Judge Upholds Restrictions on Slavery Museum Land

A judge ruled Monday the land restrictions by a donor for the planned National Slavery Museum will stay in place, WTVR CBS 6 reported.

"An attorney for Pei Partnership, the architectural [firm] still trying to collect money owed from the project, hoped to get a judge to remove restrictions on the land," WTVR said.  The donor stipulated the land may only be used for a museum.

The City of Fredericksburg is planning to auction the land in order to collect about $327,000 in back taxes, interest and collection fees. An auction date has not be announced.

The museum was the dream of former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, who conceived the idea during a 1992 trade and cultural trip in Africa, according to The Virginian-Pilot.

But by 2007 the money had not materialized, and museum officials were in bankruptcy restructuring trying to halt the City of Fredericksburg from selling the property. 

Related Stories:

City Officials Giving Up on Slavery Museum

Times-Dispatch: Slavery Museum Faces Tax Sale

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