The Sector Plan area and immediate environs are rich in the cultural and historical resources that are valuable to a community that respects its past. From prehistoric history to American Indian presence along early trade routes, to early Colonial settlement in Haymarket, Buckland, and a Freed African-American community, to Civil War events, to the present, there is a wealth of resources to be considered.
The intent of the Cultural Resources Plan is to facilitate and Encourage the identification and protection of the numerous unique cultural resources and the many remnants of the past that are still present and worthy of evaluation, protection, and documentation. Few of the remaining historic resources within the Sector Plan area have been evaluated to determine their significance and eligibility for listing on County, State, and National Registers.
In the mid-eighteenth century, a new east/west tobacco road between Thoroughfare Gap and Quantico intersected the Carolina Road. William Skinker built the Red House Tavern at the crossroads about 1780. In 1798 he set aside a portion of this land as a town that became known as Haymarket from the large quantity of hay sold at the tavern for the racetrack. Haymarket is situated directly adjacent to the Sector Plan Area. The desire of town residents to recognize and value the town's history is evidenced by the village scale and atmosphere they have supported through their recent street and sidewalk improvements.
Gainesville began as a stagecoach stop known as New Stable, located where the old Shenandoah-Dumfries Road crossed the Warrenton-Alexandria Road. It was named after Thomas B. Gaines, a Welch property owner who sold a right-of-way to the Manassas Gap Railroad with the condition that all passenger trains stop there. By 1858 Gainesville had become the leading market town of the Middle Grounds, a shipping point for grain, timber, and stock. In 1862 it was described as a "small cluster of buildings," with about four buildings identified on Civil War maps. Gainesville is where the Unfinished Railroad, which was a prominent topographic feature of tactical importance in the Second Battle of Manassas, connected to the Manassas Gap Railroad.
The opening shots of the Second Battle of Manassas were fired just east of Gainesville at Brawner's Farm on the north side of Rt. 29. Some of the wounded were brought to Haymarket and 80 Confederate casualities were buried on the south side of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. Only three structures in Haymarket survived the Civil War.
Skirmishes and minor engagements occurred between Federal and Confederate forces within the Gainesville / Haymarket area at various times during the Civil War. Gen. Stonewall Jackson marched through the area with his troops on August 26, 1862 on his way to capture nearby Bristoe Station later that evening. There was a brief skirmish between J.E.B. Stuart and Federal cavalry in the vicinity of Haymarket on August 28, 1862 prior to Second Manassas. Confederate and Federal forces skirmished at Haymarket on June 21, 1863 as Lee's army moved north toward Gettysburg. Another skirmish occurred on June 25 when Stuart's army bombed a Federal wagon train passing through Haymarket.
Adjacent to the Sector Plan area to the west is the village of Buckland. In 1798, it became the first inland town chartered by the state General Assembly. Many of the buildings in Buckland date back to 1743 or earlier, giving the community a high degree of historic integrity. The Buckland Historic District is the only historic district created by the County. Archeological evidence of Native American inhabitance dating back to Early Woodland, early European encounter, Colonial inhabitance, Civil War, and daily living from the late 1800's to the present have been found within and adjacent to the Historic District and around the intersection of Routes 15 and 29. Buckland's mills were a target of both sides during the Civil War. The most famous Civil War engagement at Buckland occurred on October 18,1863. It became known as the "Buckland Races." A portion of the site of the engagement lies within the western portion of the Sector Plan area.
There was an African-American village within the Sector Plan area known as The Settlement where former slaves established a community for themselves. Life in such communities was centered around churches and schools. The Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church established in 1877 and built in 1889 still stands on the north side of Rt. 29 and remains an active institution. There are two school sites on the south side of Rt. 29, the 1st Mcrae School and the 2nd Mcrae School.
Gainesville survived as a farming community in the early part of the 20th century and a major cattle shipping point through the early 1960's. Many pre-Civil War homes were still standing in Gainesville in the 1950's. However, most of those structures no longer stand. Woodlawn (circa 1780-1790, 1800, and 1830), Gainesville United Methodist Church and the Methodist parsonage (circa 1880), Hillcrest Farm (1903), North Fork steel truss bridge (circa 1920), the Gainesville Elementary School (circa 1935), are reminders of the area's historic past. At least five cemeteries are located within the Sector Plan area. Few of the remaining historic resources within the Sector Plan area have been evaluated to determine their significance and eligibility for listing on County, State, and National Registers.
Policy The following Action Strategies should be implemented to strengthen the Cultural Resources Plan's Policies of identification, protection, awareness, and preservation of cultural and historic sites within the Sector Plan area.
ACTION STRATEGIES:
CR 1: Survey, identify, and catalog historical and cultural resources within the Sector Plan area. Add eligible sites to the County's Designated Cultural Resource Properties.
CR 2: To ensure increased preservation of historical resources than typically achieved in Prince William County, applicants should:
CR 3: Establish an African-American Heritage Area within the Sector Plan area.
CR 4: Expand the Buckland Historic District to include property west of Rt. 15 and north of Rt. 29 in areas determined eligible. The Land Use Classification in that area should be Agriculture/Estate to reinforce this policy.
CR 5: Consider the impacts of proposed development on Manassas National Battlefield Park, Conway Robinson Memorial State Forest, the Buckland Historic District, the Historic town of Haymarket and an African-American Heritage Area including the viewsheds of those areas.
CR-6: Transportation improvements should be planned in a way so as not to adversely impact historic, archeological, and architectural resources in and immediately adjacent to the Sector Plan area. Identify the resources at risk of impact from proposed and planned transportation projects within the Sector Plan area.