Civil War tree trail gets seed money
An ambitious undertaking to plant one tree for every soldier who died in the Civil War is becoming a reality after Virginia awarded the project a $300,000 grant.
An ambitious undertaking to plant one tree for every soldier who died in the Civil War is becoming a reality after Virginia awarded the project a $300,000 grant.
Known as the Living Legacy Tree Planting program, organizers hope to plant 620,000 trees along a historic corridor from Gettysburg to Monticello.
That's 3,444 trees per mile, or a tree every three feet on both sides of the road.
The grant from Virginia's Commonwealth Transportation Board last month will go toward engineering and planning studies for the project.
"In theory it's a simple idea, but we're talking about 180 miles of roads and just about every condition you can imagine," said Cate Magennis Wyatt, president of the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership. "How do you plant trees so the visitor passing by knows that it's a life? How do you ensure the trees are planted so they can survive?"
The partnership hopes to have all the trees planted by the end of 2015 along the Journey Through Hallowed Ground, a national scenic byway.
Magennis Wyatt estimates that buying and planting each tree will cost $100, for a total of $62 million.
"We've already received over $100,000 in private donations, and we haven't even gone out to solicit," she said. "We're getting donations and letters from people all around the country who want to plant trees in honor of their ancestors."
