Grants from the Fund shall be made solely for (i) the fee simple purchase of, or (ii) purchase of protective interests (i.e. easements) in any Virginia battlefield property listed in the following reports issued by the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program:

• Report on the Nation’s Civil War Battlefields (1993, as amended); or
• Report to Congress on the Historic Preservation of Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Sites in the United States (2007, as amended).

Applications are evaluated and ranked in accordance with Virginia Code § 10.1-2202.4 and the eligibility and evaluation criteria contained in the grant manual.  Such factors include proximity of a battlefield parcel to already protected lands, threats to the historic setting and character of the battlefield property, and the potential for education, recreation, research, or heritage tourism associated with the project.

Conveyance of a perpetual historic preservation and open-space easement to the Virginia Board of Historic Resources is required.  Please contact Wendy Musumeci, VBPF Program Administrator, for additional information.

2023 Grant Round

The application period for the VBPF 2023 grant round is now open.  The 2023 Grant Manual contains important information about program requirements, the application and evaluation process, and funds disbursement. The application form is available in both PDF and Microsoft Word formats. Use of the PDF version is preferred. All applications will be reviewed and scored according to the VBPF 2023 Scoring and Review Criteria document.

Completed applications that are 20MB or less in size may be submitted via email to Wendy Musumeci at wendy.musumeci@dhr.virginia.gov. Applications greater than 20 MB in size must be submitted through a large file transfer system. Please contact the VBPF Program Administrator at least one week in advance of the application deadline for instructions on how to submit the application via the Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA) Large File Transfer site.

Applications are due no later than 5:00 pm, August 1, 2023. Applications submitted after this deadline will not be considered. 

For additional information, consider viewing a recording of DHR’s May 2, 2023 virtual grant workshop. This one-hour webinar includes an overview of the VBPF program, scoring criteria, and detailed information about the revised application form.