Germanna Foundation

Preserving the historic heritage of the original settlers of the Fort Germanna Colonies in Virginia

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You are here: Home / In the News / After 300 Years, Germanna Still Attracts Entrepreneurs to Virginia

After 300 Years, Germanna Still Attracts Entrepreneurs to Virginia

September 8, 2013 By Germanna Leave a Comment

By Kerry Sipe, Orange County Review
Wednesday, April 24, 2013 

 

Germans came to Virginia centuries ago looking for opportunity, and they’re still coming.

Representatives of six German businesses and local and regional economic development officials gathered on the grounds of the historic Germanna Settlement April 15 to learn from each other and to explore development opportunities.

The event was arranged by the Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia, which is committed to preserving the history of Virginia’s first settlement of German colonists in 1714.

“The fact that we were able to bring them to Orange County is a real plus,” said Karen T. Epps, the county’s director of economic development. “It’s very exciting.”

Epps said the county has many attributes that are attractive to foreign investors.

“We have a very talented workforce pool,” she said. “And we have a strong relationship with the community college, which is willing at any time to train workers based on the specific needs of a company.”

Lee Frame, vice chairman of the county’s board of supervisors, said the exchange of ideas was beneficial even if it does not immediately result in new business for the county.

“I’m not sure the German visitors are necessarily going to sign a contract here tonight,” Frame said. “But I think that establishing a rapport with them will result in them talking to each other and with their associates, and someone will say, ‘You know, we were in Orange County and it’s a really neat place, and they’ve got some opportunities.’ ”

Herbert Meitinger, who owns a small bio-mass and photovoltaic energy company in Southern Bavaria, said he came to Virginia looking both for new investors and new sources of the fuel pellets that many Germans use to heat their homes.

“I heard they make material in Virginia and send pellets to Italy and Spain,” he said. “It should be possible to send them to Germany as well.” He said he planned to meet with potential suppliers while in Virginia, “not in Orange County, but in this region.”

Ludwig S. Preinesberger, vice president of Sonic Tools of Ashland, a native German who has been doing business in Virginia for 12 years, said he had advised the German visitors that Virginia is a good place for international business because of its proximity to ports in Baltimore and Norfolk and airports in Baltimore, Washington and Richmond.

“It makes it very easy to deal on a daily basis with Germany,” Preinesberger said. “Therefore, the location is absolutely perfect.”

He also said the state’s many military veterans provide a ready supply of well-trained and experienced workers, especially in high-tech fields.

Urban Peyker, a consultant to Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, said the German government would like to work with the Commonwealth to promote and develop renewable energy here.

“From what I’m seeing, from talks with people here, the potential is very, very big for biomass as an alternative energy source,” Peyker said.

“It’s not a big investment, so it can be used by small companies and the revenues stay in the community,” he said. “Instead of the whole energy system being controlled by a few big companies, alternative energies allow individual businesses to become their own energy sources.”

All of the German business people were in Virginia to attend a Bioenergy Conference in Richmond organized by the German-American Chamber of Commerce in New York and the Greater Richmond Partnership, which promotes jobs, investment and regional co-operation in and around the capital city.

Maria Nateva, a representative of the German-American Chamber of Commerce, said her organization and the Greater Richmond Partnership are working on both sides of the Atlantic to promote business relationships.

“There are already many German companies doing business in Virginia,” she said. “But there are many more opportunities for others to come here.”

The companies represented at a reception and dinner at the Germanna Foundation’s visitors center on the Germanna Community College campus, were Eisenmann Biogas, EnviTec Biogas, Schmack Biogas, Dieffenbacher, Herbert Meitinger and Vecoplan.

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Germanna Foundation’s Mission and Stewardship

The Germanna Foundation tells America’s story of liberty through the frontier experience of her settlers and descendants using archaeological, historical, and genealogical research and interpretation.

We are stewards over these important properties:

  • Fort Germanna Visitor Center complex which includes a Museum, Genealogy Library, the Hitt Archaeology Center, and the Germanna Memorial Garden
  • Siegen Forest 170-acre Hiking and Nature Trails
  • 1714/1717 Fort Germanna Archaeology Site
  • Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood’s home “Enchanted Castle” Archaeology Site
  • Historic 1757 Salubria Manor
  • Revolutionary War-era Peter Hitt Farm

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GERMANNA FOUNDATION
The Germanna Foundation
MAILING: P.O. Box 279
LOCATION: 2062 Germanna Highway
Locust Grove, VA 22508-0279
Phone: 540-423-1700
Fax: 540-423-1747
Contact Us

Fort Germanna Visitor Center, Museum & Library

2062 Germanna Highway (Route 3)
Locust Grove, VA 22508
(Next to the Germanna Community College campus)
Open 1:00-5:00 pm Tuesday through Saturday
Out of town visitors are urged to call us at 540-423-1700 to confirm or to make special arrangements for groups.
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About

The Germanna Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to exploring the Colonial Virginia frontier via the historic 1714 Fort Germanna and its German colonists and their descendants.

It conducts archaeological exploration and conservation, genealogical research and publishing, and historic preservation and interpretation.

The Foundation owns and maintains several historic sites and properties, such as Salubria Manor, that were part of or closely connected to the Germanna colonies, the town of Germanna, and the other early colonial Virginia settlements and towns in the Piedmont area of Virginia.

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