Hi, Randy-- It appears the general term for this sort of property transfer from the government is "disposal" (or less formally, "transfer"), so as you search you may want to keep those terms in mind. One of the main avenues of disposal appears to be a "Public Benefit Conveyance (PBC)," which allows "eligible units of State and local governments and certain nonprofit institutions [to] acquire surplus real property for public benefit uses at monetary discounts of up to 100 percent. Public benefit conveyance categories include parks and recreation, historic monuments, airports, health, education, correctional facilities, highways, and wildlife conservation [i.e. the use must continue to be for public benefit]." The other means by which federal property is disposed is via a "negotiated sale." Perhaps the most useful source of information would be the Library of the Office of Property Disposal at the General Services Administration: http://rc.gsa.gov/ResourceCenter/PublicPages/default.asp?type=3 They might be able to help you find a list of all disposed properties in Virginia. The Library is a part of the GSA's Property Disposal and Customer Care Center: http://rc.gsa.gov/ResourceCenter/nonPRmain.asp Which is itself part of the GSA's Office of Property Disposal: http://propertydisposal.gsa.gov/property/ Here is a partial list of disposed federal land in Virginia (focusing only on that used for parks): Lands to Parks: Re-Use of Closed Military Bases (BRAC) http://www.nps.gov/ncrc/programs/flp/brac.html And a broader list (of Virginia lands in the Lands to Parks program) is here, including some that are along the Blue Ridge: http://www.nps.gov/ncrc/programs/flp/states2/flp_va.html If you're interested, there's quite a large Cato Institute study available on the question of "Should Congress Transfer Federal Lands to the States?" at http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-276.html. It's got quite a bit of background information on the question. Hope this helps! All my best, --Eric Eric D. M. Johnson Proprietor The Village Factsmith Historical Research & Consulting The Cybernetick Inkwell Web Design & Development http://www.factsmith.com/ [log in to unmask] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Randy Cabell" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Saturday, October 30, 2004 8:29 AM Subject: Federal Land returned to .... Is there any one place where I can go to find out if and when and how much land once owned by the US Government has been returned to the Commonwealth of VA, or local govts, or private parties? I think that it may have happend at Lorton in northern Va, and perhaps former NIKE sites around DC, and maybe around military installations like Ft. Lee, Ft. Story, etc. But any along the Blue Ridge? Randy Cabell To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html