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 / About / People / Germanna Foundation Staff

Germanna Foundation Staff


Executive Director

Timothy Sutphin

Tim Sutphin
(Click for larger image)

Tim became the Executive Director of the Germanna Foundation in December 2018.

Previously Tim worked at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation for 27 years, starting as an instructor for the Fifes and Drums and finishing up his career at Colonial Williamsburg as Director of Revolutionary City programs and Annual Events. He has managed multimillion-dollar budgets, worked closely with local officials, carried out long-range planning, developed exciting new programs, and handled media relations, among other duties. Tim was responsible at one time or another for the Fifes and Drums, Military Programs, Evening Programs, the Revolutionary City, Reenactor Events, Grand Illumination and July 4th, along with a host of other special events. As his wife said, “if it made noise, went bang or was outside, it was his responsibility.”

While he was the Director of the Revolutionary City, Tim directed a staff of over 400 in creating an immersive Revolutionary-era experience for more than 600,000 visitors per year. He fostered successful collaboration with multiple departments to design, develop, and implement all living history programming on the streets of Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Area, to produce a unified vision of the eighteenth-century city.

When he was the Director of Historic Events, Tim developed and directed eight special initiatives for the Historic Area, including special evening programs and visits by high-level dignitaries. He designed, developed, and executed multi-day events consisting of 500+ volunteers for audiences of 30,000+, including a variety of entertainment, city services and internal staff (Colonial Williamsburg Grand Illumination, July 4th events, Williamsburg Storytelling Festival, and several Historical Re-enactor Weekends). He also served as the official public spokesman to the media.

Tim holds a degree in history from East Tennessee State University.


Archaeologist

Dr. Eric LarsenEric Larsen, Ph.D.

Dr. Larsen has more than 25 years of archaeological experience, having worked with the National Park Service at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, and for the University of Maryland on sites in Annapolis, Maryland.  He directed fieldwork at the Freedmen’s and Contraband Cemetery for the City of Alexandria, Virginia, and most recently assisted with excavations at George Washington’s Boyhood Home at Ferry Farm (near Fredericksburg, Virginia) for the George Washington Foundation.  He has taught introductory Archaeology classes and trained numerous students through a variety of Field Schools primarily in the Mid-Atlantic States.


Membership Development Manager

Ashley AbruzzoAshley Abruzzo

Ashley joined the Foundation team in February 2017 as its new Membership Development Manager. Within this role, Ashley focuses on fundraising and membership relations, community outreach, and event planning. She connects up Germanna supporters with one another and deepens the relationships across our 300-year-old community.  She looks forward to going out into the community and sharing the history of Germanna and making personal connections with everyone.

Ashley grew up in Rockford, Illinois and received her B.A. in History from the University of Illinois at Springfield and her M.A. in Applied History from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania. She is a Germanna descendant as her 7th great-grandfather was Jacob Crigler and founded Criglersville in Madison County. He was one of many to arrive with that second wave of colonists in 1717.

She comes to the Germanna Foundation after two years as the Tourism & Marketing Manager for The Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership, a nonprofit organization that brings awareness of history, education, conservation and preservation to a 180-mile swath of land ranging from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to Charlottesville, Virginia.

In that job, she handled itineraries for domestic and international visitors, marketing and merchandising, and she lead the Certified Tourism Ambassador training that allows people from throughout the Journey Through Hallowed Ground to become more knowledgeable about the region they work in. She interacted with people in the tourism industry ranging from small local businesses to historic sites, hotels, visitor centers, and more.

Before that she worked as a museum educator at Morven Park in Leesburg, VA

Ashley is very excited to be working for the Germanna Foundation and bringing more awareness to the historical and cultural significance of what the Foundation stands for. She says that Germanna is not only an important piece of Virginia’s early history, but the entire country’s as well.

She invites everyone who goes by the Germanna Foundation Visitor Center to stop in sometime and say hi!


Office Manager

Barbara BoundsBarbara Bounds

Barbara Bounds joined the foundation in September 2011 after eight years of teaching foreign language in the Culpeper and Spotsylvania public schools. Prior to that she worked for twenty years as an administrative assistant, an accounting clerk, and in electronics purchasing.

From Pittsburgh, PA, she is married to a Spotsylvania native, Gary, who works for the Virginia Department of Transportation. Together they have six children and three grandchildren. They live at Lake of the Woods and enjoy its community activities.

She enjoys the foundation and looks forward to Germanna’s exciting future. Her co-workers add that Barbara’s good cheer, hospitable nature, excellent organizational and planning skills, and her marvelous baking, make her wonderful to work with!


Volunteer Coordinator

John Howard

John Howard, our volunteer coordinator, was born in Seattle and lived in Bremerton, Washington until 1966.

He spent three years in the Army and then worked for the Navy in ship design until retirement 38 years later. His career took him to Washington DC in 1966, where he lived in Arlington and met his wife Ann. They have two married children and three grandchildren.

John retired in 1993. In 1998 they followed two Falls Church neighbors to Lake of the Woods. John came out of retirement to work first for the Orange County Visitor Center at Germanna in 2004 and then subsequently stayed with the Germanna Foundation when Orange County transferred its visitor operations.

A valuable resource for our visitors, John keeps the library organized and helps others research their family history.

When he is not working at the Center, he keeps busy stamp and beer can collecting.


Volunteers

Visitor Center Docents:
Russ Williams
Liz Arndt

Wilderness Battlefield Grounds Force (Siegen Forest hiking trails maintenance):
Bob Johnson
Paul Alderman
Dorse Counts
Wade Aylor
Ken Froehnert
Gary Mauss
Hank Sisbarro
Tony Studer
Myron Wasiuta
Terry Wasiuta
Kurt Utz

 

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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 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

HELP SUPPORT THE MISSION OF THE GERMANNA FOUNDATION

Your tax-deductible donation helps support our important work:

Make a Donation

Become a member or renew your membership in the Germanna Foundation:

Membership

Join Germanna Mailing List

RECENT POSTS

  • Original Fort Germanna Artifacts now housed at the Hitt Archaeology Center
  • Germanna Holiday Gift-Giving Ideas
  • Germanna’s Giving Tuesday 2020
  • Message from Marc Wheat
  • Germanna Foundation Announces New President
  • Honoring Veterans
  • Germanna Foundation Germany Trip Webinar

GR #5: Ancestry and Descendants of the Nassau-Siegen Immigrants to Virginia, 1714-1750.

Germanna Record #5

Germanna 101

Watch a video about the history of the Germanna Colonies in America.

GERMANNA PAVER

Order an engraved paver for the Germanna Memorial Garden:

More Information

WATCH ON DEMAND

Missed our conference that attendees are raving about? Watch the sessions on-demand! Click on graphic for session information and registration links.

germanna-family-1b

Become a member of the Germanna Foundation and get access to Germanna’s exclusive genealogy database, GermannaFamily.org, with thousands of names. Research your Germanna roots!

Become a Member Make a Donation Planned Giving

Remember the Germanna Foundation in your estate plans and in your will.

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
CLOSED Saturday and Sunday

Advanced reservations are required to use the library. Research time limited to 2 hours.

Masks are required in the Visitor Center at all times. Please maintain 6 feet distance. Limit of 4 people in the library; 5 people in the museum.

Out of town visitors are urged to call us at 540-423-1700 to confirm or to make special arrangements for groups.

Location/Map

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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 continue to be OPEN. When visiting the trails, please practice “Leave no Trace” ethos and maintain proper social distancing. 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 © 2021 The Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia Inc. (The Germanna Foundation) | Website by CJKCREATIVE.COM

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