[VAcourier] MOC to move to Lexington???

[Virginia Division SCV Communication List]

Museum of the Confederacy to move to Lexington?
from Richmond Times-Dispatch

Civil War museum may leave capital
<http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192815336&path=%21news&s=1045855934842> 

Richmond's Museum of Confederacy studies a move to Lexington
BY JANET CAGGIANO
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Jan 24, 2007

Museum of the Confederacy officials are considering moving the world's 
largest collection of Civil War artifacts to Lexington.

"I don't know if the conversations will go anywhere," said Waite Rawls, 
the museum's president and CEO, who visited Lexington this month. "But 
they have started."

Lexington, about 140 miles west of downtown Richmond in Rockbridge 
County, could be a good fit for the museum's collection of Confederate 
artifacts, manuscripts and photographs. Confederate Gens. Robert E. Lee 
and Stonewall Jackson are buried there, it is home to Washington and Lee 
University, and the town takes pride in its Civil War history.

"The mission of the museum is consistent with the historic attractions 
and educational institutions already in our community," said Lexington 
Mayor John Knapp in a joint statement with Harvey Hottinger, chairman of 
the Rockbridge County Board of Supervisors.

The museum at 12th and East Clay streets has been struggling for 
survival beside Virginia Commonwealth University's sprawling medical 
campus for years. Annual visitation has dropped from 92,000 to about 
51,500 since the early 1990s. Rawls announced in October that the museum 
will relocate its collection but that the adjacent White House of the 
Confederacy will remain where it has stood since 1818. A committee had 
looked at the feasibility of relocating the Civil War home of 
Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

"We have said all along that our preference is to be in Richmond," Rawls 
said. "But given Lexington's historical character . . . we said, 'Let's 
go up and take a look.' We are no further along than that."

During their visit, Rawls and three members of the museum's board toured 
a possible site, the historic Rockbridge County courthouse complex on 
Main Street. Lexington is set to break ground on a new courthouse in 
February. When the two-year project is completed, the 1897 building will 
be vacant.

The courthouse complex also includes the town's old jail, which dates to 
1841, the First American Bank building and the "lawyer's row" building. 
All are vacant and would require renovation work.

"We want to keep the historical integrity of the buildings," Rawls said. 
"The question is, can you do that and meet the needs and demands of both 
sides?"

It would be a big blow to Richmond if the museum should leave town, said 
Jack Berry, president and chief executive officer of the Richmond 
Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"It would be a very big loss," he said. "We'd be losing a huge asset. We 
hope it doesn't happen."

While talks with Lexington will continue, Rawls said, that doesn't mean 
the search is over.

"This is all very preliminary," he said.

Whether the collection stays in Richmond or moves outside the city, 
Rawls said he hopes the museum will be in its new home by 2011, the 
beginning of the sesquicentennial of the Civil War.


Contact staff writer Janet Caggiano at jcaggiano at timesdispatch.com 
<mailto:jcaggiano at timesdispatch.com> or (804) 649-6157.

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