Preservationist reinforcements have joined the "Second Battle of Hayfields," but whether they are in time to block development of the historic northern Baltimore County estate as a golf course and country club community remains to be seen.
Respected Civil War historians, led by Pulitzer Prize-winner James M. McPherson of Princeton University, say the Hayfields farm is the county's most important Civil War site. They are urging the county to order a full historic-impact assessment.
The Board of Appeals, which has approved a zoning exception for the country club in a rural conservation area, is considering changes in the development plan, including expanding the golf course from 228 to 276 acres of the 475-acre tract.
The farm is located at Shawan Road and Interstate 83, a site which some call "the Gateway to the Valleys," a cornerstone of the county's agricultural preservation area.
"I urge you to authorize a thorough study of the historical importance of Hayfields and to take steps to protect its integrity as an important Civil War site," said McPherson, author of 10 Civil War books and a Johns Hopkins alumnus whose "Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era" won the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for history.
The reinforcements are welcome, said people's counsel Peter Max Zimmerman, but they have arrived "very late in the game" -- even though much legal skirmishing remains, including multiple appeals and changes in the master water-sewer plan, which could prolong the approval process for several more years.
G. Scott Barhight, lawyer for the developers, the Mangione family, said the historic issues have been discussed extensively. "The Civil War history has been detailed over the years. The historic events have been at the center of this issue for years."
The "First Battle of Hayfields" erupted when the Hammerman Organization bought the farm and in 1979 proposed a 1,600-house development. Fierce opposition appeared in a "Save the Valleys" campaign that led county officials to twice deny changes in the restrictive rural zoning. Nicholas B. Mangione bought the estate in 1986 in the dissolution of the Hammerman firm.
A century before, Hayfields' role in the Civil War began in April 1861, when Union troops from Pennsylvania, heading for Baltimore because of the Pratt Street riots -- the mob attack on Massachusetts troops passing through -- stopped in the area because the rail bridges were burned.
