Memorial Foundation Of The Germanna Colonies In Virginia Inc

In october 2013, historic germanna 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) with a historic easement place on the property. The property contains several known archaeological sites, including fort germanna, the "enchanted castle", the first spotsylvania courthouse and the gordon plantation. Germanna archaeologist excavate these sites annually, with oversite from the department of historic resources. This property is protected by a conservation easement donated by historic germanna to dhr.beginning in 2016, historic germanna's archaeology program partnered with dr. Bernard means (faculty member of the anthropology department and school of world studies at virginia common university). Historic germanna has hosted the virginia common university (vcu) field school since 2016. The field school is a six-week hands-on, experiental 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 historic germanna and vcu provides a unique experience for vcu students on an important virginia archaeology site. Historic germanna hosts "public archaeology days" at the fort germanna/enchanted castle site. These public access days provide visitors the opportunity to come and see the archaeology site and observe the progress during the year. In addition, archaeologists develop and set up related activities and displays. Historic germanna held eight public events at fort germanna/enchanted castle site and hitt archaelology center in 2024: 1) fort germanna/enchanted castle site archaeology cleanup, 2) two public archaeology days, 3) 300th anniversary of spotslvania county court house in virginia, and 4) four exclusive behind-the-scenes tours of germanna archaeology in celebration of archaeology month with germanna.historic germanna held on virtual lecture in 2024: 1) an evening with germanna with germanna archaeology staff who provided a presentation on "germanna archaeology recap". This presentation can be viewed online at www.vimeo.com/germanna/videos.in december 2020, the artifacts collections excavated at the enchanted castle site during the 1970s and 1980s, were transferred from umv to the hitt archaeology center. The collections, on loan from dhr, includes artifacts, notes, drawings and other data from the previous excavations of the enchanted castle ruins. These collections are currently housed in the hitt archaeology center for the purposes of study, analysis and exhibit. Historic germanna will make these collections available for researchers and scholars.in 2018 and 2019, historic germanna constructed the hitt archaeology center, which was placed into service in may 2019 as a headquarters for historic germanna's archaeology program. The hitt archaeology center gives historic germanna a place to clean, study, store and evaluate artifacts found on the historic 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 climate-controlled environment ensuring the preservation of collections.the hitt archaeology center is a place where scholars can visit and study artifacts from historic germanna's collection, including artifacts recovered from alexander spotswood's enchanted castle, and the fort germanna, salubria and the hitt farm sites. In 2023, germanna archaeology took their "archaeology in the classroom" program to several schools in orange county, and hosted several more students on-site.

In october 2000, historic germanna accepted stewardship of salubria, an 18th century georgian style mansion with 19.6 acres of wooded grounds and a terraced garden located in culpeper county, virginia. A conservation easement held by dhr also protects this property.outreach and public programminghistoric germanna organizes and executes several events focused on public participation at the site, along with programs using the site as backdrop.several public access days are held at salubria. These events consists of tours of the property with experts, family activities, brickmaking and quill pen writing, and demonstrations. These events allow the public to learn about the environment and landscape and what the people of salubria would have experienced.historic germanna held three public events at salubria in 2024: 1) american battlefield trust's park day clean-up, 2) salubria spring open house, and 3) salubria after dark tours, an after-hours halloween event.in 2023, historic germanna hired an education manager to better interpret the germanna region's history to the public. Historic germanna has been focusing on building an interpretive program at salubria and integrating the centuries on history at germanna into public programming.

In september 2017, historic germanna acquired a 7.4 acre propertywhich contains a c.1800 log house built by and for peter hitt in marshall magisterial district, fauquier county, virginia. The dating of the log house was confirmed by a dendrochronology study performed by oxford tree-ring laboratory in 2017 and is among the oldest log houses in the county. 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 historic germanna as the hitt farm. Historic germanna maintains this property with the goal of caring for it and making it available to researchers, conservationists, and descendants.in february 2007, historic germanna acquired a 4.2-acre property which contains the historic peter hitt cemetery site located in marshall magisterial district, fauquier county, virginia. Historic germanna maintains this historic property with the goal of caring for it and keeping it available for future researchers, conservationists, and descendants.