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Meet our archaeology field season staff

June 3, 2016 By Germanna

We’re pleased to welcome aboard these seasonal archaeology staff members to help Germanna’s archaeologist, Eric Larsen, Ph.D., with new excavation work at the Fort Germanna and Enchanted Castle site, and to supervise the VCU field school students later in the summer. Thank you to all of our members and supporters for making this possible. If you wish to make an additional donation to help the Foundation support these young archaeologists in their work this summer, please make a donation online here, or call us at 540-423-1700.

Amelia Chisholm, Assistant Field Director

Amelia received her B.S. in Anthropology with a concentration in Historical Archaeology from Mercyhurst College and her Master’s of Applied Anthropology from the University of Maryland, College Park. Ms. Chisholm has worked as the Laboratory Director for Archaeology in Annapolis, MD, as the Archaeological Laboratory Director for the Restoration Department at the Historic Mount Vernon Estate, and for Brockington & Associates, Inc. as a Laboratory Manager for the Veterans Curation Project. She is also the vice president of the Board of Directors for Archaeology in the Community, an archaeology education non-profit based out of Washington, D.C.

Marissa Kulis, Intern Archaeologist

I’m originally from Baltimore, Maryland, and recently graduated from the University of Mary Washington with two degrees, one in historic preservation and the other in anthropology. This is going to be my second year on the Middle Atlantic Archaeological Conference Student Committee. I’m currently the social media coordinator! When I’m not working in archaeology, I work back in Baltimore for a human resources office.

Emily Lew, Intern Archaeologist

Emily graduated from the University of Georgia in December 2015 with a B.A. in Anthropology and Criminal Justice. Prior to this internship she completed field school on a Mississippian mound site in Georgia and attended the Summer School in Osteoarchaeology and Paleopathology held by the University of Pisa. Most recently, she completed an internship with the American Museum of Natural History in the North American Archaeology Lab. She hopes to continue to pursue a career in archaeology, focusing on southeastern North American societies.

Rachel Manning, Intern Archaeologist

I am here this summer from Albany, New York. I recently graduated with my Master’s in Anthropology from the State University of New York at Albany. While completing my Master’s degree I maintained an internship in the Anthropology Department at the New York State Museum conducting a complete inventory of what is housed in their collections. While my primary interest is historical archaeology, my internship at the museum allowed me to gain knowledge of artifacts from both historic and prehistoric periods. I am looking forward to interning at The Germanna Foundation and to seeing
what Virginia has to offer in the summer.

Zoë Rahsman, Intern Archaeologist

I studied at Virginia Commonwealth University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology in December of 2015. I was introduced to archaeological fieldwork as a student in a summer field school at James Madison’s Montpelier. I have additionally gained experience with preserving artifacts through three-dimensional scanning and printing technology in the Virtual Curation Laboratory at VCU. I am looking forward to this opportunity with The Germanna Foundation as I continue to pursue a career in archaeology.

Editorial: Unearthing stories of Germanna’s past

May 20, 2016 By Germanna

Thousands of people pass the place every week, yet far too few know of its international significance. Some remarkable moments in American history happened at the Germanna historic site, on State Route 3 in Orange County.

Some of those stories are told, briefly, by exhibits in the Germanna Foundation’s Brawdus Martin Visitor Center where the Germanna Highway crosses the Rapidan River. More mysterious ones are still embedded in the ground preserved by the foundation at this horseshoe bend in the river, yet to be revealed by artifacts and archaeological analysis of them.

Now, chances are better that those artifacts and Germanna’s complex archaeological sites will receive more of the attention they deserve.

Thank Dr. Michael Frost for that.

The Kansas City, Mo., businessman is giving seed money to the foundation for an archaeological laboratory to be built near the visitor center, which adjoins Germanna Community College’s original Locust Grove campus.

The nonprofit foundation, created in 1956 to preserve the heritage of Colonial Virginia’s earliest German settlements, later gave land for the college. Clearly, our region has much for which to thank the foundation. Its 179 acres include some of the early western frontier land settled by German families between 1714 and 1717 at the behest of Virginia’s royal governor, Alexander Spotswood—a charismatic, striving character on a par with the Alexander Hamilton of current Broadway fame.

With public relations flair, Spotswood named the town created here Germanna for the German settlers and his patron, Queen Anne of England. He named the river the Rapid Anne, also to honor the British monarch. The town became the seat of Spotsylvania County, named after the colony’s leader.

Spotswood also built a magnificent residence of his own design. The brick, stone and timber structure was so handsome and lavishly furnished that one visitor, wealthy James River planter William Byrd II, waggishly called it the “Enchanted Castle.”

But first, the Germans had to carve a military outpost from what they saw as wilderness, building a five-sided fort around a central blockhouse. Inside the fort were nine log cabins for seven German families and six bachelors, along with two cannon.

This colony of 42 Germans—and a second group of 82 immigrants who arrived at Fort Germanna in 1717—built the first roads from the Rappahannock River into the Piedmont, opening up the region to settlement. They dug ore and ran an iron furnace, enabling Spotswood to export iron wares to England.

Now, the foundation’s latest effort will investigate Fort Germanna’s site. This summer, it will host a Virginia Commonwealth University field school to search for the fort’s traces. Foundation archaeologist Eric Larsen, whose post has been underwritten by Frost since 2014, will lead the project. He is building on the work of Professor Douglas Sanford of the University of Mary Washington, whose team excavated the Enchanted Castle site.

The new research will surely give Germanna descendants, who will hold their annual reunion here in July, even more to talk about. The immigrants’ heirs include some distinguished folks. Five Germanna descendants became governors. Others founded major American companies including Chrysler, John Deere, Kemper and Gerber. One, Buzz Aldrin, was the second man to walk on the moon.

Dr. Frost is a descendant of Spotswood, the wily fellow who arranged for two shiploads of Germans to cross the Atlantic and settle in America.

With respect to all of them, we extend our best wishes for the archaeological investigation of this important site.

Germanna Foundation gets $250,000 boost

May 12, 2016 By Germanna

By Amber Galaviz, Orange County Review

With a recent $250,000 donation, the Germanna Foundation hopes to begin the construction of a new archaeology research laboratory and artifact storage building near the Brawdus Martin Germanna Visitor Center in Locust Grove. The donation comes from Dr. Michael D. Frost, of Kansas City, MO. as a continuation of his support of the foundation’s growing archaeology research program.

“We are extremely grateful to Dr. Michael Frost for his thoughtful generosity, and we are delighted that he is committed to the Germanna Foundation’s long-term archaeology research program,” said Marc Wheat, president of the Germanna Foundation. “This gift will be used for the construction of a modern archaeology lab facility to support research and learning opportunities for many years to come.”

The foundation expects the new laboratory building to be completed by the fall of 2016.

The Germanna Foundation currently operates a visitor center at its property at 2062 Germanna Highway, which encompasses 179 acres of the original land settled by German families between 1714 and 1717, under the direction of Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood. The foundation, dedicated to preserving the land and heritage of the earliest German settlements of colonial Virginia, was established in 1956.

A 2013 land transfer from the University of Mary Washington to the foundation was motivation to advance the foundation’s master plan, which envisioned the potential for additional buildings including a library and museum exhibit space, explained Germanna Foundation Chief Operating Officer Steve Hein. The 62 acres of transferred land includes the Enchanted Castle and original Fort Germanna and is on property on Route 3 (Germanna Highway) across from the visitor center. The site was previously used by University of Mary Washington archaeology students who unearthed the foundation of Gov. Spotswood’s mansion.

The following year, Germanna announced the appointment of Eric Larsen, Ph.D., as archaeologist of the foundation, allowing the foundation to continue the archaeological exploration of the property.

Dr. Frost, who has underwritten the foundation’s staff archaeologist position since 2014, is a descendant of Spotswood and also serves on the Germanna Foundation’s Board of Trustees.

Currently, the Germanna Community College’s Locust Grove campus is providing laboratory space to the Germanna Foundation for use during the 2016 archaeology field season. The Germanna Foundation donated 100 acres to the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1969 to launch Germanna Community College.

With Larsen’s recent work digitally mapping the site, stabilizing the site and analyzing the data, the site will be ready for excavations this summer. Virginia Commonwealth University will conduct a field school hosted by the Germanna Foundation at its Fort Germanna and Enchanted Castle archaeological site this summer, learning excavation techniques and helping Larsen in the search for the boundaries of Fort Germanna.

With the archaeology field season fast approaching, the foundation has a need for a laboratory facility, explained Hein. “As we’re looking for the fort this summer, we’ll get new artifacts and we need a place to process, catalog and ultimately store those artifacts,” Larsen said.

In 2014, the foundation had a county-approved special use permit to construct a two-story facility with a basement. The facility was to serve as a library, museum and archaeology laboratory. Since then, the foundation has decided to divide the project into two separate facilities—with the archaeology lab being the first constructed.

The laboratory, still in the design stages, is expected to be about 3,000 square feet and finished with a German half-timbered design, Hein said. The open layout will allow the space to serve as an educational space for classes or volunteers who might want to help with the process, explained Larsen.

“It’ll be a very nice lab space,” he said. “Many times you make do with what you have so this is almost an ideal situation of creating what we need.”

The foundation’s steps toward getting this facility built and including storage for future artifacts in the plan shows its long-term commitment to the archaeology program, Larsen said.

The foundation has begun project work and design conversations with FPW Architects, Superior Buildings LLC. and HITT Contracting. Those plans are expected to be complete within the next few weeks and will be submitted to the county for consideration, Hein said.

Thank you for giving to Germanna during the 2016 Community Give

April 26, 2016 By Germanna

Thank you to our supporters and members for donating to Germanna during the Community Give online fundraising campaign this week! Your donations will help support our archaeology field work this year.

The Community Give experienced some technical issues during the day on Tuesday that prevented some supporters from giving, and the campaign was extended. The prize schedule was revised as well to be fair to all the nonprofit organizations participating. Real-time reporting of campaign results was also affected by the technical issues, and the Community Give will ensure all donations have been received and properly allocated before awarding the prizes. Thank you again for your support and patience during this campaign.

New DAG Officers

April 21, 2016 By Germanna

The Germanna Foundation is proud to be a charter member of the Deutsch-Amerikanische Gesellschaft (DAG) Siegerland-Wittgenstein e.V., which cultivates mutual understanding and cultural exchange between Germans and Americans. They are famous for hosting an annual Thanksgiving dinner for Americans studying or working in the Siegerland-Wittgenstein area! This week, the new officers were elected. They are, from left to right, Sven Arriens (secretary), Volker Schuettenhelm (president), Christian Menn (treasurer), Martin Kroeckel (Vice-President). Congratulations, gentlemen! The DAG also greets our Germanna “Back to Germany” trip visitors each year. Thank you.