On April 25, 2015, Germanna Foundation Trustee Dr. Michael Frost was an honored groundbreaker for the George Washington Foundation’s first phase of construction for the Washington House at Ferry Farm, George Washington’s boyhood home overlooking Fredericksburg, Virginia. (Michael is the second from the right in the photograph). The Ferry Farm venture’s first phase will build […]
German ARD Video: 300 Jahre Siegerlander in Virginia
German media attended last year’s reunion and conference and produced a video. You can watch it at this link. 300 Jahre Siegerländer in Virginia: Aktuelle Stunde vom 30.08.2014 Die ersten Deutschen, die in den USA siedelten, kamen aus dem Siegerland. 1714 holte der damalige Gouverneur von Virginia einige hundert Siegener und Wittgensteiner nach Amerika und […]
Fort Germanna – Enchanted Castle Site Nominated for Inclusion on World Monuments Fund 2016 Watch List
The Fort Germanna/Enchanted Castle archaeological site has been nominated for inclusion on the World Monuments Fund 2016 Watch List. The Watch List, published every two years, calls international attention to cultural heritage sites around the globe that are at risk from the forces of nature or the impact of social, political, and economic change, and […]
Orange supervisors approve Germanna museum proposal
(Free Lance-Star)The Germanna Memorial Foundation will be allowed to construct and operate a library and museum next to its present visitors’ center on State Route 3 in eastern Orange County. Following a public hearing Tuesday with no speakers, supervisors approved a special use permit for a 40-by-85 foot, two-story building. The proposed site is on […]
County planners endorse Germanna Foundation museum, library
The Orange County Planning Commission is supporting a plan to build a museum and library behind the Germanna Memorial Foundation’s existing visitors center on State Route 3. The commissioners voted 4–0 Thursday to recommend that the Board of Supervisors approve a special-use permit to allow the building on agriculturally zoned land. Commissioner Jason Capelle was […]
Germanna Foundation recognized for preservation of Salubria
(Culpeper Star-Exponent) The Germanna Foundation’s ongoing efforts to preserve the historic mansion Salubria in Culpeper County was recognized Saturday morning with the dedication of a bronze plaque atop a brick historic marker by the House of Burgesses Chapter of the Colonial Dames XVII Century. “(The) House of Burgesses Chapter honors the Germanna Foundation for the preservation […]
Germanna colony celebrates 300th anniversary
From the Orange County Review: Three centuries ago, 42 people—men, women and children from nine family units —left their homes in the Siegerland area of southern Germany in hopes of making a fresh start in the frontier wilds of what is now Orange County. J. Marc Wheat, president of the Memorial Foundation of the Germanna […]
Germanna settlement recalled, 300 years later
(Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star, July 20, 2014) Three hundred years after the Germanna colonists arrived in Virginia, their descendents gathered Sunday to worship at the church the early settlers attended after expanding westward. The gathering took place at Little Fork Episcopal Church, the Rixeyville-area sanctuary with the brick exterior, blue box pews and thick white-washed […]
Germanna’s 300th anniversary is top story in local newspaper
Today the Culpeper Star Exponent’s top story in their print version is Germanna’s 300th anniversary: Germanna marks 300th anniversary with celebration The Germanna Foundation’s 57th annual reunion and conference kicked off this week with a special celebration marking its 300th anniversary of when the German colonists first settled in America. In honor of the event, a […]
Happy 300th Anniversary to our sister fort in Brunswick County!
In 1714, Governor Spotswood built TWO pentagonal forts to secure the frontiers of Virginia – Fort Christanna and Fort Germanna. Archaeologists at Fort Christanna have discovered all five corners of their pentagon, and have shown that each was 300 feet long. Since both forts were built at the direction of Governor Spotswood, it’s a safe […]
Research links Germanna CC employee to original Germanna settlement as 300th anniversary nears
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 […]
Mystery tombstone returned to Germanna
Orange County-Review, March 28, 2014 By Kerry Sipe A six-month-old infant who died before the American Revolution has been the subject of a multi-state mystery involving a tombstone found 250 miles from the grave it was intended to mark. The lost tombstone will soon be returned to its proper place after an official of the […]
‘Never know where history will turn up’
(Culpeper Star-Exponent) A new chapter opened in the journey of the grave marker of infant Johanes Walk as Town Public Works Director Jim Hoy passed the stone on to the Germanna Foundation during a brief ceremony at the Brawdus Martin Germanna Center in Locust Grove Friday afternoon. The marker was the original gravestone for Johanes Walk, […]
Story of discovered grave marker takes new turn
Culpeper Star-Exponent | March 21, 2014 | By Jeff Say The mystery of the historic grave marker found in the Southridge Village and Town Homes subdivision has taken a new turn. In December, a grave marker engraved “No. 2, Johanes Walk, b(orn) 4 March 1769, d(ied) 13 November 1769,” was discovered by a crew cleaning up […]
Germanna Headstone Unearthed
(Culpeper Star-Exponent) The headstone of an infant who lived and died in the 18th Century was recently unearthed in the town of Culpeper. The unassuming marker for one Johanes Walk, who was born and passed away in 1769, is directly linked by blood to the earliest organized settlement of Germans in colonial Virginia and likely […]
IN THE NEWS: UMW officially transfers land to Germanna Foundation
News article about the Germanna Foundation in the Culpeper Star-Exponent on Thursday, October 10, 2013 by Rhonda Simmons: Last Thursday’s signing ceremony officially transferred the 62-acre tract featuring the Fort Germanna/Enchanted Castle located in Orange County from the University of Mary Washington to the Germanna Foundation. The move took three years of negotiations, according to Germanna Foundation […]
Paris is reading about Germanna
Paris is reading about Germanna in France’s fourth-largest newspaper, Libération, founded by Jean-Paul Sartre! Here is the article: Etats-Unis Le réveil allemand PAR LORRAINE MILLOT ENVOYÉE SPÉCIALE À GERMANNA (VIRGINIE) 7 OCTOBRE 2013 À 18:06 Amérique a longtemps refoulé les apports de l’immigration allemande, pourtant la plus nombreuse. Elle redécouvre depuis peu son histoire. Au […]
Germanna Foundation acquires fort, castle
From the Culpeper Star Exponent: Tuesday, September 24, 2013 By Rhonda Simmons rsimmons@starexponent.com (540) 825-0771 ext. 125 After three years of negotiations, the University of Mary Washington Board of Visitors recently voted to transfer ownership of the Fort Germanna/Enchanted Castle site located along the Route 3 corridor in Orange County to the Germanna Foundation, according to foundation […]
Germanna descendants visit Enchanted Castle site
By Phil Audibert Orange County Review July 20, 2011 This past Sunday, the Enchanted Castle site at Germanna was opened for the first time in 16 years so that descendants of the original German families who settled there could stand on ground where their ancestors lived and worshipped almost 300 years ago. The visit to […]
“The Gallant Pelham” Linked to Germanna Families; Revolutionized Use of Artillery Under J.E.B. Stuart
Major Linked to Area Families By Kimberley Glascoe – Culpeper Star-Exponent Published: June 20, 2011. Although John Pelham’s Civil War legacy ended in Culpeper County, his genealogical presence has not. A Fauquier county resident recently discovered he has another connection to the area. James Flanagan, a retired Fauquier County science teacher, says that Pelham is […]
Salubria standing strong
Amazing! We are delighted to report that the Germanna Foundation is featured in its SECOND front-page story this week, in the Sunday edition of the Culpeper Star Exponent. Special thanks to Germanna Foundation members Doug Harnsberger (1717 Germanna Harnsberger descendant), Kathy Ellis (1717 Germanna Crigler descendant), Russell Hitt (1714 Germanna Hitt descendant), and Michael Frost […]
Salubria Receives the Attention She Deserves: Two Days of Coverage in the Culpeper Star Exponent
Culpeper Star Exponent [Front page, top of the fold, large photograph of Salubria] By Rhonda Simmons Published: July 15, 2010 Exactly how old is the oldest brick house in Culpeper County? We’ll have to wait until Saturday night to find out. Thanks to a new study, the community will soon learn more about the origins […]
Prying into Salubria’s past
By MICHAEL ZITZ The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, VA July 18, 2010 12:35 am Tree rings might seem to be exciting only to termites. But last night, they had Germanna Colonies descendents atwitter over the prospect that their ancestors may have had dealings with Daniel Boone and Thomas Jefferson and that Salubria may have influenced the […]
Preserving History at Salubria: More than bricks and mortar
By: By Zann Nelson, Culpeper Star-Exponent Published: October 20, 2011 It was more than bricks and mortar; there was something mystical about Saturday’s event at Salubria. Saturday, Oct. 15, Salubria, built by John Thompson, was the location of the quintessential “community working together” as preservation tradesmen, homeowners, and preservationists gathered at the house constructed in […]
Member of German Parliament Visits Germanna
Moving visit for German official BY CLINT SCHEMMER, Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, 2011 An Old World lawmaker says he’s intrigued by bits of the past he saw in the New World during a visit to Orange County this weekend. Volkmar Klein, a member of the German parliament, explored the area that emigrants from his district settled […]
