The Germanna Foundation was created in response to generous gifts by Ernst Flender. He gave one thousand dollars to found an organization and to seek appropriate real estate which could commemorate the memory of the 18th Century immigrants from Nassau-Siegen. The organization was founded. A tract of land was located close to Fort Germanna for a price of ten thousand dollars. Mr. Flender offered, and it was accepted, to give the Foundation approximately sixteen thousand dollars. This was used to purchase the property and the balance was deposited in an interest-bearing account. The enormity of Mr. Flender’s gifts and his faith in the people who had established the Foundation cannot be overemphasized. It is a shame that his memory is not memorialized with some permanent feature connected with the Foundation for which he was so responsible.
At the time the land was purchased, the location of Fort Germanna was not known. The land that was purchased is on the south side of Virginia Highway 3 starting at the Rapidan River, while the site of Alexander Spotswood’s home was on the north side. Later it was discovered, but it not yet been proven, that Spotswood’s home was built on the site of Fort Germanna. Later, a portion of the purchased land was given to the Virginia Commonwealth as a site to build Germanna Community College. The Brawdus Martin Visitor’s Center of the Foundation is on a portion of the original land purchase.
This land, bordering as it does on Highway 3 in a region experiencing rapid growth and development, has become very valuable, worth many millions of dollars. It is attracting the attention of developers.
The present Board of Trustees is aware that efforts have been or may be made to infiltrate the Board with an objective of obtaining the possession of some of this land. The Board is very desirous that this does not happen. At the same time, they wish to bring the general membership of the Foundation into a more active participation. The problem was how to achieve both of these objectives which might result in a conflict.
The answer that they have come up with is that there might be two organizations, the Foundation and the Association. The Foundation is headed by a Board of Trustees which is self-perpetuating. They are trusting that their present commitment to protecting the physical assets can be maintained by the careful choice of future Trustees. The membership is to be brought into a more active role in the Germanna story by the Association.
What is the legal basis for the Association? It seems to me to be a vote of interested parties to have such an Association. It stands independently of the Foundation, without any assets at the present time.
(28 Jul 06)
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.