Dear Friends on the Ashby List, This posting has little to do with our shared fascination with Ashby genealogy, but it deals with a major challenge to the Family, so I thought that this would be an appropriate forum to inform as many Ashbys as possible about it, and to ask your help. As you may know, the birthplace and longtime home of Brigadier General Turner Ashby, CSA, is a beautiful old house located in Markham, Virginia. Rosebank was a place the general loved very much--in fact, when his family lost Rosebank, in 1853, he moved to a nearby house and cut a new window in its wall so that he could still look out and see his boyhood home. But today Rosebank is endangered. The owner has contracted with a company that builds cell-phone telecommunications towers, and together they are trying to obtain zoning-board permission to build a 180 foot tall telecom tower on five of Rosebank's eleven acres. The tower, which resembles a Soviet missile silo, is not just a monopole, which would be horrible enough. Instead, it is to have far larger footprint, perhaps sixty-five feet in diameter, perhaps more. This monster will absolutely dwarf charming little Rosebank. This is, you will agree, a disaster for history and for the heritage of Virginia. Without getting into a political discussion about development in rural areas, I cannot believe that there aren't other sites where this tower could be placed. Surely there is no need to build it on an historic site of great beauty and meaning. Turner Ashby is one of the most famous and well-loved members of this great family. He was a perfect model of gentleness, chivalry, and integrity, a cavalier of truly sterling courage. He gave his life for Virginia, and his memory deserves honor, not this disgrace. In addition to the atrocity at Rosebank, the same tower construction company, SBA Inc., proposes to build another tower quite near the former Ashby lands in Delaplane, Virginia. This will be within a stone's throw of Yew Hill, the famous home of Robert Ashby, where George Washington really slept on several occasions. If you are moved to outrage by the staggering avarice of people who would desecrate historic sites in this way, you may convey your feelings to those who have some influence over the choice of sites. You may address: Fauquier County Department of Community Development Planning Commission 40 Culpeper Street Warrenton, Virginia 20186 I do not believe that phone calls to the Planning Commission would be useful, but the fax number is 540.341.3444. Those of us who live close to Warrenton are fighting this battle in person, by attending meetings of the Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission, and speaking out in public. But we could use the help of Ashbys all over the US who claim Virginia as the home of our hearts and claim Turner Ashby as our kin, however distant. Thank you in advance. --Andrea Kent