The LandTrust for Central North Carolina has announced the preservation of one of North Carolina’s most significant historic sites at Fort York on the Davidson/Rowan County border at the Yadkin River.
This project is one that has been in the making for 20 years – since the first months of the founding of the organization, according to a press release. “The Fort York site was identified in 1995 as one of the most important historic sites in our region and has remained at the top of our list of highest priority potential acquisition tracts,” said executive director Crystal Cockman. Thanks to private funding and a grant from the NC Clean Water Management Trust Fund, The LandTrust was able to purchase the site in July.
Fort York was the site of one of the last Confederate victories of the Civil War. Although the war had technically ended three days prior, the Confederate troops guarding the rail bridge over the Yadkin River had not received word of the surrender. General Stoneman of the Union, in his well-documented raid across western North Carolina at the end of the war, came to Salisbury to free captured Union soldiers held in the Confederate prison. After torching many buildings in Salisbury for more than a day, he marched westward to take the rail bridge over the Yadkin River. Confederate soldiers, under the leadership of Zebulan York, fought valiantly on the afternoon of April 12, 1865, to prevent the destruction of this bridge – an economic lifeline to the western and southern part of the state and all points in the Southeast.
The fort consisted of a system of small artillery batteries connected by rifle-trenches for infantry. What remains of the site today is probably half of the original fort, the remainder having been destroyed by three generations of road-building on three sides of the property. Today an “inner line” includes about 720 feet of infantry trenches and three artillery batteries. An “outer line” includes about 1,155 feet of trenches and four batteries. These earthworks are in remarkable shape after being left in a natural state by previous owners who valued history. “There is arguably no more important Civil War landmark left unprotected in the western part of North Carolina,” Cockman said.
The LandTrust has secured the funding needed to purchase the approximately 12.5 acres of property along the banks of the Yadkin River and Interstate 85 in Davidson County that houses approximately half of the historic Civil War fort used to protect the Yadkin River Rail Bridge. This funding includes a short-term loan while LandTrust officials work out the details with the N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund to obtain the grant funds dedicated to the project.
The LandTrust is working with a consortium of interested parties (Davidson County, Davidson Historical Society, Historic Trading Ford Association, Davidson County Tourism and Recreation Investment Partnership, the Town of Spencer, NCDOT, N.C. Department of Cultural Resources and others) to secure, interpret and conserve the historic site in perpetuity. Ultimately, the site will be opened to the public for educational purposes and, along with other significant historic sites in the region, will be promoted as a historic and recreational tourist destination. Donations can still be made toward this project to The LandTrust for Central N.C. at P.O. Box 4284, Salisbury, NC 28145.
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