Wendling Expresses Enthusiasm to Town Council for Developing Revolutionary War Memorial and Asks Them to Relieve a Financial Burden

On February 5, at 7 p.m. in Town Hall at 102 East Main Street, the Front Royal Town Council met for a work session wherein their discussion included procurements, definition of the parameters for a Town-County joint transportation committee, and the possibility of extending water and septic service to a religious organization outside of Town limits. But what piqued this reporter’s interest most of all was the discussion of a potential Revolutionary War soldiers’ memorial on the Warren County Court House grounds.

Town Council meets for a work session on Monday evening. Royal Examiner photo credits Brenden McHugh.

“I’ve been working with some private citizens for almost a year and a half now,” Warren County Planning Director Matt Wendling explained to the council as he presented the details surrounding a granite bench in honor of Revolutionary War soldiers who are buried in the Warren County and Front Royal region, planned to be located on Court House grounds. “Most of those are gentlemen who were in the Sons of the American Revolution,” Wendling said about the people with whom he has been collaborating. “And we had kind of been bantering around some ideas of what we could do for the commemoration of the 250^th.” Wendling expressed his hope that the Town would become a stakeholder in the project and asked that two fees amounting to two hundred dollars, required by the Town, be waived.

County Planning Director Matt Wendling presents to the council, proposing a waiver of several financial costs required by the Town for the development of a Revolutionary War memorial on Warren County Court House premises.

The names of the Revolutionary War soldiers will be on the back of the bench, and the Daughters of the American Revolution memorial that currently stands on Court House grounds amidst bushes and hedges will be moved to one side of the granite bench while the base monument of the Constitution Oak that currently stands behind the Government Center will be relocated to the other side of the bench. Special honor will be paid to the County’s namesake, Major General Dr. Joseph Warren; to quote a resolution from the Warren County Board of Supervisors, Warren was “a major contributor in the fight for freedom” who gave “his last full measure of devotion to the cause of liberty.”

In addition, behind the bench itself, a brick pathway will be laid in keeping with the bricks that are already in use on Court House grounds. The costs surrounding the bench amount to about thirty-two hundred dollars which may be in part covered by a grant. The county has agreed to the installation via the Warren County Public Works Department. “We’ll be having our folks put it in,” Wendling said. “We’ve met with Judge Funk and Angie Moore, and they have agreed that it’s something that would really work well with the Court House grounds. So, we have them on board.”

The fees in question are a Certification of Appropriateness (COA) amounting to one hundred dollars and a Zoning Permit Fee, also one hundred dollars. The Warren County VA250 Revolutionary War Commemoration Committee (VA250), on whose behalf Wendling was speaking, is undertaking this Revolutionary War Soldiers Memorial Project. Wendling has worked closely with the Board of Architectural Review (BAR) to ensure the project follows expectations pertaining to the Historic District in which the Court House is located. Wendling also requested a Resolution of Support from the council in order that the Town might become a partner in the project and all the events surrounding the celebration of our independence.

As no objections were raised by the council to either the waiving of the fees or the resolution of support, Mayor Lori Cockrell agreed to place the item on the agenda for the February 26 regular meeting to be voted on then. After business was completed, the council went into a closed session to discuss McKay Springs and to receive legal counsel pertaining to a memorandum of understanding involving the Town and the Front Royal EDA.