Germanna Foundation

Preserving the historic heritage of the original settlers of the Fort Germanna Colonies in Virginia

Facebooktwitterlinkedinyoutubeinstagram
  • About
    • About
    • Welcome
    • History
    • Mission
    • People
      • Board of Trustees
      • Germanna Foundation Council of Advisors
      • Germanna Foundation Staff
      • Committees
    • Strategic Plan
    • Volunteer
  • Events
  • Membership
  • Donate
    • Planned Giving
  • Database
  • Store
    • Germanna Records
    • Germanna Zazzle Store
    • Memorial Garden Pavers Order Form
    • Germanna DNA Project
  • Contact
    • Join Mailing List
  • Home
  • Conference
  • Travel
  • Visit
    • Library
    • Germanna Memorial Garden
    • Volunteer
  • Trails
    • Blue Trail
    • Orange Trail
    • Red Trail
    • Chimney and Witness Trail
    • 1957 Dedication
    • Preserving Our Land
  • Salubria
    • Salubria History
    • Hours/Directions
    • Reserve Salubria for a Special Event or Photo Shoot
  • Genealogy
    • Database of Descendants
    • Original Germanna Settlers
    • Germanna Records
    • Germanna DNA Project
    • Conference and Reunion
    • Travel to Germany with Germanna
    • Articles
    • Links
  • Articles
    • Articles
    • In the News
    • Announcements
    • Events
    • 300th Jubilee
    • Genealogy
    • Reunion
    • Salubria
    • Siegen Forest Trails
    • Germany
    • Conservation
    • History
    • Books
    • People
      • In Memorium
  • Resources
    • Germanna Records
    • Library Book List
    • Photo Gallery
    • Newsletters
You are here: Home / Things To Do / Travel to Germany with Germanna

Travel to Germany with Germanna

The Germanna Foundation organizes, plans, and leads special Germanna group tours to Germany. They are very popular and sell out quickly.

These trips visit the ancestral sites of the members who participate in these fascinating Germanna-expert-led tours.  This is not a regular tourist trip to Germany…  Only Germanna takes you to the villages from which the Germanna colonies emigrated, gets you in the churches where your ancestors worshiped, gets welcomed by the mayor or the local civic or historical society, sees surviving family houses, and occasionally even meets descendants of siblings left behind. Interested? Fill out the travel interest form below.

Watch webinar giving an overview of the trip:

Have you ever dreamed of taking THE VACATION to Germany? The Germanna Foundation offers a unique opportunity to experience Germany as only it can. The next trip takes place June 8 – 20, 2021.

Each year’s trip is custom designed with the traveler in mind, whether you are a Germanna descendant of the First or Second Colony, have German roots, or are fascinated by German culture.

The itinerary is flexible and based on the ancestry of the group. We travel to small villages and towns, sit down and share meals with locals, visit churches and view church documents from as early as the mid-seventeenth century. It’s not just all ancestral churches and villages, we experience German food and beverages, we visit castles, historic towns and cities, and historically significant sites. It is THE GERMAN cultural trip.

So, where will you take us? Perhaps to Müsen, the Kemper, Martin and Brumbach village, to peruse the church books with Pastor Weiss and visit the medieval mining settlement of Altenberg….or maybe to Eisern, the village of the Hofmann and First Colony Weaver families, to see firsthand the ancient art of iron smelting in the Windhofen dating from 500BC and the home of Johannes Hofmann:

We might stop at the Fleischmann village of Klings on our way south and tour the Wartburg Castle, sanctuary of Martin Luther in 1521.

How about a visit in the Krachigau to Johanniskirche, the church of the Wilheit and Bumgardner families, built on the site of a chapel from the 9th century?

Perhaps partake in some winetasting at the next door winery of the noble family Neipperg.

Our base in the north is the Hotel Zur Alstadt, located in the old town of Freudenberg, complete with cobblestone streets and historic timberframe houses.

In the south our base is the family-owned hotel, Villa Waldek in Eppingen in the heart of Second Colony ancestral villages.

Alida Matthey of Siegen, Germany, will be the on-site, native speaker for the 2020 Germanna trip to the ancestral villages in Germany, assisting Barbara Price, our Germanna board member who has organized and led the Germanna trip for the past three years.

Introductions are not necessary to the 200+ members of the Germanna Foundation who have participated in one of these Germany trips that have taken place every summer since 2003, for Alida has been the group’s guide for the all-day walking tour of Siegen each time.

This past year she retired from her career as an English teacher, but for nearly twenty years she has also been a certified tour guide for English-speaking visitors to Siegen and environs, and continues in that role. In addition to knowing our home base, Alida is also familiar with the Kraichgau area of Baden-Württemberg from which most of the 1717 Second Colony families originated.

On this trip, you create a bond with your fellow travelers that you’ve never experienced. Seeing your fellow traveler hold the church record of their earliest ancestor or play the organ in the village church, these are unforgettable shared experiences you cannot get anywhere else as a visitor to Germany.

Join us on the trip of a lifetime as we travel to Germany in June 2021. We will depart Washington DC and arrive in Germany to start our adventure. All hotels, meals and admissions are covered by the cost of the trip, we just need you and your fellow traveling companion to make this the perfect trip. See photos from the 2018 trip.

If you have already decided, make your deposit now to hold your place by contacting Barbara Bounds at the Germanna Visitor Center at: 540-423-1700 or via the contact form.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the 2021 trip to Germany, please contact Barbara Price, Tour Leader and Germanna Foundation Trustee, at 805-215-0232 or fill out this form:


PREVIOUS TRIPS

The Germanna Foundation trips to Germany get sold out quickly with a cap of around 25 people per trip. See below for recaps.

Germanna Foundation Trip to Germany
June 17-29, 2018

See photos

2016 Germanna Trip recap:

We went cuckoo in Germany!
Recap of Germanna Foundation’s 14th Germany Trip with our travelers from across the USA, Germany, Italy and Switzerland led by tour guides, EK Mello and Barbara Price.

Germanna Foundation 2016 Trip to Germany

We really did go cuckoo in Germany when we celebrated the wedding anniversary of Robert Beverly “Bev” and Barbara Ohrndorf in the village of Neuenberg, drinking wine from the Gugguschnescht “Cuckoo’s Nest” on the day they were married in Cuckoo, Virginia, 57 years ago!

Our visit began in the Siegerland region of North Rhine-Westphalia, home of the 1714 and Little Fork immigrants. The magical historic timber-frame village of Freudenberg was our base for four days, where the new mayor of Fruedenberg, Nicole Reschke, Volkmar Klein, representative of the German Parliament, and many old friends welcomed us.

In the village of Oberfischbach, the Pastor and local historian Teo Schwartz greeted us and explained the history of the communion chalice given to the parish in 1665 by Prince Johannes Moritz and still in use today.

A greeting by the Little Mayor of Niederndorf, a visit to the Cuntze home, Boos Hus, and lunch provided by the Heimatverein at their Meeting Lodge was only outdone by history of the Cuntze family that was shared with us in the way of baptismal and civil records.

Heimatverein President Hildegard Bergmann, a brass band and our old friend Herr Ulrich Vetter, owner of the Otterbach home, welcomed us to Trupbach.

The visit to Müsen was special for Barbara Martin Naef who celebrated her birthday in the village of her Merten/Martin ancestors, toured the 1310 Stahlberg Mine, and searched the church books with her cousins.

Lunch in Eisern with the Heimatverein and DAG (German-American Association) President, Volker Schuettenhelm, was followed by a hike to an ancient Celtic furnace from 500 B.C.

All enjoyed our afternoon coffee and cake at the beautiful home of our long-time friends, Lisa and Hannes Kraemer, in Kaan Marienborn followed by dinner with the DAG and Volkmar Klein at the oldest pub in Siegen, Gasthaus Peun.

We toured Siegen with our expert guide, Alida Mathey, visiting the Upper Castle gardens, where we paid homage to our Otterbach ancestress, Gertrud Stuell, at the Hexenturm (witches tower), the guild quarters of old town Siegen, and the Nikolai Church, where many of our ancestors were baptized and married and where we worshipped on Sunday.

On to the Kraichgau, home of the Second Colony!!! The stunning church in Schwaigern that dates from 1514 was breathtaking with all of its late medieval art, then on to Stetten am Heuchelberg, Germanna’s first visit to the Holt family village. Dieter Schilling, not only gave us the history of the church and the village, but also presented us with transcribed Hold/Holt church records!

Lunch and visit to the private castle of the noble family von Gemmingen completed our journey through Gemmingen, home of the Clores. Then on to the village of Oberoewisheim to hear the history of the church and see the fabulous burial altar located outside the church from 1422.
In the village of Neuenbuerg, the Heimatverein greeted us with Sekt (champagne), took us on a hayride through the vineyards, then serenaded us at the Gugguschnescht for some good, down home cooking!

Rothenberg ob der Tauber served as a free day to shop and explore the historic walled city, then dinner at the gracious Hotel Markusturm, a former toll house dating from 1264.

Our next stop, Bonnigheim, had many surprises in store for our Amburgey descendant, Linda Fifield. Our new contact, Ann Ackerman, an American attorney living in the city, the mayor and a descendant of Conrad Amburger’s baptismal sponsor all welcomed us, provided records, and showed us the location of the Amburger home.

In the village of Cleebron, Liz Sollenberger was honored to play the organ in the very church that her Aylor ancestor attended! Her joy brought us all to tears!

Last, but certainly not least, were the Jaeger/ Yager villages of Falkenstein and Marienthal. The steep climb from the castle fortress at Falkenstein is not for the faint of heart! Our longtime friend, Pastor Sabine Kaffka’s history of the church in Marienthal only added to the joy of seeing Warren Heist and his cousin, Mick Noll, at the baptismal font of their ancestors. It made for a good day and a proper end to our trip.

Do you want to spend your anniversary going cuckoo in Neuenberg, celebrate your birthday in Muesen, play the organ in the church at Cleebron or hold the Communion chalice used by your ancestor? It’s all possible, and more, when you travel with the Germanna Foundation to Germany. Place your deposit now while there is still availability for the 2017 Trip at: www.germanna.org or call 540-423-1700. Don’t miss the trip of a lifetime!

—

2015 Germanna Trip recap:

Click on photos to enlarge:

The group in St. Nicholas Church, Siegen, 2015
The group in St. Nicholas Church, Siegen, 2015
At Gemmingen in 2015 - Klaar/Clore and Philip Joseph Weber/Weaver family village
At Gemmingen in 2015 – Klaar/Clore and Philip Joseph Weber/Weaver family village
Mine tour, 2015
Mine tour, 2015
The band welcomes the 2015 travelers to Trupbach.
The band welcomes the 2015 travelers to Trupbach.
germanna newsletter 13 007
963934_663128367036620_614949101_o
germanna newsletter 13 005
germanna newsletter 13 002
Hammer Jordyn

Twenty-two travelers met at Keflavik, Iceland, airport early Monday 8 June for the flight to Frankfurt. They had gathered from flights from Dulles, Portland, and Seattle and represented Germanna descendants from at least 7 states. In Frankfurt, a Kentucky traveler and Ulrike Mayer-Mello, leader-in-training, met us and we piled into 4 vans to drive to the Siegerland.

In the homeland of the 1714 and Little Fork emigrants the Siegerlanders overwhelmed us with kindness and hospitality, beginning with a greeting from our longtime friend Eckhard Guenther, Mayor of Freudenberg. The bells of Oberfischbach rang out in our honor as we arrived in the last church that Pastor Haeger and Schoolmaster Jacob Holtzclaw served before Virginia. The Trupbach Heimatverein put on a delicious lunch, a program about village history, music, and a walking tour.

Eisern rolled out the red carpet. Werner Hoffman-Gassner presented 10 more village Wappen for our Visitor Center, and our 38 German friends who visited Germanna Reunion in 2014 hosted a wonderful dinner with music, and brought items for the 2015 Reunion auction fundraiser. A visit to an iron mine nearby brought insight into the hard life that our mining ancestors led. Coffee and cake in the beautiful home and garden of Lisa and Hannes Kraemer was a rare experience for American travelers, and dinner at the oldest pub in Siegen, where our ancestors may have enjoyed a beer, was the hospitality of our friends in the German-American Society of which Germanna is a proud charter member.

A walking tour of Siegen and concert in St. Martin’s Church, and farewell dinner at Ongelsgrob among Germanna friends rounded out our Siegerland stay. Herborn, the town in Hessen where Pastor Haeger studied theology was an interesting stop on our way south from First to Second Colony homelands.

Hospitality in the Rhineland-Palatinate, in the Kraichgau region of Baden-Wuerttemberg, and in the Franconian region of that state and northern Bavaria was just as warm. At least 15 different families and villages from the Second Colony were represented on this trip, and every one visited at least one of their family villages. In Lambsheim a special luncheon at a winery  brought a sampling of the unique Palatine cuisine. You would be surprised how many Germannans thought Leberknoedel (liver dumplings) were delicious! In a tiny Franconian village of Bernhardswend, Gaar family descendants welcomed cousins with beer and sandwiches.

We worshipped in the St. John the Baptist Church in Schwaigern (Wilhite, Lederer & Koch village), filled with priceless art treasures of the 15th and16th centuries and received a warm welcome from the pulpit, heard scripture readings in English as well as German, and sang hymns known to the ancestors as well as an American spiritual. Thoughtful touches for us everywhere! Pastors and organists in Hueffenhardt (Utz, Volck), Oetisheim (Broyles, Ruopp) and Sulzfeld welcomed us to ancestral churches and played music for us. Winetasting at an Oberderdingen family winery took us to another Germanna village.

We did some sightseeing as plain old tourists in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Bruchsaal Palace, and the Auto and Technical Museum in Sinsheim. We ate a LOT of excellent food, including the fantastic white asparagus, amazing salads, pork in every variety imaginable, venison, wild boar, lamb and remarkable ice cream sundaes. The Heimatverein in Neuenburg gave us a perfect sparkling wine welcome, tour, and evening of hearty peasant food, lots of singing, laughter, and good wine for our final day in Germany.

We were tired puppies by the end, but happy in what we saw and did. One traveler said “This exceeded my wildest expectations in what we have seen and done.” Another said “Every day I think ‘It can’t get better than this, but the next day is even better!”

—

2013 Germanna Trip recap:

On June 3, 2013, a group of 24 travelers set forth on the eleventh annual Germany Trip to Germany.

The members represented many families among the 1714, 1717, Little Fork, and later emigrants. Among the families with descendants in the group are Fishback, Hitt, Hoffmann, Holtzclaw, Otterbach, Rector, Spilman, Back, Broyles, Clore, Crigler, Fleishman, Kaifer, Weaver, Wilhoit, Yager, Wayland, and last, but not least, Spotswood.

This wide representation of families meant that the group had the opportunity to visit nearly every village in the Siegerland that sent settlers in the 1714 group and the later Little Fork group.  In addition the travelers visited the villages of one of two families from the Palatinate, and many of those villages in the Kraichgau region of the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg that were home to the 1717 settlers.

Germanna trustee Katharine Brown and her husband Madison led the group, as they had for each of the previous ten trips.

We had wonderful welcoming friends in Germany in the German-American Association and the League of Heimatvereine in the Siegerland, where Germanna Foundation trustee Horst Schneider plays an active role.

The church in Winnweiler in the Palatinate, where the Yager family woshipped, prepared a warm welcome for the group in that state, and in the Kraichgau our special hosts have been the Heimatverein members in Neuenbuerg, home village of the Blankenbaker and Fleishman families.

Share this:

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)

Your Comments Cancel reply

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

Follow Us

Facebooktwitterlinkedinyoutubeinstagram

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

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.