The face of the stone sculpture Hallelujah is shown in the Spirit of Freedom Garden where the proposed United States National Slavery Museum in Fredericksburg, Va., is planned. The project, some 15 years in the making, has an uncertain future.

Fredericksburg, Va. ? Near battlefields where soldiers fought to preserve slavery, a solemn stone figure stands, arms outstretched, face turned skyward as if rejoicing over the broken shackles etched into its thick arms.

The sculpture anchors the Spirit of Freedom Garden, a gathering of artwork that’s the first, and so far the only, sign of a $200 million national slavery museum long anticipated in a region heavy with Civil War history.

It was 1993 when L. Douglas Wilder, the nation’s first black elected governor and the grandson of slaves, proposed a museum that would tell their story.

Years later, the museum’s future has become clouded by shifting opening dates and stalled fundraising.

Despite millions of dollars in private and public dollars committed to the museum, organizers have given an unclear accounting of their finances: While the museum cites $50 million available, a 2006 tax return obtained by The Associated Press details $17.6 million in assets, much of that believed to be the value of a 38-acre proposed site.

And nearly five years after a ceremonial groundbreaking, the opening has drifted to 2008 and beyond. Contacted by the AP, neither developer Silver Companies nor architect C.C. Pei could say when the museum would open, though Pei said of a 2008 date, “We’d have to get started right now.”

Asked to clarify the museum’s future, Wilder said he was “finished explaining anything.”

“We comply with every reporting schedule we have to comply with,” said Wilder, 77, now mayor of Richmond. “If you want to help raise some money, then help. Other than that, quit worrying us.”

Conceived of by Wilder during a trip to Africa, the project was considered for several Virginia regions before organizers chose a Fredericksburg plot donated by developers in 2001. When complete, the center will feature a full-scale replica slave ship and artifacts – from manacles to slave logs – detailing one of America’s most horrific chapters within more than 100,000 square feet of exhibit space.

A $500 million National Museum of African American History and Culture, part of the Smithsonian Institution, is planned to open in 2015 about an hour north, in Washington, D. C.

For now, though, grass marks the site of the Fredericksburg museum along the Rappahannock River.

Organizers blame fundraising, which they say has slowed amid a struggling economy.

Museum director Vonita Foster said donations arrive at her office daily – just under $20,000 in gifts each month.

“People do want us to begin construction, and I want us to begin construction. Nobody wants it as much as I do,” she said. “It’s a viable project. It will happen. We will build in 2008.”

But lately, Fredericksburg officials speak tentatively about the project.

“I hope it does happen. I guess I have to leave it at that,” said Mayor at-large Thomas Tomzak.