Resaca Civil War Battlefield General Interpretive Plan

This document was conceived as a guide to developing the fallow site of the Battle of Resaca (1864) into a comprehensive center for interpreting the event, the Atlanta Campaign, and, to some degree, the Civil War. In addition to providing an overview of the physical and historic features of the battlefield area, an interpretive scheme, facility master plan, and implementation steps will be presented. Themes to be covered include battle events, archaeology, site access, a visitor center, preservation, interpretative theory, tourist infrastructure, visitor and economic impact projections, and topography.

The unblemished qualities of the battlefield site, its dramatic topography, and proximity to a heavily traveled segment of Interstate 75 make Resaca a near ideal location for a Civil War heritage site that caters to both casual and serious tourists. The ridges that oppose each other across Camp Creek harbor excellent specimen of intact trenches and rifle pits that have been spared from erosion by a thick cover of trees. The elongated valley has retained its war-time shape, which makes the explanation of the relationship of local geography to battle strategy strikingly apparent.

The surrounding village of Resaca, seemingly overlooked by the last five decades of development, provides an excellent historical context for a state-sponsored historic site. Several extant residential structures in the village were likely standing during the battle. The supports for the antebellum Oostanaula River railroad trestle are visible. Even most of the existing late 19th and 20th century buildings were constructed according to the same human scale of the early village, blending into the landscape in a way that complements the character of the place. The juxtaposition of the town and battlefield at Resaca makes easier the task of explaining the war in terms of its consequences on the life of a small southern town, creating an environment that encourages curiosity and exploration and highlights the relationship between small places and events in the midst of an occurrence of great magnitude, like civil war.

The interpretive scheme outlined here is intended to provide a set of organizational themes and ideas to be used in developing a formal narrative. Perhaps the central motivation is the opportunity to create a broad interpretation that not only recounts the events of the battle itself but provides detailed information about the Atlanta Campaign and the overall war. Furthermore, the final interpretive narrative will emphasize the ancillary qualities of the battle: Emancipation, the military strategy and political motivation behind Sherman's march through Georgia, the role of women, and the destruction of property. By doing so, the Resaca historic site will attempt to offer a micro-social picture of the way the war impacted the places it touched. It will be, in other words, a comprehensive heritage center dedicated to exploring the multi-faceted effects of the nation's greatest struggle.

The facility master plan outlines the physical dimensions of the state-owned property and presents a picture of the infrastructure proposed to handle visitors. The access paths have been designed to follow the multi-layered scheme of the interpretation. Motor vehicle routes will give visitors a basic overview of the battle and the war; walking trails will offer more comprehensive information and analysis. As they move through the site, visitors will been able to choose from an array of options of where they go and how much information about particular features they receive. A set of interpretive points scattered around the battlefield will provide visual keys (maps, photos) and instructions for accessing different information sources. A visitor center situated along Route 136 will house a gift shop, restrooms, small museum, and a GIS technology station. A narrow path will connect the visitor center to the main battlefield parcel, acting as a passive filter that allows the DNR to strictly control the number of people who enter and occupy the property at any given time.

In order to fully realize the historic battlefield site suggested by this master plan, a coherent implementation strategy is needed. The first and perhaps most important step is that DNR seek funding from both public and private sources to adequately cover implementation costs. This money will be necessary for acquiring an easement that connects the battlefield parcel to the visitor center parcel, designing and constructing the visitor center building, developing the interpretation narrative, and purchasing requisite technology equipment. Signage and brochures for a Resaca area Civil War tour should be written and distributed to tourism outlets. DNR must also forge relationships with the Georgia Civil War Commission, the Federal Highway Administration, the Village of Resaca the Gordon County Commission, the U.S. Forest Service, and the National Park Service in order to coordinate management of the area around the battlefield and help place Resaca in the context of other battle sites in the Atlanta Campaign. While not all of these steps must occur simultaneously, each is important for the way it corroborates the others and thus the ultimate completion of all is important.

This material is based upon work under a cooperative agreement with the American Battlefield Protection Program, National Park Service, Department of the Interior. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of the Interior.