Now what could any of these possibly have in common? Two of the things I enjoy as a Civil War Traveler are retracing cavalry raids and lighthouses, especially those that don’t have much written about them. A great thing about retracing cavalry raids is that it takes you down country roads through parts of an area you wouldn’t normally drive through. Two such cavalry raids are Sheridan’s 1865 Raid to destroy the Virginia Central Railroad and James River Canal. A route that took me through rural parts of Nelson County, Fluvanna County, Goochland County and several more. The other is Stoneman’s Chancellorsville Raid, a very controversial raid at the time, that began at the fords across the Rappahannock River that separate Fauquier County and Culpeper County. Along the route I passed through Culpeper County, Louisa County, and Fluvanna County among others. In Culpeper County I went through mid-sized towns like Culpeper, largely forgotten towns like Rapidan, and visited all the fords I could see with my zoom lens camera or feet such as Raccoon Ford (how did it get that name!). I still need to visit Weldon Ford, Beverly Ford and Morton’s Ford but those are on private property. In Louisa County I came to know the modern-day locations of sites like Frederick’s Hall, Shannon Hill and Thompson’s Crossroads. I also in my reading came across lesser known historical figures with fascinating stories like Lieutenant Colonel George R. Maxwell, Captain Elon Farnsworth and Colonel Benjamin Franklin “Grimes” Davis. Unfortunately, both raids have largely been forgotten by history. The Sheridan Raid series is finished and in the “scheduled” queue of the website for later this year. Stoneman’s Raid is about 80% done. As for lighthouses, finally after a prolonged period, the Cape Henry Lighthouse in Virginia Beach is once again open to the public. It’s on a military base so I had to undergo a background check. Now I can start working on a coastal lighthouses in Virginia Series.

But there is one thing all these places have in common and that is the issue of data centers and how they will affect their citizens. Areas that run the gamut from the largest city in Virginia, Virginia Beach, to counties like Loudon County, Culpeper County, and Fluvanna County. This post will include a facebook post from Clark “Bud” Hall, the preeminent Civil War historian and preservationist in Culpeper county. Mr. Hall is the person most responsible for the preservation of Brandy Station and Hansbrough’s Ridge. Following his post, we’ll include newspaper articles for Virginia Beach, Loudon County and Fluvanna County, illustrating their thoughts and approaches to data centers. Data center’s visual effects on historic landscapes are easy to comprehend. However, many people see this as a NIMBY issue (Not In My Back Yard), which will affect only those in direct proximity to the center, but that is not the case. In part two we’ll include two articles, one from US News and World Report and the other from Consumer Reports that discuss how data centers effect people financially in terms of the impact they have on consumers electric and water bills, as well as their quality of life.

First is a recent post from Mr. Hall.

The picture below from his post shows the close proximity of the data center, lower right, to Hansbrough’s Ridge, Salubria, and historic wartime and colonial roads.

Next is an article from the New York Times that discusses data centers and their effects pro and con in Loudon County, Virginia. Even though my travels this time didn’t take me there, Loudon County has a long history with data centers so I included it.

Fluvanna County- At a board of Supervisors meeting one resident commented, “There are some things that matter more than additional tax revenue: our land, our water, our roads, our quality of life, and our rural character. We have to look at the infrastructure that comes with these enormous industrial facilities. And we don’t want it.”

Virginia Beach- City Council establishes a 12-month moratorium on data centers.

In the next post we’ll include two articles that discuss the effects of data centers on consumer electric and water bills and why this is not just a NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) issue?