This project was founded by James Bish, a retired history educator, colonial history historian. The ongoing project intends to protect historic properties at the local level and from encroachment and growth pressures and create interest in historic preservation, and the necessary framework at the local level for these protections.

Jim is on the Culpeper Museum board and gives tours and lectures on historic Culpeper, as well as other historic Virginia sites. He is a published author and has written the book titled “I can’t tell a lie: Parson Weems and the Truth about George Washington’s Cherry Tree, Prayer at Valley Forge, and Other Anecdotes”. Jim and other volunteers seek permission from landowners to identify, locate and report mostly lost and forgotten cemeteries.

Bish and Wildgrube have collaborated on the project with Culpeper County Director of Planning Director Sam McLearen, Culpeper County Planning Department GIS Coordinator Pamela Schiermeyer and Kristie Kendall, Historic Preservation Coordinator with Piedmont Environmental Council.