American Battlefield Trust and Allies Score Court Victory in Lawsuit to Protect Wilderness Battlefield

(Orange, Va.) — A lawsuit challenging the sprawling Wilderness Crossing mega-development at the gateway to the Wilderness Battlefield may proceed, a judge ruled Tuesday afternoon in a key legal victory for the American Battlefield Trust, other preservation groups and local homeowners seeking to protect historical and cultural resources from irrevocable harm by that project. 

In a 17-page letter opinion issued on September 16, 2025, Circuit Court Judge David B. Franzén rejected the attempts by Orange County and the developers of the Wilderness Crossing project to throw out the case. Of the seven counts filed by the Trust and its partners, the judge dismissed three but allowed four to proceed. The remaining counts challenge the rezoning as having been approved in violation of Virginia law governing rezoning processes, public hearings and the equal taxation of land.  

The opinion stems from a motions hearing held in March, but the voluminous rezoning record and multiple rounds of briefings following the hearing necessitated extended study by the judge. 

The American Battlefield Trust, along with the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust, Friends of Wilderness Battlefield and nearby homeowners filed suit in May 2023 over the rezoning. Despite years of constructive collaboration about the future of the region by local residents, the Trust and its partners in the Wilderness Battlefield Coalition, Orange County undertook a secretive and unlawful rezoning process to permit the Wilderness Crossing developers to rush through the total reshaping of the Germanna-Wilderness area, contrary to the longstanding commitments of the County. The Wilderness Crossing rezoning would allow thousands of acres of residential, commercial and industrial development, including buzzing data centers and towering distribution warehouses, to impact core battlefield land and loom over the Congressionally authorized boundary of the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania Battlefields National Military Park. If built, this development would forever mar both the historic 1864 battlefield and the bucolic, forested gateway to eastern Orange County. 

“Officials put the near-term interests of a developer over those of the local community and willfully ignored the damage to the irreplaceable resources that make this region a vital tool for understanding our nation’s history,” said David Duncan, president of the American Battlefield Trust. “We look forward to advancing our case and protecting the area’s historic treasures from wanton and inappropriate development.” 

The Wilderness Crossing project was approved over near-unanimous public opposition in the spring of 2023. Ahead of its vote, the Board ignored repeated requests from the preservation community, the National Parks Service, and others to study the impact of this largest rezoning in Orange County history. It allows the building of up to 5,000 residential units, and intense development of more than 800 acres of commercial and industrial development. Nearly 750 acres could be occupied by data centers and distribution warehouses. All this would be built just across Route 3 from where 160,000 Union and Confederate soldiers clashed in May 1864, during one of the most important battles of the Civil War. 

“I am pleased that our case against the mishandling of this rezoning decision will proceed,” said Central Virginia Battlefields Trust President Tom Van Winkle. “The threat to the Wilderness Battlefield is real and the merits of our case are strong. We are gratified that our case will receive the full and careful consideration it is due.” 

Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield President Robert Lookabill agreed, noting, “As stewards of this special place and members of our close-knit community, it was our responsibility to carry this case forward to ensure that Orange County’s elected officials acted responsibly and in the best interest of their constituents.” 

The Wilderness Battlefield was named one of the country’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2024. The area that was rezoned for development includes hundreds of acres identified by the National Park Service as within the historic boundaries of the Wilderness battlefield. Amicus curiae briefs filed in support of the challenge, one by the National Parks Conservation Association, National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, and another by the Piedmont Environmental Council, detailed the extraordinary investments that have been made to preserve the Wilderness Battlefield and the serious threats that the Wilderness Crossing development portends for that sacred ground. 

The Wilderness Crossing lawsuit is not the only active case challenging inappropriate development adjacent to a nationally significant historic battleground. The American Battlefield Trust is also party — alongside concerned local landowners — to a suit challenging approval of the Prince Wiliam Digital Gateway, which would site the world’s largest data center at the edge of Manassas National Battlefield Park. While the Trust and their allies’ challenge to that rezoning was dismissed and is pending appeal, another judge in a parallel challenge recently ruled that the Prince William Digital Gateway rezoning was unlawfully approved and void. That ruling is being appealed by both the data center developers and Prince William County. 

The American Battlefield Trust is dedicated to preserving America’s hallowed battlegrounds and educating the public about what happened there and why it matters today. The nonprofit, nonpartisan organization has protected more than 60,000 acres associated with the Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and Civil War across 160 sites in 25 states. Learn more at www.battlefields.org. 

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(For more information about the fight against the Wilderness Crossing mega-development, visit:  https://www.battlefields.org/preserve/speak-out/fight-continues-wilderness-battlefield)