SPRING HILL, Tenn. (WKRN) — A historic battlefield in Spring Hill will be preserved forever, once the Battle of Franklin Trust closes on the property on Tuesday.

The 11 acres of land were home to the Battle of Spring Hill, which happened on Nov. 29, 1864, and ended in a stalemate between Union and Confederate soldiers, and eventually led to the Battle of Franklin.

The land sits alongside other nearby historical landmarks including the Rippa Villa plantation and surrounding land protected by the American Battlefield Trust.

“There's no better way to understand our past than to actually come and visit a place where it happened,” Battle of Franklin Trust CEO Eric Jacobson told News 2.

Jacobson explained how preserving the land will also be a good move economically.

“Heritage tourism is a huge boon to the area," he said. "We have almost 100,000 visitors a year, and most of those people aren't even from Tennessee; so they come in, they spend money, and they visit places like Rippa Villa and walk the battlefield."

Spring Hill Mayor Matt Fitterer said the city will use its hotel/motel tax to contribute to the land's purchase.

“When we have an opportunity to protect that battlefield land from development and turn it into a city asset and a cultural asset where that history can be shared and celebrated, we're going to try to encourage those opportunities,” Fitterer explained.

Efforts are also being made to honor the approximately 75 slaves who lived at Rippa Villa at the time. Just last week, a bust of Anna Bunch, a former slave at the plantation, was unveiled.

“We have to understand what happened in the past, and not just because it happened, because it's also clear warning signs about what not to do in the future,” Jacobson added.

Jacobson said the immediate goal is to preserve the historic battlefield — trees and all — but more may be in the land's future.

“Interpretive signage, maybe a walking trail, but the initial first step is to save it,” he said.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/historic-civil-war-era-battlefield-to-be-preserved-in-spring-hill/