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 / Germanna Blog / Germanna Greetings on the the 725th Anniversary of Eisern

Germanna Greetings on the the 725th Anniversary of Eisern

June 2, 2014 By Germanna Foundation

Herrn Klaus Eckhardt
Vorsitzender, Heimatverein Eisern
In der Peeke 28
57080 Siegen
Federal Republic of Germany

Dear Herr Eckhardt:

On behalf of The Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia, I bring greetings to you and the Heimatverein Eisern, and congratulate you for your work to commemorate the 725th Anniversary of Eisern.

Just as the people of the Siegerland in will be celebrating the 725th anniversary of Eisern on June 1, members of the Germanna Foundation throughout the United States will be joining in on the festivities from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.  Many of our members call Eisern their ancestral home.

The families of the first colonists who arrived at Germanna in 1714 were connected with Eisern: Johannes Hoffman and Tilman Weber/Weaver.  They were followed by later emigrants of Eisern, including the Rählsbach/Railsback and the Steinseifer
/Stansifer/Stonecipher families.

Just this week, 300 years after Governor Spotswood left Williamsburg in mid-May for “a Fortnight’s Expedition to Reconnoitre the Nor[th]ward Frontiers & to fortify a place for Settling a Body of Germans above the Falls of Rappahannock,” the Germanna Foundation has deployed a team of archaeologists to begin the effort to rediscover Fort Germanna, the home of the first people of Eisern to settle in America.

Thanks to the generosity of your countryman, Ernst W. Flender of Siegen, the Germanna Foundation owes its founding in 1956 to the purchase over 100 hectares of the original Germanna settlement along the Rapidan River.  Since then, generations of financial support by Germanna’s “family of families” has made the rediscovery of Fort Germanna a real possibility in the near future – an event that will be as meaningful to us as it will be to you.

We are enriched more than you know by the friendships across space and time we enjoy with Eisern.  Sharing in your celebration of 725 years of family life lived in community, and wishing you well on our journey together over the next 725 years, I offer you a gift of the words of one of America’s greatest poets, T.S. Eliot, which we at Germanna have adopted as our own:

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

Happy 725th anniversary, and Glueck Auf!

J. Marc Wheat
President
The Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia

CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE:

Eisern 750th invitation 2014
1. Ortseingang
16. Biergarten
12. Ritter Fridericus von Bicken mit Eiserner Pranger

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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 and initiatives:

  • Fort Germanna Visitor Center campus which includes a Museum, Genealogy Library, the Hitt Archaeology Center, and the Germanna Memorial Garden
  • Siegen Forest – 170-acre Hiking and Nature Trails along the Rapidan river
  • 1714/1717 Fort Germanna Archaeology Site
  • Virginia Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood’s home “Enchanted Castle” Archaeology Site
  • 1757 Georgian-style Salubria Manor
  • 1800 Peter Hitt Farm
  • Publishing “The Germanna Record” genealogy/ history books
  • Maintaining a genealogy database with over 130,000 records of descendants of the Germanna colonists

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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 Page

Remember the Germanna Foundation in your Will and Estate Plans.

Fort Germanna Visitor Center, Museum & Library

2062 Germanna Highway (Route 3)
Locust Grove, VA 22508
(Next to the Germanna Community College campus)

Hours of Operation:
Monday-Friday, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Saturdays, 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Closed on Sundays

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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Hike Siegen Forest!

Behind the Fort Germanna Visitor Center is our 170-acre Siegen Forest nature and hiking trails along the Rapidan river. Trails are OPEN 7 days a week, during daylight hours. When visiting the trails, please practice “Leave no Trace” ethos. If you enjoy the trails, consider donating to the Germanna Foundation to help support their upkeep.

 

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.

Copyright © 2023 The Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia Inc. (The Germanna Foundation) | Website by CJKCREATIVE.COM

 

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