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 / 300th Jubilee / Research links Germanna CC employee to original Germanna settlement as 300th anniversary nears
Research links Germanna CC employee to original Germanna settlement as 300th anniversary nears

Research links Germanna CC employee to original Germanna settlement as 300th anniversary nears

June 23, 2014 By Germanna Foundation

Caroline Williamson, Jean Rice, Elizabeth Burns and Sheryl Williamson are four generations of a family descended from original Germanna settlers.
Caroline Williamson, Jean Rice, Elizabeth Burns and Sheryl Williamson are four generations of a family descended from original Germanna settlers.

Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star, June 20, 2014

Jean Rice found herself drawn to a strip of land off State Route 3, also known as Germanna Highway, in Orange County near the Rapidan River.

Again and again she drove past the site of the original 18th century Germanna fort and settlement without knowing its history or realizing the profound meaning it had for her family.

Each time she found herself taking the time to admire the beauty of that particular stretch of road near Germanna Ford.

Once she passed by the building off Route 3 adjacent to GCC’s Locust Grove Campus that houses the offices of the Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia, wondering what it was.

She made a mental note to ask her daughter, Sheryl Williamson, who works in the counseling office at the college at its Fredericksburg Area Campus in Spotsylvania.

Like most Americans, they knew little about their family going more than a few generations back.

It turns out that their roots are deep in the soil of Orange County off the Rapidan River, on the land that held a strange fascination for Rice.

She and her brother, Robert Burns, have done some genealogy work and learned that an ancestor, Jans Jacob Holtzclaw, arrived when the Germanna fort and settlement was founded in 1714 by Alexander Spotswood, the governor of the Virginia colony.

Named for the British Queen Anne, it was populated by German miners brought there by Spotswood to operate his iron works.

Germanna Community College takes its name from the group of settlers at Germanna Ford on the Rapidan.

In 1956, descendants of the original settlers at Germanna Ford organized the Memorial Foundation of Germanna Colonies in Virginia, Inc.

In 1966, the Virginia legislature created a community college system.

A site selection committee recommended that the College be located in the center of its service region.

In 1969, the Memorial Foundation of Germanna Colonies donated 100 acres of property along the Rapidan to the state for a community college.

The College Board unanimously chose the name Germanna Community College to recognize the gift and the history associated with it.

Spotswood’s settlement brought Jean Rice and Sheryl Williamson’s ancestor to America and provided work.

Hundreds of years later, donation of land from the site led to work for descendant Sheryl.

Williamson grew up in South Carolina before moving to Spotsylvania County in 1998 and taking a job at Germanna’s Locust Grove Campus in 2001.

She had moved to the area from Columbia, S.C. when her husband Butch was hired by Rappahannock Electric Cooperative.

Later, totally by chance, her sister, Sharon Freeman, moved from South Carolina to Madison County, which is also close to the Germanna settlement site, when her husband got a job in the area.

Sheryl Williamson invited her mother and grandmother to move here to live with her in 2010.

All of this took place with no knowledge that they were descendants of the original Germanna settlers.

The 300th anniversary of the establishment of the settlement will be celebrated July 17-20, and 90-year-old Elizabeth Burns, Sheryl Williamson’s grandmother, plans to attend, along with her daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter, Caroline Williamson.

“It was strange,” Jean Rice says, “that I’d always find myself driving out that way, every time looking around at that spot and saying, ‘Oh, it’s so beautiful here.’ “

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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
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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.

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