For the past year or more, three seemingly disparate organizations have been working together on shared goals: to preserve the integrity of a historic property and ensure an attractive gateway to Mathews County.

Mathews County Historical Society, the Court House Players, and Redeeming Grace Baptist Church have adjacent properties located at or near the intersection of Routes 14 and 3, near the Gloucester/Mathews county line.

All three need access to their properties, and with VDOT balking at the idea of having an entry off Route 14 so close to an intersection, they banded together to build a VDOT-approved entrance off Route 3 that will serve all their needs.

The historical society’s property, Fort Nonsense, is the site of a Civil War-era earthwork believed to have been built by Confederate soldiers to help repel a Union attack. A plan to preserve the earthworks and develop the 2.9-acre site as an attraction is in the works, and the historical society intends to turn the p...