Calendar
August 13 Waterford Fair advance tickets go on sale by phone, by mail, online, and at ticket outlets. September 8 Firefighters' Picnic. Old School, 5-7 p.m. Waterford thanks firefighters for their work saving the classroom building in 2007. (See article.) October 5-7 |
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Volunteer at the Fair
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It takes a village and more to make the Waterford Homes Tour & Crafts Exhibit what it is (the premier heritage handicrafts exhibit on the East Coast).
Fair Chairman Fran Holmbraker and Assistant Mary Kenesson invite you again to help with home tours, exhibit check in, parking, and the many other tasks that the cheerful, hardworking hundreds have done for 68 years in Waterford.
Contact our Fair staff by email, and they will find a place for you at the 69th annual Fair on October 5,6, and 7. |
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Staff begins move to Old School
Waterford Foundation staff have completed the first step of a move to the Old School classroom building, with offices of the executive director, development, and properties and land use staff now located on the second floor of the building at 40222 Fairfax Street.
Fair staff will remain at the Corner Store, at the corner of Main and Second streets, until after this year's Waterford Homes Tour & Crafts Exhibit, October 5-7.
Establishing, and reestablishing, phone and electronic connectivity is progressing; email service to Fran Holmbraker and Mary Kenesson is the best way to communicate about Fair matters at present. Integration of Fair phone service into the network is still underway. The Foundation's mailing address and phone number remains the same.  | | Director of Properties and Land Use Programs Margaret Good at work in a new old space, in the 1910 Old Waterford School. |
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September picnic planned to honor firefighters
The Waterford Foundation and the Waterford Citizens Association will sponsor a picnic on September 8 for the fire companies that rushed to save the Old School from an early morning blaze that consumed the building's auditorium and threatened the classroom building. The auditorium was rebuilt and opened this spring following almost five years of planning and fundraising.
"We look forward to honoring the heroic firefighters who saved our beloved Old School," said Foundation past president Bonnie Getty.
Food, games, and a tour of the restored classroom building and new auditorium will be provided by Foundation board, staff, and WCA members, for firefighers and their families, and the community.
"One of the features of the picnic will be the opportunity for firefighters and members of the Waterford community to share their memories of that devastating fire on video," Getty said. "These memories will become part of the historical record of the event."
The picnic will be 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday September 8.
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Phillips Farm interpretive area construction begins soon
Construction of the interpretive pull-off area for the Phillips Farm is set to begin soon, following the July 27 kick-off meeting between the contractor, Loudoun County staff, and Waterford Foundation board and staff members.
The educational interpretive area will be situated on four acres of the farm 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. The remaining 140 acres were placed under a conservation easement in 2005; most of the farm remains under cultivation.
Great care has gone into planning the pull-off area, with materials and landscaping chosen to blend with the existing landscape, reflecting the historic and rural character of the farm and Landmark.
Following the construction, the contractor, La Terre Enterprises, will install interpretive signage. With completion of this work, visitors to the Landmark will be able to pull off the road, admire the scenic countryside, and better understand the significance of this historic farm and its impact on Waterford and the transportation system that serves it.
"This has been a long time coming," said Margaret Good, the Foundation's director of properties and land use programs. "But completion of this project in the fall will be of benefit to the landscaping that is such an important component of this project."
"We owe special thanks to Waterford Foundation board member Patti Psaris for staying on top of this project and seeing it through to this point," Good said. "We are also grateful for the Enhancement Award from the Virginia Department of Transportation that is funding this project."
More information on the pull-off area can be found on the Foundation's website.
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Forge roof sustains damage in storm In spite of the most horrific storms that most of us have ever experienced, only one Foundation property suffered damage during the June 29 "derecho." The Forge took a direct hit when the top of an old sassafrass tree snapped off and punctured its old (but freshly painted) tin roof, breaking several rafters and roof slats. While we solicit bids for its repair, our tenant has buckets set up to protect the building from any rainfall. A number of large trees were lost in whole or in part throughout the village, as the intense band of storms moved through, with several homes suffering notable damage. But while many areas remained without power for nearly a week, most Waterford residents--uncharacteristically--had power restored after two days. |
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Board of Directors
Walter A. Music, PresidentMargaret Bocek, Vice-PresidentSusan Honig Rogers, SecretaryJim Sutton, TreasurerCharles Beach Taylor M. Chamberlin Bonnie Getty Charlotte Gollobin Jim Gosses Thomas Hertel Hans Hommels Kent Marrs Debbie Morris W. Brown Morton Patti Psaris Amy V. Smith Craig Steidle Bronwen C. Souders Miriam Westervelt Staff|
Kathleen Hughes
Interim Executive Director
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Margaret Good Director,Properties & Land Use ProgramsFran Holmbraker Fair ChairMary Kenesson Fair AssistantMartha Polkey Communications & Operations Coordinator |
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Virginia Association of Museums Campaign
Quaker visitors logbook nominated for "Top 10 Endangered Artifacts"
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Two pages of the Quaker log from the 18th century record details of visits, travels, and sermons of visiting Friends.
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The Virginia Association of Museums (VAM) has included the
Waterford Foundation's 1761-1812 Quaker visitors' log from the Fairfax Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends among the rare treasures in the running for "Virginia's Top 10 Endangered Artifacts" this summer. Public voting on the website featuring the artifacts begins August 1 and will run through August 29 (www.vatop10artifacts.org).
As a record of the travels and teachings of Quaker visitors from "Old England" and from colonies (later states) all along the eastern seaboard--Waterford's rare logbook reveals a fascinating picture of the lives of late 18th and early 19th century members of and visitors to Waterford's Fairfax Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). More than 300 individuals visited Waterford's Fairfax Friends Meeting between 1761 and 1812.
The visitors' log contains unique glimpses into the travels of these intrepid Quaker ministers--both women and men--and of a number of notable individuals in early American history. It describes the routes and conditions under which they traveled and offers insights into how the "sermons" they gave in Waterford were perceived by their peers. It hints at how Quakers dealt with the reality of the American Revolution, since they would not permit themselves to take up arms or revolt against England, nor could they be persuaded to do so.
This precious document, passed down through the Chamberlin family, was donated to the Foundation by David and Carolee Chamberlin in 2006.
Waterford Foundation archivists have already transcribed the logbook's contents and hope that making this year's "Top 10 Endangered Artifacts List" will enable the Foundation to make it more widely available to researchers and history buffs and to stabilize and preserve this important treasure. The goal of VAM's Top 10 Endangered Artifacts campaign is to highlight the importance of Virginia's diverse history, heritage, and culture and the role that artifacts and archival materials play in telling those stories. The program is designed to create awareness of the importance of preserving artifacts in care at museums, libraries, and archives throughout the Commonwealth and in the District of Columbia. The public is encouraged to visit www.vatop10artifacts.org and explore, then cast a vote for the object that they believe should make the final list of Top 10 Endangered Artifacts. Final nominations will be reviewed by an independent panel of collections and conservation experts, and the honorees will be announced in September 2012.
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Old Mill restoration project begins
with state-of-the-art laser technology
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Michael O'Brien of Newland Group explains operation of the laser camera technology to Director of Properties and Land Use Programs Margaret Good.
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The high-tech tools that we have come to associate with scientific research have taken on the historic preservation world, and a project now underway at a Waterford Foundation property is among the first in Virginia to make use of such cutting-edge technology in a restoration project.
Recent passers-by at the Old Mill may have seen a man in a straw hat positioning equipment on tripods or keying in information on a laptop in the sweltering heat. That man is Michael O'Brien of Newland Group, using pointcloud three-dimensional scanning to collect millions of "points" of data that will provide the basis for a thorough assessment for stabilization and renovation of this early 19th-century structure.
The contractor for this project is studioAmmons of Petersburg, Virginia, and it is funded by a Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) grant. O'Brien approaches his work much like a regular survey, but sitting on his tripod is a camera/laser scanner that captures everything in its path, converting it to a 3-D computer model loaded with data. The precision of this technique, he says, "will record the exact location of every brick, and even every leaf on each tree" that is captured by the camera.
O'Brien spent several days planning the siting for the photography, to be sure to get a thorough view of the mill, its setting, and the race (which included placing equipment at locations on the properties of three neighbors who graciously permitted access). He then spent several days scanning.
The final report will integrate topographical details with data that reveal evolution of the building's form and the milling operations within it, structural integrity, historical and current records of the Mill and its surroundings, which the Foundation can use in any number of ways.
State-of-the-art tools such as this one, described as "preservationists' 'superpowers'" in the summer 2012 issue of Preservation, the magazine of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, have been used at Mount Rushmore, Fort Sumter, a Frank Lloyd Wright building, Trinity Church in Manhattan, UNESCO World Heritage Sites in several nations, and in Virginia, at James Madison's Montpelier home.
Joining O'Brien at the Mill has been structural engineer and millwright Derek Ogden, a gentleman known to many at the Foundation. When the project is complete and the final documents are in hand, the Foundation will be able to move forward to make sure the mill lasts another 180 years.
The project firm, studioAmmons, will be making a presentation to the community and our members soon so they can share their preliminary findings.
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Loudoun Rangers descendants meet for 150th anniversary reunion
More than 40 descendants and family members met in Waterford and Lovettsville on Saturday, June 23, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the formation of the Independent Loudoun Virginia Rangers. The Loudoun Rangers were the only Union cavalry raised in present-day Virginia. Descendants traveled from as far away as Ohio, Illinois, and Florida for the historic event.
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Kristen Coleman Maxwell holds the saber of great, great grand uncle Isaac Hough, mustered into the Loudoun Rangers in 1864, with friend Steve Shapiro (left), and her husband Steve, standing with a Loudoun Ranger reenactor and his mount.
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In Waterford, the group viewed a demonstration of cavalry tactics by Independent Loudoun Virginia Rangers re-enactors, based in Culpeper, Virginia. They also visited Waterford Union of Churches Cemetery, where cemetery trustee Paul Rose gave a talk on the history of the site.
"There was a moment when I had an emotional lump in my throat," wrote visiting descendant Mark Fedorka after the event. "It was the first I had ever seen a gravestone with 'Loudoun Ranger' inscribed on it. I couldn't believe I was standing right there in front of a Rangers final resting place."
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Lee Stone stands in front of a Waterford residence that during the Civil War was a tavern and recruiting station for the Loudoun Rangers.
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Lee Stone, from the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, described for the visitors the fight at the Waterford Baptist Church between Rangers and Confederate troops, after which participants ate lunch in the new Old School auditorium and enjoyed a walking tour of Waterford. The latter included a tableau in front of the Sam Means House by Jon Vrana and an associate who role-played Loudoun Ranger Captain Samuel Means and his brother.
In the evening the descendants and about 30 invited guests participated in a reception and dinner at WeatherLea Farm near Lovettsville.
In addition to the Waterford Foundation, the Reunion was co-sponsored by the Lovettsville Historical Society, the Sons of Union Veterans, the Loyal Legion and the Mosby Heritage Area.
"Those descendants, including family members, who were able to attend, left with a renewed understanding of the patriotism, courage, and sacrifices of their soldier-ancestors, and a commitment to carrying their memory forward," said Taylor Chamberlin, Education Committee Chair of the Foundation, and co-author with John Souders of Between Reb and Yank, a history of northern Loudoun during the Civil War. He reports that Michael Virts, a descendant and member of the planning committee, is spearheading an effort to create a permanent Association of Loudoun Ranger Descendants.
One descendant unable to attend the event was Deborah Collins of Woodbridge, who came to learn more about her great-great-grandfather on a July 20 visit to the village with her mother and aunt visiting from Charleston, South Carolina.
Her great-great-grandfather was Richard Edward Collins, who served as an African-American auxiliary with Company B of the Loudoun Rangers. In addition to visiting the site where the Collins Cottage stood on Main Street, the family also toured the John Wesley Church that her ancestor helped build, the Second Street School, where African Americans were educated after the Civil War, and Richard's grave at the Union Cemetery.
"Thanks to information that she provided, Richard's name will now be added to the soon-to-be published Roster of Loudoun Rangers," Chamberlin said.
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FAIR UPDATE Seldom Scene returns to Fair Once again the Fair welcomes one of the nation's top bluegrass bands, The Seldom Scene, which will perform this year on Sunday, October 7, on the Old School outdoor stage. The band has been entertaining audiences since its inception 40 years ago, and has become one of the single largest contributors to the progression of bluegrass from the early days of Flatt and Scruggs and Bill Monroe to the more contemporary sounds that they founded. Seldom Scene continues to excel in the bluegrass scene and has received critical acclaim for their work. Their latest CD, "Scenechronized," recorded in 2007, was nominated for a Grammy award.
 The Seldom Scene, consisting of Dudley Connell (guitar/lead and baritone vocals), Ben Eldridge (banjo and scatt singing), Lou Reid (mandolin/lead and tenor vocals), Fred Travers (dobro/lead and tenor vocals), and Ronnie Simpkins (bass/baritone vocals), has performed at the White House many times, and continues to tour the world, garnering the monikor: "America's Bluegrass Band."
We again thank Tuscarora Mill, Magnolias, South Street Down Under, and Fireworks Restaurants for their generous sponsorship of this performance. |
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P.O. Box 142 Waterford, Virginia 20197 540.882.3018
www.waterfordfoundation.org
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