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On September 1, 2008—the 146th anniversary of the battle—Wenzel was among several representatives to christen the new Ox Hill Battlefield Park at the corner of West Ox Road (Route 608) and Monument Drive. The park, formerly overgrown by an erratic assemblage of oak, pine and poplar trees, is much brighter and more wide open now, to match this portion of the original battlefield. It contains three new snake-rail fence segments and a 1/4-mile circular stone-paver trail lined with wayside markers that provide a thorough interpretation of the battle—a rarity for most battlefields this size. Three hexagonal informational kiosks next to a paved parking lot provide additional insight not only into the battle but the entire war in the Washington area.

Efforts are underway to re-create a portion of the Reid Farm cornfield that was the site of much of the fighting, and was where Kearny was killed. Broomsage has been planted to give the impression that corn is growing there. Sites are also reserved for separate monuments recognizing the Confederate and Union forces that were engaged at Ox Hill, which the CBA hopes will be in place by the battle’s 2012 sesquicentennial.

“Our goal was to save what we could [of this battlefield] and try to re-create a 19th-century Civil War landscape in the midst of modern, urban Fairfax,” Wenzel said. “We want visitors to enter the park and escape the noisy, congested world outside; enter a time warp, so to speak, and emerge on a Fairfax County farm in 1862, where brave men would sacrifice and die in the greatest struggle of our nation’s history.

“The Ox Hill Battlefield Park may be small, but…it will take you back in time. A photographer’s lens may capture a glimpse of the 21st century outside the park, but within the calm and quiet of the protected acreage, you will be able…to go back to that stormy day in history. That’s the best we can do with the land that we have.”

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