Pamplin Historical Park Announces Change in Operations
                   Press release dated December 1, 2008

Effective January 2, 2009, Pamplin Historical Park and the National Museum
of the Civil War Soldier in
Dinwiddie County, Virginia will be open by reservation only. Guests wishing
to visit the Park may do so by
making a reservation forty-eight hours in advance. Admission fees for
non-members will be $100 for a group
of up to ten people, and $10 per adult for groups of more than ten. Park
members may make reservations
twenty-four hours in advance with no minimum numbers and no admission fee.
  The Park will continue to offer all reservation-based programming as
usual, including its popular school field
trips, battlefield tours, Annual Symposium, Civil War Adventure Camps,
Summer Teacher Institutes, and
History Day Camps.
  "The severe economic downturn has undercut the ability of the Pamplin
Foundation to support the Park at
current levels," said Pamplin Historical Park President, A. Wilson Greene.
"We deeply regret the necessity to
curtail normal daily operations to meet this new fiscal reality."
  None of the Park's four museums will be altered and the Park will continue
to maintain its four historic
structures, ten reconstructed buildings, and three miles of interpretive
trails. There will be no changes to the
Park's extensive artifact collection. "Should economic conditions improve,
we hope to restore some regular
public operating hours next spring," added Greene.

  According to Greene, Pamplin Historical Park's ratio of earned income to
operating expenses is nearly double
the average for history museums nationwide. "We have maintained steady or
increasing visitation and revenues
since 1995, even this year when many historic sites have experienced
significant declines in attendance and
revenues," said Greene. "The difference is that many history museums rely on
public funding to bridge the gap
between income and expenses, and we receive no government appropriations."

The Park will continue to accelerate its use of the internet to fulfill its
educational mission through on-line
programming. "Pamplin Historical Park has always been on the cutting edge of
museum education and we
believe that the worldwide web will play an increasingly prominent role in
the way museums reach their
audiences," said Greene.

  Pamplin Historical Park and the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier
preserves 422 acres near Petersburg,
Virginia, including the Breakthrough Battlefield, a National Historic
Landmark. It is owned and operated by
the Pamplin Foundation of Portland, Oregon. The Park opened in 1994 as
Pamplin Park Civil War Site and
debuted the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier in 1999, when it
adopted its current name.
-- 
Jon Kukla
www.JonKukla.com

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