Eleven years ago when Mayo Brown asked Paul and Avis Hodge for help in saving the Unison Store from developers, neither he nor the Hodges, nor the many individuals and organizations who later helped, could have imagined they were launching a campaign that would turn 8,000 acres of scenic Virginia countryside into a new Civil War battlefield historic district.

Back in 1862, it would be easy to imagine President Abraham Lincoln's frustration with Union General George McClellan. Lincoln had personally created a battle plan that, had it succeeded, might capture the Confederate capital of Richmond and bring the Civil War to an early end. The odds were in McClellan's favor. Lee's troops were outnumbered and beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains more than 50 miles farther from Richmond than McClellan's army. But no one knew the odds better than General Lee.

As McClellan's Army of the Potomac entered Loudoun County in November, 1862, Lee ordered his faithful Gen. J.E.B. Stuart to slow McClellan's much larger force until Lee could march his troops south and back over the Blue Ridge. Stuart's cavalry and horse artillery delayed McClellan's slowly moving forces for three days around Unison. Lincoln's plan failed. He removed McClellan from command and Lee moved on to fight again.

"Thus, a small battle in the Loudoun Valley had a disproportionate impact upon the course of the campaign and the war in Virginia," according to National Park Service historian and cartographer David Lowe in his history of the Battle of Unison.

"Our concern about the Unison Store 11 years ago," said Hodge, "was that it was bankrupt and might be demolished, forever changing our historic village. "When Mayo came and asked what could be done to save the store. I suggested we create a village nonprofit and an historic district. And we did." Hodge filed all state and federal forms and established the Unison Preservation Society (UPS) in September, 2001. The charter reads "…to create an historic district for one of Loudoun County's oldest villages, help save and restore the 1870's Unison Store, preserve the village and rural roads and the surrounding countryside."

Villagers rallied round the new nonprofit UPS and raised over $10,000 to create the Unison Village Historic District. One reason for creating the historic district was that buildings in it… such as the Unison store… are eligible for state and federal restoration tax credits, said Hodge. "Local developer and preservationist Coe Eldredge bought and meticulously restored the store using those tax credit programs. It helped preserve the village."

According to Virginia historian Gene Scheel, the Unison area "…is one of the best-preserved 19th Century rural landscapes in Virginia. It is well worth preserving."

Unisonians learned about the little known Battle of Unison while successfully fighting a proposed housing subdivision outside the new village historic district. Neighbor Mitch Diamond saw an article in Blue and Gray Magazine and did further research. UPS invited historians to the village and then got a grant to study the battle from the National Park Service's American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP).

David Lowe's 52-page history of the battle led Hodge and others to propose creating the Unison Battlefield Historic District. UPS then won two additional ABPP grants to help put the battlefield on Virginia and National Historic Registers.

Hodge was familiar with historic districts having been an active preservationist when he and Avis lived in Old Town Alexandria and while covering the National Park Service as a Washington Post reporter. As a result of the research funded by these grants, what initially began as a crusade to save a village store created a nonprofit, a village historic district and now the 8,000-acre Unison Battlefield Historic District. It stretches eight miles from Philomont, through Unison to Upperville. It was placed on the Virginia Landmarks Register Sept. 22 and is expected to go on the National Register of Historic Places this winter.

It already is being hailed as one of the nation's best preserved battlefield historic districts. More than 50 percent of the land within it is under conservation easements.

"What is unusual is that the battlefield historic district has been supported by federal, state and county governments, by residents and by two dozen national, regional and local nonprofit groups: A virtually unanimous endorsement by the largest and most influential preservation groups around," said Hodge. "We owe a lot not just to dedicated UPS members and Coe Eldredge, but to county, state and federal officials and to architectural historian Maral Kalbian who worked two years on the nomination. It was a team effort extraordinaire!"

Three colorful Civil War Trail signs about the Battle of Unison and the battlefield will be dedicated October 29th at 12:30 p.m. at the Unison United Methodist Church, prior to Unison's annual Heritage Day fall festival.

The Unison Store is for sale again, now beautifully restored, and UPS hopes a dedicated steward will purchase it. "It is at the center of three historic districts, including Loudoun's Beaverdam Creek Historic Roadways District," said Hodge, "and part of it could be a history and community center for one of Virginia's best preserved historic areas."

Visitors are welcome at the Civil War Trails signs dedication, and at the Unison Heritage Day Festival, held at the Unison Store. Festival tickets are $30 a person and support the battlefield and UPS preservation projects. For further information see the UPS website at www.Unisonva.org.