A Message from the Executive Director
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Greetings from Waterford! I hope you have been able to enjoy the cool spring we have been having while staying home lately. The Old School is mostly empty these days, with our staff working remotely, but we are busy working on plans for reengaging with our members and supporters once it is again safe to gather. Today we are in the midst of early giving for the Give Choose campaign run by the Community Foundation for Loudoun and Northern Fauquier Counties. This year, in light of the COVID-19 quarantine, we are seeking funds to adapt our education programs for socially distant delivery. Of critical importance is sharing content from the Second Street School living history program with the 48 classes of 4th graders who have had their field trips cancelled. Please read below for more details on our campaign and for the link to donate now or on May 5th, and many thanks to members of the Women For Waterford for providing matching funds for this campaign!
Also in this newsletter you'll find the results of our Board elections from last month's Virtual Annual Meeting. Don't miss the link for our 2019 Annual Report. Each month we will profile one of our Board members so you can get to know our Board. We are also recognizing an indispensable volunteer this month who is always happy to lend a hand, or hammer, when we call. And we are remembering a favorite Fair musician that recently passed. Read on to find out the latest news about the Fair and the Waterford Craft School. We are continuing to monitor government recommendations and make contingency plans for our education outreach programs. As always, read to the end for a story from Waterford's past. This month we are telling the story behind an abandoned stone foundation on Main Street.
Enjoy reading, and stay safe!
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Stephanie C. Thompson
Executive Director
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The
Give Choose Campaign
has begun! Early giving began on April 21st, and the main campaign runs for 24 hours on Tuesday, May 5th. This year we are raising funds for our education programs, especially our Second Street School program which brings 4th grade classes from throughout Loudoun and the surrounding region to Waterford's original one room schoolhouse that served the African American community from 1867-1957. As a result of the COVID-19 school closure, 48 classes that were scheduled to attend Waterford's Second Street School living history program as a school field trip will now miss that opportunity.
We are devastated for these students who have missed out on this unique experience, one that many former attendees have said was the best field trip of their entire school career. To make up for this loss, we are working to restore and upgrade an online interactive version of our Second Street School program. This interactive program allows students to access our Second Street School experience from home, something that could be used both by our Loudoun students and by other students from around the world.
We need your support to update the program so that we can get it out to the students who have missed out this year! Help us reach new supporters by sharing this campaign with your friends and family. Click the button below to give today or to schedule your gift in advance. Or mark your calendar for May 5th to log in and make your donation towards our goal. Thank you for your support!
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Photo Credit: Jill Randell
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Annual Meeting Recap &
Board Member Highlight
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We are very grateful to all of you who took the time to send in your votes for our 2020 Annual Meeting. Your support throughout the year keeps our organization running, even through a global crisis. We were very sorry to miss an opportunity to gather with our members in person this spring. Thank you for your patience with us as we navigate these challenging times.
We are pleased to introduce our 2020/2021
Waterford Foundation Board Members:
Christine Gleckner - President
Jonathan Daniel- Vice President
Susanne Hale- Secretary
John Caron- Treasurer
Ron Campbell
Sharyn Franck
Bonnie Getty
Annie Goode
J. Forest Hayes
Sarah Holway
David Hunt
Paul Lawrence
Anna Rathmann
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Meet Our Board: Dave Hunt
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Dave has been supporting the Waterford Fair for 40 years as a crafter, a volunteer and running a concession stand with the boy scouts. He and his wife Gail have renovated two historic buildings in Loudoun County. They moved to Waterford 25 years ago because they love the community, the history and the natural beauty here. Dave joined the board in 2019 and has been an active member of the Waterford Foundation Property Planning and Management committee, on which he is now serving as chair. His goal is to maintain the structural integrity and historic beauty of the Foundation’s properties.
Dave is a business graduate of Virginia Tech and President of Homeland Security Consulting, LLC, providing crisis management planning, training, and exercises for universities, corporations and government agencies. He is a life member of the Leesburg Fire Company, and a national subject matter expert on active shooter and workplace violence preparedness. Dave recently revised the DHS active shooter preparedness training program and the national standard on workplace violence prevention and intervention. During the COVID quarantine, many of my business contracts have been put on hold. Dave has been working to upgrade his home office, and is keeping busy developing computer-based training for the FAA and law enforcement agencies in the National Capital Region.
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Give your Kitchen a Break &
Beer Delivery from Wheatland Spring
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Give your kitchen a break
Sunday, May 3rd
—
Smokin Willy will be in the village!
Please place your order by calling
540-441-7081 before
Friday, May 1, 2020 at 7pm.
Use code
"Waterford"
and
leave your name.
Pick up your order from
4:00 to 4:30 PM, Sunday, May 3rd at:
Waterford Old School
40222 Fairfax St.
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Mark your calendars! Wheatland Springs will be delivering beer to Waterford every Friday. Make sure you place your orders by Thursday for delivery on Friday between 10:00am-1:00pm.
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Celebrate Mother's Day with a gift bag of local goodies for Mom! She will feel the love (and may even share) the bottle of 2018 Walsh Family Wine Wetherlea Rose' from Walsh Family Wine and the 4-piece Chef Collection box of artisan chocolates from Zoe's Chocolates. There will be a hand-made Card by Lovettsville artist, Jill Evans-Kavaldjian and a pot of bright, happy flowers to round out the gift.
Please place your order by
4:00pm on Monday, May 4th, 2020
.
Pick up on
Saturday, May 9th, 2020 from 3:00pm-4:00pm
at the Old School.
40222 Fairfax Street
Waterford, VA 20197
Although we prefer a quick, socially distant pick up, please let us know if this time doesn't work for you by emailing the office at:
Click the button below to place your order!
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Volunteer of the Month
Jeff Bean
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Though not a member of a Foundation committee, Jeff is one of our valued volunteers. He has made it abundantly clear that he is available to help in any way he can. Jeff is always the person we call when we need help with repairs, fair set-up, and especially the sound system, what gets plugged in where is often a challenge. Most of the time, we do not even need to call, Jeff is always making sure everything is just right. For example the wobbly front step that he fixed just before the fair. We then pointed out that there were some other simple property repairs needing attention which he attended to immediately. We are incredibly grateful that we can always count on Jeff for his talented skills to keep our properties in tip-top shape.
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What’s new with the Waterford Craft School
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Crafts in the time of Coronavirus: On behalf of the Waterford Craft School, we hope you are truly well and safe at home. We are heeding CDC recommendations and adjusting as new information becomes available.
We have adapted to the new Coronavirus restrictions by cancelling or postponing our previously-planned April and May classes. We hope to hold classes in June and July as normal, but we are making contingency plans in case we can’t do that. In order to accommodate rescheduled workshops, we are planning to hold classes in August, and perhaps September, if possible. Mini virtual workshops for young people and adults are in development.
When we do reopen, classes will be limited to 8 students, and masks will be required. We'll keep the School extra-clean and provide lots of hand sanitizer.
We hope that you’ve continued to enjoy crafts during this hiatus; we would love you to send us a photo of what you’ve been doing (
[email protected]
) so we can share it in our community.
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76th Annual Waterford Fair
Fine Art & Mill Applications
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The Fair is still a go -- it may be in person, online or some combination of the two! Jury selection of our new demonstrating artisans takes place this month. The online shop for the Waterford Landmark Artisans will be going live next week, so stay tuned. We will also begin accepting applications for the Fine Art Show, Art Mart and the Old Mill Shop in the upcoming weeks. Details will be posted on the website and social media for all of the above. We do have a request for your help. If you see or participate in any online or virtual festivals/shows and find that the organizers do something really well (or not so well) we would appreciate hearing about it. Please email or call Tracy,
540-882-3018
x 4 or
[email protected]
to share the information.
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Historic Waterford Weddings
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Photo Credit:
Jenny B. Photography
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The Waterford Foundation is honored to have provided the venue for Jon-Erik & Jackie Huffman. Their original wedding of 180 guests was postponed due to COVID-19 so they reached out to us with a plan to host a smaller ceremony & reception of only 8 people at John Wesley Church. Congratulations to the beautiful couple from the Waterford Foundation Board and Staff. We wish you both a long life of happiness!
There are not enough words to describe how deeply sorry we are to all of the brides whose big day has been postponed due to the COVID-19 crisis.
We have availability if you are looking to reschedule your special day! We have beautiful properties, a warming kitchen and outdoor spaces to help create a glimpse of beauty in this difficult and challenging time.
Historic Waterford is a unique venue and is a treasured connection to America’s past. Beautifully preserved historic structures surrounded by acres of scenic farmland will provide a timeless backdrop to your event.
Waterford offers three venues to choose from: Waterford Old School, John Wesley Church, & Bond Street Meadow.
Click here
to contact us and schedule a tour of our unique venue today!
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In Memory of Madeline MacNeil
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Beloved Waterford Fair performer, Madeline “Maddie” Reed MacNeil of Berryville, Virginia, died Sunday, March 22, 2020 at her home. Maddie played the Fair for over 30 years. She loved to talk and teach youngsters about the dulcimer. Her Christmas sing-along, held yearly at the John Westley Church, was another long-standing tradition for village residents. Born January 17, 1940 in Norfolk, Virginia, Maddie grew up in Richmond, Virginia, and graduated from Douglas Freeman High School. After receiving her bachelor’s degree in music education from Longwood College, she taught in Warren County Public Schools. Her solo career in singing began at Wayside Inn in Middletown, Virginia. She also worked as the assistant to the director at Wayside Theater. Maddie sang regularly at Skyland Lodge on the Skyline Drive. It was there that she was introduced to the dulcimer. She performed regularly at the Waterford Festival, Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, Handley Library, and many other Shenandoah Valley locations. She subsequently taught, and performed throughout the United States, and the British Isles.Maddie, her dulcimer and her performances of traditional music will be greatly missed.
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Thank You to Our New & Renewing Members!
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Memberships provide a vital portion of the Waterford Foundation's funds to pay for the upkeep and repair of thirteen properties protected by the Waterford Foundation, as well as programs like the
Second Street School
living history program, the
Waterford Craft School
, the
Waterford Fair
, and special programs throughout the year. We would like to thank the following new and renewing members who have joined or renewed in April 2020!
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New & Renewing Members: April 2020
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Mr. & Mrs.Gerald & Margaret C. Rose
Dr. & Mrs. Nicholas Ratcliffe
Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Lewis, Jr.
Mr. & Mrs. David P. Hunt
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Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth W Getty, Jr.
Mr. & Mrs. Chris J. Gerow
Mr. & Mrs. Frank Dudek
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Our Sustaining Members are:
Mr. and Mrs. Goode (Joe and Annie), Mr. and Mrs. Robert W. Hale (Bob and Susanne), Ms. Joan Kowalski, Mr. Ed Lehman and Ms. Edith Crockett, Robert and Stephanie Thompson, Ms. Wendy Roseberry, Mr. & Mrs. Mark Sutton, Mr. & Mrs. Brandon & Clare Synge, and Mr. Brian Whelan.
Next month, we will acknowledge our new and renewing 2020 members!
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We are fortunate that so many of Waterford's original dwellings remain intact; however, some have been lost over the years, including the home of the Collins family, members of Waterford's African-American community. This painting by Garnet Jex, shows us what the house looked like in the 1940's. Today, the stone foundation is visible in the garden just to the east of 40154 Main Street.
"A stone foundation is all that remains of a small log and frame house that collapsed in the 1970s. In the early 1900s it was the home of Richard Edward Collins and Marietta Collins. Marietta (born c.1855) was a midwife; she delivered many babies of both races and is fondly remembered for that and for her bountiful garden of flowers and vegetables. There is evidence that Richard (1846-1920) served in the Union army during the war, although Marietta was never able to collect a widow's pension. A drummer himself, Richard enjoyed train rides into Washington to attend John Phillip Sousa concerts."
Find this excerpt and other stories of Waterford's African American community in Share With Us: Waterford, Virginia's African-American Heritage, available by request from the Waterford Foundation office.
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Waterford Foundation Staff
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Due to COVID-19 and the Stay at Home Order issued by the Governor, the Waterford Foundation office is closed and events are postponed until further notice. The staff are teleworking and we are available via
email
, phone or on video calls and are happy to help with anything you need! Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns! Check out our newest website page introducing our
Waterford Staff.
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