SUSSEX – By Kelly Donnell

Families and landowners in the southern end of Sussex County plan to fight the U.S. Navy, and say they won’t give their land up willingly.

Since the Navy announced three sites in the area that it will consider for building an outlying landing field to train F/A-18 pilots, many landowners and residents of the rural areas have banded together in protest.

The Mason site, located in between Jarratt, Grizzard, and Drewryville, contains land with a unique history. It’s not just land, area residents say; it’s their heritage, their history, their livelihoods, and their future.

Along the roads within the site area, black signs with white letters proclaiming “No OLF” dot the landscape.

At the historic Mason farm, a local landowner has erected a four-foot by eight-foot sign painted red and white in protest of the OLF.

Several historic homes and buildings are located near the proposed airfield site, but to the people who live there, it’s more than just old structures and land.

Many families living near or within the Mason site descend from a single patriarch. Elisha Harrell moved his wife and children from their home in North Carolina and settled there in 1882.

He had traveled through the area while fighting in the Civil War, and liked it enough to relocate and raise his 13 children in Sussex County.

Near the intersection at Mason and Gray roads, Elisha Harrell, his wife, and many descendants lie in perpetual rest within the family cemetery. Harrell descendants now fear that the tranquility of this site could be replaced with the roar of jet engines overhead.

Elisha Harrell was Martin Harrell Sr.'s great-great grandfather. The youngest members of the family now mark the seventh generation of Harrells being raised in the same community, Martin said.

If the Navy selects the Mason site to build the OLF, families who have lived there all their lives would be uprooted, he said.

Other family members – younger generations hoping to build homes on ancestral land, or retirees wishing to come home to spend their golden years – are now in limbo as well, area residents say. Prospective homebuilders aren't likely to take the risk of settling there, only to face losing their homes within a few years.

Many are also concerned about the stress that the OLF may cause on elderly people in the area.

“Just the thought of relocating, or just the thought of being in the area – it's too much for them,” said Martin.

“A lot of this land in the core area is family farms. A lot of the farms are century farms,” said Connie Edwards Harrell, who also lives within the Mason site. “You've got history here. It might mean nothing to the powers that be, but it means a lot to us.”

Sussex County is home to 14 Century Farms, a few of which would be affected by the OLF if it were built at the Mason site. Century Farms are recognized by the state when the same family has farmed one piece of land continuously for 100 years or more.

Helen Harrell owns one of the Century Farms located within a short distance of the proposed airfield.

“We're right here at the line,” Helen said from her kitchen last week. She and her late husband, Hugh, raised their children on the family farm. She understands too well how the OLF may affect other farmers, too.

“What about the farmers?” she asked. “They can't just move, and set up and farm somewhere else.”

Much of the land within the Mason site is either agricultural, or is owned by timber companies. These landowners say they doubt the Navy is considering this land as part of a business, instead of just open, unused land.

Maps released by the Navy two weeks ago have given area residents a better idea of whether or not their homes or property lie within the proposed airfield. However, many people are equally confused, as the maps are not very detailed.

Several roads in the Grizzard and Jarratt area are not shown on the maps. Other frequently traveled roads, such as Fortsville and Harrell roads, cut through the OLF site, leaving people to wonder what will happen to these routes.

With fewer landmarks on the maps, landowners are having trouble determining how, or if, they will be affected by the OLF, too.

“We've heard all sorts of figures,” said Martin, but residents still don't know exactly where the core airfield area extends, or where the buffer would be located, and whether landowners will lose their property.

“How far does it go? Where does it start and where does it stop?” he asked. “Twenty-eight thousand acres is a lot of land. It encompasses people all around who don't know they're in that area.”

He believes there are two homes within the core area.

“There’s right many involved in the buffer,” Martin added. “But, we’re so close we might as well be in it.”

Residents are relying on speculation, and the obscure maps posted recently on the website for the Office of Commonwealth Preparedness, to try to determine exactly which property is in the target area.

“We should have access to all of that information,” Connie agreed, “if they're not hiding anything like they say they are.

“If we were just told a few things to let us know where we stand,” she added, many residents might better understand the Navy's plans.

Residents want to know if their land will be included in the core area, or the buffer zone, and whether the Navy would condemn the land, or negotiate sales. The idea of easements is raising questions, as well. Some have heard that the Navy could consider buying the development rights to certain parcels of land, but there are no details yet about what kind of terms or price would be offered.

“Our heritage, our livelihood – you can’t put a value on that,” Martin said.

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