Few people know the name Adina De Zavala, but to historical preservationists she's a Hall of Famer.

For three days in 1908, the 46-year-old former schoolteacher locked herself inside one of our nation's most historic structures - The Alamo - to prevent its destruction.Her crusade was nearly six decades after the Texas Revolution, and even San Antonions had forgotten the impact she had on their history.Incredibly, the former convent building, which had been the scene of the battle's bloodiest fighting, had been converted into a wholesale grocery with a two-story wooden building constructed around the original stone foundation. Billboards on the sides advertised ice cream and chewing tobacco.Thankfully, De Zavala convinced the grocery's owner to give her preservation group - the Daughters of the Republic of Texas - first rights to purchase the property in 1903.Five years later, rumors were again circulating that the disputed building would be converted into a vaudeville hall or torn down to make way for a hotel. That's when De Zavala stepped in, literally, by locking herself inside the building and then turning the sheriff away when he attempted to serve an injunction. On the third day of her siege, she posted a banner that echoed an old rally cry from the Texas Revolution: "If you want the fort, come and take it."De Zavala eventually won her fight in 1911 when the newly elected Texas governor, Oscar Colquitt, announced he would restore the convent. Historic preservationists refer to as the Second Battle of The Alamo. Today, the Alamo is a historic treasure of America and a crown jewel of Texas historical tourism.Battles to preserve our historic sites are being fought today. Invoking "economic growth," city officials and developers make regular attempts to tear down historic buildings to make way for a parking lot or to bulldoze our battlefields for urban sprawl.In 2014 a 4,500-year-old Indian burial ground and village found near Larkspur, California, was destroyed to make way for a multimillion-dollar housing development.It's been estimated that at current rates of development and due to rapidly increasing land prices, our nation loses approximately one acre of hallowed ground every hour.The Civil War Trust has been one of the most successful nonprofit organizations in securing federal, state, local and private matching funds to save battlefields. The nonprofit warns on its website: "With each square foot of battlefield land that is consumed, whole chapters of America's history are being ripped out of the book of our national memory, and an irreplaceable piece of our important heritage is lost forever."Groups like the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association are battle-hardened when it comes to fighting for historic lands. For the past 17 years, the group has spent more than $2 million restoring the Daniel Lady farm on Hanover Road in Gettysburg. The farm played a role in the Civil War as a Confederate field hospital during the crucial battle. It is the only Confederate site north of the Mason-Dixon Line open to the public.But a battle has been brewing with a developer who submitted plans to build a big box store on property bordering the Daniel Lady Farm. The plans also include more than a dozen commercial plots.The GBPA plans to wage a national campaign to stop the development, arguing that this is hallowed ground when it comes to our Civil War history. A GBPA leader said the site might even contain soldiers' remains.The National Park Service states on its website: "Historic places have powerful and provocative stories to tell. As witnesses to the past, they recall the events that shaped history and the people who faced those situations and issues."That in mind, it's encouraging to see many supporters linking arms with the preservationist leaders in Gettysburg as they take on developers. As one GBPA leader stated, "Once it's (the historic lands) got concrete on it and roads you can't take it back to hallowed ground."By Jim Zbick |

tneditor@tnonline.com