It is implied in the writing of Col. Alexander Spotswood, Lt. Gov. of Virginia, that Fort Germanna was built to house the 42 Germans. A contemporary description of the Fort exists in the writings of John Fontaine, a French Huguenot, who visited Germanna twice. He fortunately left a diary (ref. 1) which was preserved in the family and published much later.
Fontaine, with two friends, arrived at the German settlement on November 20, 1715, late in the day. They went to the minister's house immediately so Rev. Hager's existence was well known. Rev. Hager could offer his guests little food and only a bed on straw. The next morning they were up early and walked about the town which was palisaded with stakes stuck in the ground and laid close to one another. The size would have withstood musket shot. There were, according to Fontaine, but nine families and they have nine houses built all in a line. Before every house, about 20 feet away, they had small sheds for their hogs and hens. As a result the houses and sties made a street. The palisades made a pentagon, very regularly laid out, and in the very centre there was a blockhouse with five sides to answer the sides of pales. The blockhouse was intended as a retreat if the outer enclosure could not be defended.
The Germans made use of the blockhouse for divine services. They went to prayers daily and had two sermons on Sunday. Fontaine and friends went to services which they could not understand but thought the service was devout and the Psalms were sung very well.
Fontaine said the town lay upon the Rappahannock River (actually the south branch of it also called the Rapidan) thirty miles above the falls (now at Fredericksburg). He thought the Germans lived very miserably. (But this was the judgment of a man who was accustomed to life in Williamsburg where he breakfasted in the Governor's mansion.) Food at Germanna was sparse for the guests, but the three visitors got some smoked beef and cabbage from the minister. In return they took up a collection among themselves for the minister. In the first three hours after leaving Germanna, they saw three deer. It appears that meat for the Germans consisted of beef, pork, chicken, venison and surely other game. The cabbage was no doubt of their own growth.
Germanna was also called the German settlement and Germantown besides being called Germanna. Interestingly, the Center for Historic Preservation at Mary Washington College has probably located a section of the Fort, probably a length of the palings. By now, the paling are gone and only their "post holes" remain. (This archaeological work would proceed faster if someone would make a good monetary donation to the Center.) These remains were found under the home which Spotswood later built at Germanna.
The second trip of Fontaine will be deferred.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.