Historic Germanna has been selected as a recipient of funding from the Semiquincentennial Grant Program. Our project, Historic Structures Report and Updated National Register of Historic Places Nomination for Salubria, is being supported in part by a Semiquincentennial grant from the Historic Preservation Fund administered by the National Park Service, Department of the Interior.
A total of $10 million was awarded to nineteen different historic preservation projects across nine states.
“Since its founding, our nation has been shaped by an exceptionally diverse collection of cultures, events, and places” said National Park Service Director Chuck Sams. “The Semiquincentennial Grant Program supports our efforts to present a more complete telling of our country’s history as we approach its 250th anniversary in 2026, and beyond.”
As one of nineteen awardees, Historic Germanna received $71,019 to fund the creation of a Historic Structures Report for Historic Salubria. A historic structures report is a key document that will record the history, condition, and suggested treatments for the c.1757 Georgian house. We will also use the funds to update our National Register of Historic Places nomination, originally done in 1970.
“This is a crucial first step as we endeavor on a journey to turn this unique resource into an inclusive, community-oriented public history site, as our nation nears the 250th of its founding,” commented Jennifer Hurst-Wender, Historic Germanna Executive Director.
Salubria, in Stevensburg, Virginia, was built in 1757, by enslaved laborers and craftsmen for Anglican Reverend John Thompson and his wife, Butler Brayne, widow of Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood. The property is a rarity as the sole public example of an 18th-century Piedmont Georgian home in the region. Its construction date reflects the period of westward expansion that fundamentally shaped the nation’s landscape and contributed to the broader narrative of European colonization in America.
Salubria’s importance to the nation’s founding is in its embodiment of various historical themes including the rise of the Culpeper Minute Men in 1775 and their revolutionary influence on the region, slavery, architecture, religion, commerce, transportation, and the experiences of marginalized communities.
Read the National Park Service press release here: https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1207/national-park-service-awards-$10-million-to-historic-sites-and-structures-in-9-states-to-celebrate-america-s-250th-anniversary.htm
More information about the Semiquincentennial Grant Program can be found here: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/historicpreservationfund/semiquincentennial.htm.
Travel to Germany with the Germanna Foundation