JMU set to construct new entrance to historic Turner Ashby monument
Posted on January 10, 2008
After a struggle between JMU and local residents concerned with preserving the land around the Turner Ashby Monument, the university is constructing a new entrance on the corner of Neff Avenue and Port Republic Road.
An argument over the new road arose because the Turner Ashby Chapter 162 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy owns the monument, while the land surrounding it belongs to JMU.
The university has been the proprietor since 2003, when it bought the 40 acres of land, which the university intends to use for recreational fields, according to JMU spokesman Don Egle.
JMU proposed building the new road over a year ago to make the monument more accessible, encouraging more visitors and field trips, Egle said. The UDC was hesitant because of the historic land that would be used, which included the site where Ashby was fatally wounded in a civil war battle.
The UDC, JMU and their attorneys have met to discuss their differences. JMU and the UDC have worked closely to determine the logistics of creating the new road and have discussed creating a buffer zone around the monument in the future.
Now that the road is under construction, Nancy Gum, the UDC chapter president, said she is happy with the outcome and hopes that the new road will pull in tourists.
