Virginia first lady Maureen McDonnell, Gov. Bob McDonnell, Civil War Trust President James Lighthizer, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and John L. Nau III of Texas cut a ribbon to open new exhibits at the Glendale/Malvern Hill visitor center outside Richmond on Wednesday. (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)

GLENDALE, Va.–Wednesday afternoon’s town-hall-on-tourism-and-parks event here was full of twists, real news and a few surprises–more than is fully reflected in my story in today’s Free Lance-Star or other reporting I’ve seen. That’s the nature of the beast when reporters have to compress what happened over several hours involving several sites and more than two dozen speakers into a few columns of type.

So please watch this space, and perhaps the Star’s print edition, for more on what happened Wednesday–and what it means–in coming days.

But today, I want to share with you a brief interview at Glendale National Cemetery with John L. Nau III, a University of Virginia graduate and former chairman of the nonprofit Civil War Trust. He’s from Texas, but Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell declared him an honorary Virginian on Wednesday, a reflection of all that he has done for the commonwealth.

Nau, who now serves on the U.Va. board of visitors, explained how he came to learn–several decades ago–that so little land had been preserved for the public at the Richmond area’s Glendale and Malvern Hill battlefields, and resolved to do something about it.

What he and and the trust and its partners have accomplished at Richmond National Battlefield Park is one of historic preservation’s great modern success stories, officials and historians said Wednesday.

Here’s what Nau had to say:

“I’ve always had an interest in the Civil War. I think it’s the period of time that created who we are as a people today. Because of that, I was a history student.

“Remember, back then, U.Va. was all men. I would go to Mary Washington for dating, so I was all over Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Chancellorsville. And the [national] park there then–it’s better today–looked like a park.

“I came over here to Glendale, I think it was the spring of my second year, and there was a plaque put up by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in the 1930s and [the battlefield] was an acre. Malvern Hill was basically the same thing. Gaines’ Mill didn’t even exist.

“I said to myself, that’s really a shame. And those things stick with you.

So it was quite important for this effort to take place. Now, there are over 2,000 acres done jointly by the state of Virginia, the Park Service and the Civil War Trust that weren’t part of this battlefield park just a few years ago.

“That’s good for heritage, good for education, but it’s also really, really good for tourism, as Fredericksburg knows.

“The word’s beginning to get out. And the timing is right, because of the Civil War sesquicentennial.”