News from Waterford Foundation Inc

Waterford Foundation Newsletter

SUMMER ACTIVITIES

August 21, 2008

New time set
for free concert on Labor Day weekend

The Marks brothers' final concert in their "Musical Remarks" summer series in Loudoun County will be at 7 p.m. Friday, August 29, in the John Wesley Community Church. A reception will follow in the Old Mill.

For the Waterford program they have chosen two works by Mozart, a flute and viola piece by Hoffmeister, and the world premiere of a work especially commissioned from a local composer. The performers will be Jethro, Theo, and Vincent Marks (viola, cello, violin/viola) and colleagues from Amsterdam (cello), Berlin (violin) and Ottawa (flute.)

Recent grants
and contributions

The Waterford Foundation has received several grants and several substantial donations recently.

We are very excited that The Cabell Foundation has approved a $100,000 three-to-one matching grant toward rebuilding of the Old School addition. The Waterford Foundation's Development committee is now planning the campaign to raise the matching funds.

Waterford area residents Mr. and Mrs. Warren J. Hayford have most generously donated $27,500 toward rebuilding of the Old School Auditorium.

The Foundation is extremely grateful to the estate of Paul Mellon, which has donated $20,000 for the expansion of the Foundation's website programs. These funds will serve as a match for the National Park Service grant to create African American history modules for our website.

Dominion Resources Services, Inc., has donated $2,555 in support of the Second Street School Living History Program. We thank them for their continued support of Foundation programs.

The Clarence L. Robey Charitable Trusts has again awarded the Foundation a $1,000 grant for maintenance of the Waterford Union of Churches Cemetery. This continuing grant is deeply appreciated by the descendents of those buried in the cemetery.

CALENDAR

29 AUGUST

The Marks brothers and friends in the final in the summer concert series "Musical Remarks." 7 p.m. Friday, John Wesley Community Church.

6 SEPTEMBER

Phillips Farm wildflower walk. This walk, at 1 p.m. Saturday, will highlight late summer and early autumn wildflowers. Led by Emily Southgate.

11-12 SEPTEMBER

VDHR visits Waterford to meet with resent and prospective easment holders.

3-5 OCTOBER

Waterford Homes Tour and Crafts Exhibit, Waterford.

The Fair: calling
on volunteers, photographers,
and artists

Everyone knows that the Fair succeeds because nearly 400 volunteers come together every year to do the work. The Fair Committee has some specific needs for volunteers. Please take a look and let us know if you would like to help.

Jan Kitselman has requested that anyone who would enjoy hosting one of our craftspeople for the nights of October 2, 3, and 4, please call the Foundation office. There are quite a few families who have participated in past years, and close friendships have been forged. For some families, this warm outreach to our visiting craftspeople has become a tradition, but each year brings changes and we need to fill gaps in our list of hosts.

One of those artisans, new to the Crafts Exhibit this year, needs someone to help him in his booth. All participating craftspeople must demonstrate their craft at least half the time each day. It is difficult for them to handle that duty and sales at once. If you would like to put in some hours assisting this paper-cutting artist, primarily with sales, please contact the Waterford Foundation, so that you can discuss duties and terms directly with the gentleman.

Calling all artists and photographers: Our Red Barn Art Exhibit, the Art Mart and the Photography Exhibit are all open to new and returning artists. The Photography Exhibit is growing yearly, and the two shows in the "Red Barn" have a long tradition of excellent works of art for sale during the Fair. Call or email the Waterford Foundation for the prospectus of your choice.

Please call us to volunteer if you have some time during the Fair. It is hard work but you will also have some fun.

--Fran Holmbraker

Artifacts Roadshow

Archaeologist David Clark of the Loudoun Archaeology Foundation (LAF) brought his mobile lab and team to Waterford on Saturday, July 26, to help residents open a window on the past. The aim of the LAF is to encourage everyone to develop an awareness of the long history of Loudoun County through its archaeology, and this event, jointly sponsored with the Foundation, certainly added to participants' knowledge.

Residents were invited to bring their collections of found items to be cleaned and identified, and to see what they could tell us about the past. Some people brought a few treasured items. Others like me brought hundreds of ceramic, glass, metal and bone fragments. Volunteers helped out in cleaning and sorting. It was all great fun and very exciting as these inanimate objects came alive. The best part was exchanging information and sharing it with others.

For me, it was a wonderful way to establish a connection with past generations who have shared my 189-year-old house at 15527 Second Street. Since garbage collection in Waterford only began in the 1960s, I had 150 years of history in my backyard, and whenever I was working in the garden and found something interesting, I saved it.

I found out from Dr. Clark and his volunteers that from the late 18th and until the mid 19th centuries, Americans had to import their fine china from Britain. The earliest in my collection was pearl ware edged (1785-1845), decorated only around the edge in bold blue or green wavy lines. About 1840, fashions changed radically, and fine china was decorated with a scene in the center and sometimes decorations around the rim. This was called transfer ware because of the way the design was transferred onto the surface of the china. My favorite piece shows a mother sheep feeding her baby lamb with a farmhouse in the background.

My other favorite finds were a tiny china arm that originally had been attached to a cloth doll, a bone toothbrush with tiny bristle holes drilled through it, and a folding tin drinking cup in a leather case embossed with an American eagle and the words "American Industry"--probably the proud possession of a roofer who left it by mistake under the eaves of the roof. I also found a lot of the blue glass from milk of magnesia bottles, indicating some poor soul had a real stomach problem. Favorite foods were oysters, white-tailed deer, and beef.

Under the direction of Dr. Clark, the LAF is not only trying to help us connect with our own history, but also to demonstrate that Waterford's history started long before the village was settled in 1732, because native Americans lived in the area for thousands of years before they were forced by the Treaty of Albany to move west of the Shenandoah mountains in 1722. Dr. Clark has been professor of archaeology at Catholic University in Washington, DC for many years, and now also teaches at Northern Virginia Community College in Sterling, VA.

--Neil C. Hughes

BOARD
OF DIRECTORS

Kathleen Hughes
President

Susan Sutter
Vice-President

Bonnie Getty
Secretary

Ernie Smith
Treasurer

Directors

David Bednarik

Charlotte Gollobin

Melanie L. Herman

Hans Hommels

DeSoto Jordan, Jr.

Stephanie Kenyon

Lori Kimball

Walter A. Music

Phil Paschall

Patti Psaris

Nick Ratcliffe

Sherry Satin

Tom Simmons

Miriam Westervelt

Staff

Nancy Doane
Executive Director

Margaret Good
Assistant Director, Properties & Land Use Programs

Ann Goode
Manager, Development Programs

Fran Holmbraker
Fair Chair

Mary Kenesson
Fair Assistant

Martha Polkey
Executive Assistant

info@waterfordfoundation.org

President's Message

Dear Friends of Waterford,

The Old School classroom building is really beginning to look beautiful up on the hill, with interior and exterior painting almost complete, floors refinished last week, and new front steps being put on this week. The sprinkler system, fire escape, fire exits, and some other important additions are still to come, but we are getting closer to completion of the original classroom building.

On July 1 we had a very successful meeting with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (VDHR), on site at the Old School. They have arranged for the archaeological study which is required for our County Special Exception Application, and are nearing their approval of our plans for the auditorium--with a few modifications. These were informally presented to the County's Historic District Review Committee (HDRC) on August 4, who made some other suggestions. The two groups are now talking and it seems we almost have a plan everyone agrees on. We expect to present the formal application to the HDRC for a Certificate of Appropriateness in October and hope to have the Board of Supervisors review our Special Exception Application late in the year.

In the meantime, the architect is working on mechanical plans and decisions about the HVAC system will soon be made. We are seriously considering an environmentally friendly geothermal system, though its cost will be almost twice that of a more traditional system.

We are now hoping to have satisfied all the stakeholders involved in the Old School--including you, our neighbors and Foundation members, VDHR, and the Historic District Review Committee--and be able to start work on the Old School auditorium early next year. I know we are all looking forward to that day!

Thank You to Two Longtime Foundation Volunteers! Marsha Thompson, who developed the Foundation website and has been our webmaster for almost 10 years, has retired, and so has Kathie Ratcliffe, who has been director of the Second Street School Living History Program for more than 25 years! We thank these two wonderful volunteers for their invaluable contribution to the Foundation's preservation and education mission. We'll miss you!

Judy Jackson, recently retired teacher and Second Street neighbor, has agreed to be the new chair of the Foundation's much-praised living history program; and Ed Lehman has graciously volunteered to take over the Foundation's website, www.waterfordfoundation.org. Thanks to both Judy and Ed, and to Kathie and Marsha. Volunteers like you have enabled the Waterford Foundation to protect the National Landmark District for 65 years! Thank you.
kh signature 3

President

This morning new steps were being poured at the entrance to the Old School classroom building, above, and, at left, passersby peeking into the classroom windows see new lights and freshly painted walls and wainscotting.

Virginia Department of Historic Resources to visit in September

Virginia Department of Historic Resources staff will be in Waterford on September 11 and 12 to visit the properties on which they hold easements and meet with the owners. On Thursday the 11th, VDHR staff will meet at 7 p.m. with affected property owners at the John Wesley Community Church to discuss the history of the easement program and its importance to Waterford. They also will discuss the responsibilities of property owners and VDHR when it comes to historic property stewardship.

On Friday morning, there will be a meeting with those who are interested in placing a protective easement on their property but have not done so yet. The rest of their time here will be spent meeting individually with owners to discuss any issue they might want to bring up pertaining to their property. This will be by appointment.

So watch your mail and email for more information from VDHR on this important visit. They will be sending you the agenda and how to make an individual appointment to visit your property, should you want one.

--Margaret Good