Learn why the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation decided to invest in collecting visitor data.
The Shenandoah Valley in Virginia is home to 11 battlefields that played a major role in the American Civil War over 150 years ago.
In 1996, Congress designated eight counties in the Valley (an area three times the size of Rhode Island) as a National Battlefield Site. It was then that the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District was born.
Preserving the District is no easy task, but the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation (SVBF) has been handling it with great success.
A map of key locations in the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District. Credit: SVBF
The SVBF has preserved around 7,600 acres of land, 35 miles of streambank, and 11 miles of trails so far. Amazingly, the Battlefields are open to the public and free to visit, even offering a free audio tour app for narration and directions.
With all of their effort, the SVBF felt both internal and external pressure to show their success in numbers. How many people are visiting and is it increasing? Is this creating economic benefit? Without this knowledge, the Foundation knew they were leaving a lot on the table: funding, growth, and marketing material.
Jack Owens, a Land Preservation Projects Manager at the SVBF, stated: “We were only relying on what we thought was true – we felt like we were getting visitation. But we started to get uncomfortable without precise data.”
To understand more about their park, the SVBF started an automated count program.
In 2024, the SVBF purchased 12 Eco-Counters. All 12 were Wooden Post Evos, installed at monuments or key access points near major cities like New Market and Winchester. With so much area to cover, they had to be strategic, placing only a few counters per major hub.
Map of the SVBF’s count sites with circle sizes representing volume.
They started counting in the summer and continued the entire year of 2025.
What knowledge did they hope to learn? The Foundation had their eyes set on tracking visitation over time, usage changes as they developed new sites, and people’s tendencies when visiting the battlefields. They were also curious to see if they had any underused sites, and if so, figure out why.
On the practical side, they wanted to show why they needed funding, guide their day-to-day work, and report back to their partners on how well they were doing.
Jack Owens, Land Preservation Projects Manager, Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation |
The most impactful learning from the SVBF’s count program was their annual visitation growth.
Comparison of the SVBF’s count volumes from June to December 2025 vs. June to December 2024.
In 2024, they only started counting in June. So, they weren’t able to compare a full year of data in 2024 to 2025.
However, comparing count volumes from June to December, there was a 10.8% increase in visits from 2025 to 2024—a massive jump in just one year.
The SVBF also learned a few other important insights about their battlefields:
Hourly profile of the SVBF’s visitors in 2025. Their busiest times on average were from 10am to 4pm.
One lesser known fact about Virginia is that, beyond agriculture and defense, tourism is one of the state’s largest industries.
Panorama of the Newmarket Battlefield. Credit: Constance Renda
This makes sense when you look at recent numbers. In 2024, Virginia’s tourism industry generated a record high $35.1 billion in visitor spending. Visitors to the state drove $2.5 billion in state and local tax revenue and directly supported 229,000 jobs.
Economic data also exists for just the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields, though it comes from a few years ago in 2017. A study from the National Park Service and Tripp Umbach showed that the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District created a $293.2 million economic impact, generated $20.4 million in tax revenue, and supported 3,930 jobs.
The top 10 industries that benefited from visitors to the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District, as listed in the report:
Count data is an excellent companion and building block for economic impact data. With reliable counts, you can build economic indicators that scale with visitor volumes and track changes from year-to-year.
In the SVBF’s case, their last economic impact study was in 2017, but their count data from 2024-2025 shows that their visitors are increasing rapidly. This is excellent justification for conducting a new economic impact study, as their contribution to their local economy has likely increased exponentially.
Visitor data can also help the SVBF win grants and funding by quantifying the increase in activity of their battlegrounds from year to year. Additionally, this data can help the SVBF improve operational efficiency across the massive area they manage by revealing hotspots and underserved areas. With this knowledge, they can mobilize the right people in the right quantities at the best times.
Jack Owens, Land Preservation Projects Manager, Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation |
An informational exhibit at the McDowell Battlefield. Credit: SVBF
The SVBF shows that a count program’s value lies partially in how it can help reveal the economic impact of a park or heritage site. With accurate visitation data, you can build an economic indicator that quantifies the dollar amount your park is adding to the local economy. Consider this next time you’re putting a proposal forward to start or expand your count program.
Another important takeaway is how to approach building a count program when your park or site is dauntingly large. As the SVBF did, start by putting a few counters per key site—it’s okay if they are physically spread out, as long as they were chosen with intention. Collect data for at least a year to build a good foundation of data, then expand to more count sites as you become more comfortable with the technology.
Special thanks to Jack and Keven from the SVBF.