Leesburg Contributes to Journey Through Hallowed Ground

When the Leesburg Town Council adopted the FY 2014 budget Tuesday night, it committed $5,104 to the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership, a group formed to preserve the history and heritage of the Route 15 corridor from Gettysburg, PA, to Monticello in Charlottesville.

Mayor Kristen Umstattd proposed the last-minute budget addition.  

“The Town of Leesburg was the first town to join the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership, a multi-jurisdictional effort to preserve and promote the history, culture, and natural beauty of the 180-mile corridor between Gettysburg and Monticello,” Umstattd said in a press release from the town. “The land along the Journey, home to presidents Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, was where American democracy, as we know it today, came of age.”

Such significance makes the corridor worth preserving, Umstattd said.

 “The successful efforts of the Journey's leadership to achieve National Heritage Area status and National Scenic Byway designation and their successful efforts to promote the Town of Leesburg, nationally and internationally as the center of the Journey, deserve our support today and into the future,” she said in the release.

The Town’s funding – envisioned as an annual contribution and subject to appropriations approvals – will support heritage tourism and educational programs in the Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area and National Scenic Byway. The amount is based on $0.116 per capita, as approved by the Partnership’s Council of Elected Officials, an advisory committee comprised of elected leaders from the municipalities and counties within the National Heritage Area, according to the release.