Houses are encroaching on the site of Camp Security, whose owner wants to build more than 70 houses on the land. (Friends of Camp Security)

The last prisoner-of-war camp built during the American Revolution is under siege. A planned subdivision of high-end homes near York, Pa., is slated to supplant the remains of a rare prisoner-of-war camp dating to the American Revolution.

The 70 acres on which Camp Security once stood are now the last remaining open space within a sought-after school district in commuting distance of Baltimore, Md., and the corporate centers of Hunt Valley, Md. Owner Timothy Pasch of York-based Pasch Construction has been unwilling to part with the property, where he plans to build 70 to 100 homes. A lawsuit filed last year by local preservationists and state permitting requirements are the two remaining hurdles to development.

So far, the state's department of environmental protection has effectively stalled construction. The department, in conjunction with the state's Historical and Museum Commission, is demanding that Pasch fund an extensive archeological study to determine what remains of Camp Security before it will issue a stream-crossing permit for the extensive housing development.

A watercolor depicting the camp (Friends of Camp Security)

While many POWs were held throughout the colonies in makeshift settings, Camp Security was one of three forts built specifically for prisoners-of-war. Between 1781 and 1783, the camp housed 1,500 British soldiers defeated during the battles of Saratoga and Yorktown. Officers' families joined prisoners in their long trek across New England and lived in the camp. A surprising system of work release evolved as the colony had no funds to support Camp Security. A second space, "Camp Indulgence," allowed certain prisoners and their families to sell cottage industry goods to the residents of York, which had a smaller population than the camps did.

How prisoners survived, how many died from a camp fever, where they are buried are questions historians and archeologists want answered. According to Andy Stout, eastern regional director of the Archeological Conservancy, Camp Security represents the "only possibility for learning about POW life." An archeological field study conducted in 1979 on a two-acre plot yielded over 10,000 artifacts. Some earthworks features, including a series of terraces that historians speculate were built by prisoners, are still visible on the property.

Clearly, houses on the site would preclude any scientific research. "I don't think the developer is aware of the number of artifacts found. He is not sensitive to these issues," says Carol Tanzola, who has led the fight to save Camp Security.

After Pasch purchased the land in 2001, he submitted a development plan to the Springettsbury board of supervisors. Its split vote, 2-2, meant that by default the plan was denied. (The fifth voter, Pasch's father, recused himself from the vote.) On appeal, however, a court judge ruled that the commission had committed a procedural default in informing Pasch of its decision. The ruling meant that a technical error gave de facto approval of the plan to Pasch. Since then, Pasch has submitted a series of redesigned plans, and the boards of supervisors for Springettsbury and neighboring Windsor township have granted all permits.

According to Lance Rogers, the attorney for the local preservation group Friends of Camp Security, "The boards [of Springettsbury and Windsor] violated Pennsylvania's constitution by not living up to its requirements to preserve the historical aspects of the environment."

The state's constitution states that natural and historic resources are the common property of the people and must be protected for generations to come. Friends of Camp Security is suing the townships for permitting the development without understanding what it might destroy.

The battle over the development ascended from the local to state level when the Army Corps of Engineers and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) became involved. DEP has now said that, given the potential historical importance of the site, Pasch must define the boundaries of the two camps by conducting ground-penetrating radar surveys at five to eight feet, remote sensing for subsurface anomalies, and conventional metal detecting, as well as colored and infrared photography to map and record earthworks. The results must be reviewed by the historic and museum commission before DEP can issue a permit. No timeline has been set for either the hearing of the lawsuit or the completion of archeological fieldwork.

At a press conference in June, camp supporters voiced their opposition to Pasch's plan. (Friends of Camp Security)

Meanwhile, Friends of Camp Security and York Historical Society have been trying to raise funds to buy the property from Pasch. The state has promised matching grants. Mindy Higgins, executive director of the York Historical Society, says her organization has been asked why this five-year-old debate can't be solved. "All grants require a willingness to sell. Grants won't allow you to spend more than the property is worth. We don't have a reasonable price tag or a willing seller," Higgins says. Pasch, who did not return phone calls to Preservation Online, has not been willing to speak with the press, or with local preservation groups.

Earlier this year, the National Trust listed Camp Security as one of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. In a letter to DEP, Pennsylvania's Senator Arlen Specter (R) said Camp Security was "of national importance."

What had been a local issue is slowly escalating into a cause of international concern. The British press has run stories on the property, since its soldiers may be buried there. The Canadian media, also concerned with its soldiers' remains, has noted this debate's similarity to a proposed development in the late 1990s on Deadman's Island, off Halifax; it, too, was a burial site for American prisoners in the War of 1812. It is now a commemorated park.

Dawne Shand is a freelance writer living in New Hampshire.

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