WLA Studio Launches Cultural Landscape Report for Bentonville Battlefield
Map showing the Battle of Bentonville, Library of Congress.
WLA Studio is proud to announce the launch of an exciting new project at one of the most significant Civil War sites in the nation: Bentonville Battlefield in North Carolina. In partnership with the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR) and Bentonville Battlefield State Historic Site (SHS), and with oversight by the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP), the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office, and the American Battlefield Trust, WLA will lead the creation of a comprehensive Cultural Landscape Report (CLR) for this nationally significant historic landscape.
The Battle of Bentonville, fought in March 1865, was the last major Confederate offensive in the Carolinas Campaign and marked one of the final large-scale battles of the Civil War. Today, the battlefield spans approximately 6,000 acres of rural countryside in Johnston County, North Carolina. Much of the land remains remarkably intact, providing a rare opportunity to study and interpret a preserved battlefield landscape in depth.
The first part of the study will focus on lands currently owned by the State of North Carolina and the American Battlefield Trust, as well as properties under easement or active acquisition. This phase will lay the foundation for understanding the landscape's evolution, from its pre-war agricultural roots through the conflict and into its postbellum transformation.
Additional tracts, identified in project planning documents, include areas critical to understanding troop movements, encampments, field fortifications, and the civilian experience during the battle. Through a combination of historical research, field survey, GIS mapping, and stakeholder engagement, the WLA team will document the cultural landscape in a way that informs both stewardship and public interpretation.
WLA’s involvement in this project reflects our company’s deep commitment to preserving and honoring complex historic places. By integrating our expertise in landscape architecture, cultural landscape planning, and historic preservation, we will help tell the full story of Bentonville—not only as a military site, but as a living landscape shaped by war, agriculture, memory, and resilience.
Stay tuned as our team begins work in the field and uncovers the stories written into this extraordinary landscape.