Our History - Historic Germanna

The Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia, Inc. (a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization) was chartered in 1956 to preserve the heritage of the earliest organized settlements of Germans in colonial Virginia in 1714 and 1717, augmented with additional infusions of immigrants in the 1730s and 1740s.

In the late 1940s, R. Brawdus Martin began gathering fellow descendants, including those of Alexander Spotswood, for annual reunion picnics on land that was once part of Germanna. In 1956, this group of families formed the Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia. Ernst Flender’s gift to purchase 270 acres of the Germanna tract restored part of the Germanna home to its modern-day stewards. In 1969, Historic Germanna donated 100 acres of this land to the Commonwealth of Virginia for Germanna Community College.

In 2023, we rebranded to Historic Germanna to more effectively convey the depth and breadth of experiences available through this public history gem in Central Virginia.

The rich tapestry of Germanna’s history encompasses multiple sites, as well as the stories of Indigenous peoples, English colonists, German immigrants and their descendants, and African and African American communities. As you explore the stories of this place, keep in mind each story is intertwined with these many different layers of history.