On Friday, April 30, 2010, the Orange County Circuit Court in Virginia ruled that a lawsuit will go to trial that was filed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Friends of Wilderness Battlefield and local residents to challenge zoning approval for a proposed 240,000-square-foot Wal-Mart superstore and other developments on the Wilderness Battlefield and adjacent to Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park.

Orange County, Virginia, which had approved the development, had asked the court to dismiss the suit as supposedly lacking merit. The court's rejection of the County's position is a major step forward for advocates who have fought to protect the nationally significant, yet highly vulnerable Wilderness Battlefield from this intrusive development.

Read more about the ruling in the Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star article >>

Read more background information on the Wilderness Wal-Mart Development Proposal >>