[VAcourier] MOC Editorial

[Virginia Division SCV Communication List]

Keeping Lexington's Business Down

Who is resisting the Museum of the Confederacy

Has anyone noticed that downtown Lexington, Virginia is not bustling 
with tourist dollars despite all the Rockbridge area has to offer? 
According to the Lexington Visitor Center, the city only hosts 40,000 
visitors per year. Compare that to the 52,000 visitors that the Museum 
of the Confederacy receives every year on its own and it makes the local 
tourism numbers seem low. How many hotels, restaurants, shops, etc. 
would love to see the area's tourism base more than double. Despite the 
potential boon to the local economies, rumors abound that some people 
associated with Washington and Lee University are actively resisting the 
potential relocation of the museum from Richmond to Lexington.

The Museum of the Confederacy is a highly rated institution which not 
only preserves and displays the relics of the South's struggle for 
independence during the Civil War, it also engages in interpretative 
programs and sponsors many educational initiatives. Scholars from around 
the world walk through its doors ever year to do research in the 
museum's expansive library and records archives. The museums board is 
comprised of highly esteemed business people, doctors, and scholars. Not 
many years ago, the museum boasted over 90,000 visitors a year, but the 
expansion of the Medical College of Virginia hospital complex nearby has 
encased the museum contributing to a loss in visitors. The museum board 
has decided to relocate and while Lexington stands to benefit 
tremendously from this relocation, it is not yet clear if Lexington is 
the best choice for the museum.

Why would anyone or institution oppose the museum coming to Lexington? 
The disease of political correctness or a better than thou attitude are 
real possibilities. Rumors are surfacing that some people connected with 
Washington and Lee University believe that the museum would be 
detrimental to the school because it would fortify the connections that 
the university and the area have with the Confederacy, particularly 
General (or president according to W&L) Robert E. Lee. The school has 
for over a decade worked hard to distance itself from its roots, 
especially the nostalgia of Lee's Confederate service believing that 
Lee's military legacy is detrimental to the recruitment of minorities. 
The Lee Chapel museum, for example, has systematically seen the removal 
of nearly all displays concerning Lee's military career. Lee as General 
is out and "Lee the Educator" is in. It is as if Lee simply appeared in 
1866 from thin air to rebuild a devastated Washington College. His past 
is even maligned by some professors on the campus.

The question is will any covert opposition from the university upset the 
negotiations taking place between the Museum of the Confederacy, the 
City of Lexington, and the Rockbridge County Board of Supervisors? The 
area has millions in potential tax and business revenues on the line in 
addition to finding a suitable tenant for the soon to be abandoned 
Courthouse square buildings. Will the area citizens and businesses get 
to decide the question or has some liberal conspiracy doomed the process 
from the start.

Brandon D. Dorsey

Lexington, Virginia


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