Exterior site work at the Center for Archaeology, Preservation and Education or C.A.P.E., at the intersections of Routes 17 and 14 in Gloucester, has recently knotted traffic at the busy crossroad.  

“In the end, I think we’ll have a beautiful project and a place where people will want to spend time,” said David Brown, a Co-Director of the Fairfield Foundation, which owns the C.A.P.E. and the adjoining car wash. 

It’s been a long time coming for Brown, who wrote the original VDOT transportation enhancement grant proposal for the project in 2010, just after the Fairfield Foundation closed on the purchase of the former Texaco service station site. 

After receiving the Virginia Department of Transportation grant, the foundation sought bids for the project and they were all over budget. Some aspects of the project were pulled out and accomplished through volunteers and in-kind donations. But the exterior site work required was beyond what the ...