University of Virginia Library

To The Editor

Landscape Threatened By Prison

I am sure most of your readers
are aware of the danger now
threatening the Green Springs area
in Louisa County, and some have
already been active in its defense.
Nonetheless, I wonder how many
have actually been to the valley and
seen what the problem involved.

One emerges from the
surrounding woods into a sunlit,
bowl landscape of the greatest
beauty, ringed with handsome farm
houses, some dating from the
original settlement of the area in
the early 18th century, and none
later than 1860. These houses are
gems of American architecture,
worth preserving in whatever
setting, just as Williamsburg has
been preserved. But unlike
Williamsburg they do not need
restoration. They are still intact,
kept in flawless condition by their
owners. Most important of all, they
are in perfect harmony with their
surrounding landscape, without a
single disturbing element. In all my
travels I have never seen a more
delicate balance between human
activity, rural architecture and
natural beauty.

The effect is predictable.
Subdivisions will follow, hamburger
joints and pizza parlors for visitors
to the prison will pollute, the
owners will sell out and move to
other areas, the houses will
deteriorate, and in a few years a
priceless and matchless heritage of
beauty will be thrown away.

No reasonable argument for the
choice of this wonderful spot as a
prison site has yet been put
forward. There are scores of places
where the prison might go, still in
Louisa County. On account of the
great artistic importance of the
Green Springs area, the Department
of Art is circulating throughout the
College a petition requesting the
Governor to choose another site. I
urgently appeal to all Virginia
residents to sign this petition, either
in their Department offices or in
ours, or at the School of
Architecture.

In World War II the United
States Government sent me and
hundreds of others at the risk of
our lives to protect the natural and
artistic beauties of Europe. Are we
going at this late date to let the
heritage of our own homeland go
down the drain?

Now this equilibrium is about to
be destroyed by a hexagonal prison,
six hundred feet in diameter, and
sixty feet high, situated in the very
center of the valley so that it will
destroy every view from every
house.

Electoral Nuisance

I believe that the time has come
for this university to either learn
how to conduct a civilized election
campaign, or abolish them totally. I
presently live in the Emmet dorm
and for the past two weeks have
been bothered almost every night
by people campaigning for some
position. I feel this to be an
intrusion of privacy and must stop.

Most students do work at night
and find it a nuisance to be
constantly interrupted by someone
telling them how great they are
and that you should vote for them.
In the five minutes they spend on
each floor or in a room, nothing is
really learned about the person or
his ideas. All it does is disturb
everyone on the hall.

But this is probably the best
part of the campaign, for not only
are we bothered by these student
campaigners, but they leave their
mark all over the university with
pieces of paper proclaiming "VOTE
FOR ME". Every morning I wake
up to find papers stuffed under my
door or lying in the hall, and
"adorning" the bulletin board at
the entrance to the dorm. But the
most disgraceful part of these
papers are that they are plastered
all over Cabell Hall. Anyone who
has been there the past few days
has probably had trouble finding
walls, doors, and even floors
through the notices. The front of
Old Cabell Hall looks as if it was
made from paper and now there is a
banner across the lawn proclaiming
someone for vice-president. When
will all this stop?

And then, what will happen,
after the elections are over, to all
these papers? Who will clean up the
university? When will it finally get
cleaned up, next week, next month,
or will it ever recover?

The solution could be for the
candidate to set up booths at
Newcomb Hall and around the
campus, talking to people as they
walk by. But whatever the solution,
please stop polluting the beauty of
this campus and invading the
privacy of students.