We live among its battlefields and monuments. We still sing its songs, read books and see movies about it. Our headlines still grapple with issues of racism and state's rights that sparked the war in the first place. The legacy of the war is still with us. For us to appreciate the present and dream of the future, we must understand our past.
Battlefields are nonrenewable resources.
A shopping mall or townhouse development can be built practically anywhere. An historic battlefield cannot. Battlefields are resources that require no costly infrastructure and, unlike many corporations, once preserved they become permanent resources. They can be valuable to the communities where they are located in many ways. Battlefields also increase the quality of life for a community, especially important in this age of urban sprawl.