement that this land has value, not only to adjacent property owners, but to many others to whom it is available.
Logging? Yes.
As to what the new owners will do with this former Park land, I quote Mr. Adamson from the News article: “I think history is probably better than future assurances.” I agree. So let us look at history.
Col. McNear owns a mountain property on the north side of Old Hollow, across from the Park property. Logging of this property was completed within the last month. As l°Rg>nR operations go it could be worse. Some trees are left standing, among them Virginia pines, hemlocks, and oaks, some of which
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