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Rich Mountain Battlefield Foundation

    The once endangered site of the July 11, 1861 battle that launched General George B. McClellan into national prominence is now protected by Rich Mountain Battlefield Foundation. The site encompasses over 400 acres of historic grounds and buffer lands. RMBF now holds the largest privately held battlefield preservation site in the state. Operations in the McClellan’s Headquarters Building, located in Beverly, WV, have grown to now serve as an integral part of the Beverly Heritage Center complex featuring tourist information, research facilities and museum exhibits on the First Campaign of the Civil War and our rich and proud state and local history.

You can support preservation of the Battlefield by joining Rich Mountain Battlefield Foundation. Your membership contribution of $25 individual, or $35 family, supports the Battlefield preservation, interpretation, and education as well as voting membership for RMBF.

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JOIN The Rich Mountain Battlefield Foundation

Get an INDIVIDUAL MEMBERSHIP

Get a FAMILY MEMBERSHIP

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DONATE To Rich Mountain Battlefield Foundation

Give a supporting DONATION

Give an additional donation to RMBF to support the new Rich Mountain Honor Guard in efforts to protect and preserve the battlefield — surveillance, grounds repair, replacement interpretive signs. You may find more about Rich Mountain Honor Guard at facebook.com/richmountainhonor. Your donation also supports education programming about our heritage! Click HERE to see the new educational materials!

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A Special Message From The President Of The RMBF

The beginning of 2020 has created a very challenging time amongst the presence of COVID-19. However, these “different” times have allowed us to re-engage in new ways! We have a brand new digital educational packet that will lead visitors on a self-guided tour of the Battlefield! In addition, we have introduced the new Rich Mountain Honor Guard to help protect and preserve our beautiful, and very important, piece of history!

This once endangered site of the July 11, 1861 battle that launched General George B. McClellan into national prominence is now protected. The site encompasses over 400 acres of historic grounds and buffer lands. RMBF now holds the largest privately held battlefield preservation site in the state. Operations in the McClellan’s Headquarters Building, located in Beverly, WV, have grown to now serve as an integral part of the Beverly Heritage Center complex featuring tourist information, research facilities and exhibits on our rich and proud state and local history.

The Beverly Heritage Center has been closed due to COVID since mid-March. This unprecedented time has forced us to postpone and cancel events since March, and well into the summer. Even though the visitors center is closed temporarily, the Rich Mountain Battlefield site is open for visitors! To encourage visitation to the site, we partnered with local teachers in early April to create a self-guided tour packet with educational components for local students. (Scan the QR code below or visit the website to see the document) The packet is perfect for people of all ages wanting to visit the battlefield, and especially families! By changing our approach to reach visitors, we have seen an increase in visitation to the battlefield with the goal of new, and younger, visitors!

The battlefield, however, is once more in danger. In April and May of this spring, there was a great deal of senseless vandalism on the property. Trucks and four wheelers have torn up the grounds and signs have been destroyed. It is sad that disrespect has come to this hallowed ground. We have engaged local officials, as well as introducing the Rich Mountain Honor Guard (find us on Facebook), which is a group of concerned citizens dedicated to protecting and preserving Rich Mountain Battlefield. We will install surveillance, repair the grounds and signs and move forward with our commitment to education about the site!

With 2021 commemorating the 160th anniversary of the Civil War and RMBF’s 30th Anniversary, it is important we take action by continuing educational outreach while taking a stand against vandalism and returning the Battlefield grounds to pristine conditions! We know you feel strongly about the continued success of the foundation and the protection of the site and hope that you can donate toward the cause. Again, thank you for your support and contributions to Rich Mountain Battlefield Foundation. It is because of members and friends like you that we exist today to tell this important story of our past.

Richard A. Wolfe, President
Rich Mountain Battlefield Foundation

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