Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia Inc

The Germanna Foundation’s Archaeology program has partnered with Dr. Bernard Means(Faculty Member of the Anthropology Department and School of World Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University), since 2016. The Germanna Foundation has hosted the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Field School since that start. The Field School is a six-week hands-on, experiential learning opportunity for students interested in archaeology. The students are introduced to data collection methods on a real world, working excavation site. In the practice of professional and academic archaeology, Field Schools are seen as a “gateway” experience to entering the profession. The partnership between the Germanna Foundation and VCU provides a unique experience for Virginia students on an important Virginia Site.

In 2019, The Germanna Foundation conducted a systematic shovel-test survey of the entirety of its 19.5 acres tract at Salubria in Culpeper County. This was done to provide a baseline understanding of the cultural resources associated with the 1757 house and its immediate surrounds. The property was transferred to the Germanna Foundation in 2000, with a protective conservation easement with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR) as the easement grantee. Before 2019, no systematic survey of this historic property had been undertaken. Three students from VCU Field School together with the Germanna Foundation’s three summer Interns, conducted the survey under the Direction of Dr. Eric Larsen (Director of Archaeology for the Germanna Foundation), Dr. Bernard Means (VCU) and Alison Hodges (Summer Assistant Director for the Germanna Foundation). The findings and resulting maps provide the Germanna Foundation with a planning document that will aid in decisions of future use and development of the historic site. In 2018 and 2019, the Germanna Foundation constructed the Hitt Archaeology Center, which was placed into service in May 2019 as a headquarters for the Germanna Foundation archaeology program. The Hitt Archaeology Center gives the Germanna Foundation a place to store, study, clean and evaluate artifacts found on Germanna properties. This 3,000 square foot facility has space for long-term storage of artifacts, a lab for the cataloging and study of those artifacts as well as facilities for cleaning and preserving items found in the field. The storage provides a controlled environment ensuring the preservation of artifacts stored.

The Hitt Archaeology Center is a place where scholars can visit and study artifacts from the Germanna Foundation collection, including artifacts recovered from Alexander Spotswood’s Enchanted Castle, and the Fort Germanna, Salubria and the Hitt Farm sites.

In September 2017, the Germanna Foundation acquired a 7.4 acre property in Marshall Magisterial District, Fauquier County, Virginia. The property is adjacent to the 4.2 acre property which contains the historic Peter Hitt cemetery site. These two properties are referred to by Germanna Foundation as the Hitt Farm. The Germanna Foundation
maintains this property with the goal of caring for it and making it available to researchers, conservationists, and descendants.

In October 2013, the Germanna Foundation acquired a 62.2 acre tract of land situated in the Gordon District of Orange County, Virginia from the Commonwealth of Virginia, which had been managed by the University of Mary Washington (UMW). This land contains the archaeological site of Fort Germanna and Alexander Spotswood’s “Enchanted Castle.” This property is protected by a conservation easement donated by the Germanna Foundation to DHR.

In February 2007, the Germanna Foundation acquired a 4.2 acre property which contains the historic Peter Hitt cemetery site located in Marshall Magisterial District, Fauquier County, Virginia. The Germanna Foundation maintains this historic property with the goal of caring for it and making it available to researchers, conservationists, and descendants. In October 2000, the Germanna Foundation acquired Salubria, an 18th century Georgian style mansion with 19.6 acres of wooded grounds and a terraced boxwood garden located in Culpeper County, Virginia in order to preserve this historic property and legacy. This property is also protected by a conservation easement held by DHR.

Education is central to the Germanna Foundation mission. The key components in our educational endeavors are as follows:
►     . Our Visitor Center(http://germanna.org/visitor_center) is a haven for large numbers of descendants of these early German settlers, and is prepared to serve many more of them through interpretive exhibits that tell the Germanna story, and through our research library which contains extensive printed materials and archival files about Germanna immigrants, their homeland, and their families. The Visitor Center welcomes the general public as well, and volunteer docents there guide visitors through the exhibits and library five days a week, year-round.

►     .  Since its formation in 1956, the Foundation has published 22 books (http://germanna.org/catalog/1/germanna_records) that cover a wide range of historic topics relating to the Germanna settlements as well as genealogies of many of the families. Several of these books have gone into their second or third printing, and a number of new titles are currently under development.

►    .  The Foundation’s annual Conference and Reunion(http://germanna.org/conference2010) has been held each July since 1956. The program includes guided tours of historic sites in Orange, Culpeper, Fauquier, and Madison Counties that are associated with the Germanna settler families. Also, local and nationally-recognized speakers who present talks on topics of German-American interest, genealogy, colonial history, archaeology, and historic preservation.

►    . The Foundation’s 1,000+ members receive a newsletter three times a year. This professionally-designed two-color publication of 4 to 8 pages carries information about Foundation activities and programs, informative articles about Germanna-related historic sites in Germany and the United States, an occasional article in German for the Foundation members who live there, and messages from the president of the trustees and the president of the membership association.

►    .  The Foundation’s website, www.germanna.org(http://www.germanna.org/) ., was completely re-developed in 2008-2009 into a sophisticated, interactive site, containing historical information, news, profiles of trustees, directors, and staff, program promotion, a Germanna shop where all publications, CDs, and related items can be ordered online, historical articles, book reviews, some members-only sections, and a message board. Plans are underway for the extensive expansion of this website with a genealogical database and databases of Germanna-descended Revolutionary War and Civil War soldiers, among others. 

►     .   Finally, the foundation offers educational opportunities to college and graduate students through supervised summer internships that provide hands-on experience in research, public relations, archaeology, and the administration of a historic site and organization. Students who have taken advantage of the opportunity come from around the nation and include students from Germany.

The development of strong ties with home villages and descendants located in Germany has been an important part of the Foundation’s mission since its inception. A founding trustee and generous benefactor, investment banker Ernst Flender of Manhattan, New York, was a native of Siegen, home city of the 1714 settler grouthe Rhineland-Palatinate, and in the Kraichgau area of Baden-Wuerttemberg from which the original settlers came.

       Close ties have developed with the various Burgermeisters (mayors) in the towns and with the Heimatvereine, the local historical and civic improvement organizations in the towns. In turn, some members of these group have visited the Germanna Foundation when in the United States, and some have attended the annual Germanna Conference and Reunion. Members of our trustees have met with board members of the DAG(http://www.dagsiwi.de/index2.html) to discuss ways we might cooperate on student exchanges and on au pair exchanges. The Foundation’s Germany-based trustee(http://www.germanna.org/boards_of_germanna#horst) is an officer of the DAG(http://www.dagsiwi.de/index2.html) . The trustees’ planning includes efforts to expand the international ties in coming years.