Calendar
20 February Lyceum: Samuel Cornelius Means: The Years Before the Loudoun Rangers. 2 p.m., John Wesley Community Church, Waterford.
20 March Waterford Concert
Series: Igor Begelman and
Larisa Gelman, Catoctin
Presbyterian Church,
Waterford, 4 p.m. |
SESQUICENTENNIAL
Samuel Means: The Years before the Loudoun Rangers
Samuel Cornelius Means is arguably Waterford's best-known historic citizen and his role in raising the Loudoun Rangers, the only cavalry unit from Confederate Virginia that fought for the North, is frequently cited by Civil War enthusiasts.
Yet, except for the 22 months as captain of the Rangers, little is known about the man behind the blue uniform. Waterford historian Taylor M. Chamberlin will add to our knowledge about this local Civil War figure at a Lyceum lecture at 2 p.m. Sunday, February 20, at the John Wesley Community Church in Waterford. A tour of Means's Waterford home, now owned by resident Ann Belland, will follow the talk.
Called "Quaker Sam" by some and "that renegade Sam Means" by his adversaries, this Virginia Yankee has remained an enigma whose identity is further obscured by time and the passions that his wartime role engendered.
Chamberlin will share a wealth of new information that he has uncovered about the Waterford miller who risked all for the sake of the Union. Much that we thought we knew about Sam's early life, including such basics as his religious affiliation and even his name, turns out to be erroneous. Chamberlin's talk will outline Means's successful pre-war career and subsequent wartime activities up to the muster of the Loudoun Rangers in the summer of 1862. The captain's subsequent military service and civilian life will be the subject of a later Lyceum.
Copies of the most recent issue of The Bulletin of the Loudoun County Historical Society, containing Chamberlin's article on Samuel Means, will be available. This issue also features "The Paxtons and Carlheim," by Waterford Foundation board member Lori Kimball.
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Historic District expansion vote set for February 7
The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors will vote Monday, February 7, on the proposed expansion of the
Waterford Historic and Cultural Conservation District. The expansion will more than double the size of the district, to 760 acres. The Planning Commission voted unanimously on December 15 to recommend approval of the zoning change.
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Still looking... Door wanting a step
The basement entrance of the John Wesley Community Church currently has four cinderblocks that serve as the doorstep. It is functional, but it poorly suits the lovely stone foundation of this historic building. The Properties Committee is soliciting a donation of a stone or stones to replace the cinderblock, to cover an area of approximately 3 by 2 feet. If you know of materials that might suit, please phone the Waterford Foundation office, 540-882-3018, ext. 111, or email us. Thank you! |
Board of Directors
Bonnie Getty, President
Walter
A. Music, Vice-President
Bronwen Souders, Secretary
Hans Hommels, Treasurer
Margaret
Bocek
David W. Chamberlin
Taylor M. Chamberlin
Charlotte
Gollobin
Warren
Hayford
Melanie Lockwood Herman
Mary Hutton
Lori
Kimball
Debbie
Morris
W. Brown Morton
Phil
Paschall
Patti
Psaris
Susan Honig Rogers
Susan Sutter
Jim
Sutton
Miriam
Westervelt
Staff
Nancy
Doane
Executive Director
Margaret
Good
Director,
Properties & Land Use Programs
Kathleen
Hughes
Manager, Development Programs
Fran
Holmbraker
Fair Chair
Mary
Kenesson
Fair Assistant
Martha
Polkey
Communications & Operations Coordinator
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Ice at the dam on Catoctin Creek on the Phillips Farm is testament to this winter's sustained low temperatures. [Photo by Karl Riedel]
Waterford designated a Preserve America Community
Waterford is among 15 communities nationwide newly designated as Preserve America Communities by the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. A designation letter signed by First Lady Michele Obama was sent on January 21 to Board of Supervisors Chairman Scott York, who sponsored Waterford's application. "Preserve Am erica Communities are committed to preserving their past by using their heritage to build a better future," said Wayne Donaldson, chairman of the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP). "It is good news for the nation when 15 more communities demonstrate that they want to enjoy and share the economic, educational, environmental, and sustainability benefits preservation provides while creating more vibrant and desirable places to live, work, and visit." A total of 858 communities nationwide now hold the designation. "Being designated a Preserve America Community has long been a Waterford Foundation goal because of the added protection it gives the Landmark," said Waterford Foundation President Bonnie Getty. "We are very honored to have achieved this designation for the Landmark and thank the many government officials and local organizations who supported our application."
The Preserve America Community program recognizes a select group of communities that use their heritage resources to share the myriad benefits of historic preservation with residents and visitors. The program began in 2003 and Preserve America Communities are now located in all 50 states and many overseas U.S. territories. Preserve America is administered by the ACHP with assistance from the U.S. Department of the Interior.
More information about the program can be found at the Preserve America website.
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Raise the Roof fundraising advances
We didn't win the $50,000 Pepsi Refresh Everything Grant to help rebuild the Old School Auditorium, but we won lots of new online Facebook and Twittering friends to add to all of our long-time supporters. We are now inspired to try again this spring.
 If you can help us add some dramatic video footage of the Old School and those who love it to our grant proposal, or have other ideas to make it pop out and show Waterford as the shining beacon of a gentler American past for all, please contact us. Thanks to generous pledges and donations from the Morton family, Neil Keller, Bonnie and Ken Getty, Charles and Susan Sutter, Neil and Kathleen Hughes, Cate and Steve Wyatt, Jill Beach and Tom and Ann Mathews, as well as others, we more than matched the 2-to-1 $20,000 Morgan Foundation challenge and made a giant step towards starting construction of the beloved Old School auditorium. We need about $435,000 more before we can begin construction this summer. Dig into your wallets, please, and let's get the new auditorium up for the Fair in 2012! Kathleen can help you make a multi-year pledge or generous donation (khughes@waterfordfoundation.org), or you can donate online.
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Pull-off area planned for Phillips Farm
 The landscape plan for the pull-off area will reflect the natural landscape in surface and plantings.
Great care has gone into planning the interpretive pull-off area for visitors to the 144-acre Phillips Farm. Materials and landscaping have been chosen to blend with the existing landscape, reflecting the historic and rural character of the Farm and Waterford National Historic Landmark. The educational interpretive area, required by grant moneys used to purchase the Farm, will be situated on about a half-acre of the property along Old Wheatland Road (Route 698), near its intersection with Milltown Road. Construction of the area is funded by a grant from the Virginia Department of Transportation, which was secured when the Foundation purchased the property in 2003. One hundred forty acres of the Farm were placed under a conservation easement in 2005. The pull-off area (which will accommodate a limited number of cars) will be surfaced with gravel reflecting the colors and look of the Farm's naturally occurring rock. Visitors can park and walk to an area of low-profile signs overlooking the rural landscape, which will detail the agricultural activities and the transportation links that characterize the history of this Farm and the rural area around it. Visitors then can walk along Old Wheatland Road toward the village, across Catoctin Creek, and walk the mile-long interpretive trail that begins at the Old Mill on the east side of the creek. During construction of the 125-foot-long area, a portion of the existing hedgerow must be disturbed, but native shrubs and trees will be used to restore that landscape. Woven wire fencing along that new hedgerow will provide a natural border between the working farmland of the Phillips Farm and the interpretive area. Grading will be kept to a minimum. Construction is expected to begin this year. The first sign of work villagers will notice is movement of a utility pole at the pull-off site.
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LOCAL COLOR
A Waterford Christmas to remember
Among the many Christmas celebrations we've had in Waterford since our arrival in 1967, the Morton Family Christmas of 2010 will stand out forever.
This year Christmastime was special because it was the first time in some years that our extended family was able to share the holidays with us. Since we thought coexistence of one large dog, notorious for opening refrigerator doors and scarfing up everything in sight and sniff range, and 15 adults and children was pushing it, we had incarcerated Pearl the black Labrador retriever at a local kennel before the thick of the festivities.
The day after Boxing Day she came home, and wandered happily outside for a while. Later that day I called her as she lay snoring under the kitchen table. She was slow in appearing, and when she did, I saw that her legs spayed out in all directions and she lurched from side to side. At first, somewhat horrified, I thought she was suffering some sort of paralysis. But then the penny dropped, and I connected the dots between the mysterious fall of the egg nog bowl off the top of the woodpile where it had been placed the night before, the absence of its contents -- a recipe of my late father-in-law's lethal "Confederate Egg Nog." -- and Pearl's by then totally goofy appearance.
Rushed to Catoctin Veterinary Practice, where she lurched gratefully against Dr. Robbins's legs, Pearl the Drunk received some loving -- if amused -- care by the staff as she dried out. She showed all the signs of a bad hangover the following morning, but by midday her "trash compactor" stomach was apparently back in working order.
She gave the best four-footed imitation of a two-footed drunk I have ever seen.
--Margaret Morton
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P.O. Box 142 Waterford, Virginia 20197 540.882.3018
www.waterfordfoundation.org
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