The Latest News for You!

Volume 14, Issue 2

February 2023

Central Rappahannock Heritage Center

Newsletter

A place that loses its history loses its soul.

Message From The Chairperson

Your Board got off to a big start for the year, welcoming our new Directors and plowing through a great deal of business at our first meeting together. The range of skills and experience they bring to the Center’s leadership is sure to pay off. We will be continuing the work from last year towards outreach into the community, supporting research in the Center, encouraging membership and donation of both collections, materials and funds.

While we are currently servicing customers by appointment, we have found that it is an improved experience when clients can be attended to with precision and focus, as materials can be pulled ahead of the visit and attentions aren’t divided while they are in. Plus many customers can get what they want without ever having to leave home. A few emails and the material they need arrives in their inbox.

Are you the type of person who wants to be directly involved in supporting institutions or associations you like? Sometimes simply sending a check might seem empty, or you don’t think that what YOU can give would make enough of an impact? Take a look at our Amazon Wish List and maybe you’ll see something there that you could add to our collections, or materials that support the work we do. Where can you find the Wish List you ask? There’s an Amazon link at the bottom of every page on our website. Haven’t looked at the Website lately? Go nose around, there’s some great photos and of course, the Past Perfect archive.

If you are more of a “do-er” there will be opportunities to serve on committees, especially Outreach and Fundraising, or you might pick and choose events you can help with. We love having our members involved. And if you enjoy your membership, maybe encourage a friend or two to join as well.

There will be more activities and actions as the year warms up, stay tuned so you don’t miss anything.

Cheers!

Florence Barnick

Chairperson

Get to Know Us

Board Member - John Hennessy

I built much of my career around the voices of those who experienced or witnessed history. Spent days and weeks in archives across the eastern US, helping to stitch together the history of our nation and this community. When I retired from the NPS 17 months ago, I immediately knew I’d serve on the board of the CRHC, if they’d have me.

The Heritage Center is a remarkable entity—begotten by the energies of a few, it today draws on the energy of many. The facility is great, the collections are incredibly important to this community. I am truly excited to be able to work to continue the evolution of the Heritage

Center.

My journey to this point has been incredibly fortunate. I am originally from New England, with a longer stint in upstate NY. When I finished my studies at the University at Albany (dual major in history and business management), I thought I’d get a job I liked for a summer, before getting a real job as banker or some such thing. So, I took a summer position at Manassas Battlefield. Loved it….and, well, that bit of delaying tactic ultimately evolved into a 40 career in history and

historic preservation. I spent 35 of those with the National Park Service, with the final 26 years at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, where I retired as Chief Historian in late 2021. I had the opportunity to work with and learn from some of the best historians in the business.

Though I have retired from the NPS, I am in no way retired from the business of history. I have a list of eight books I’d like to write (I won’t live long enough to get them all done), and I still do as much speaking as anyone wants me to do. My wife (Sara Poore) and I live in Fredericksburg and love this community. I look forward to helping the CRHC grow and prosper, and I hope all of

you reading this will join in that effort.

John Hennessy

February 9, 2023

From the Archives

The CRHC has an outstanding photo collection! We ran across this

photograph while doing research on the Richmond Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad. Taken sometime in the 1880's-1900's it shows a traffic jam at the Milford Depot in Caroline County. The Depot still stands today. Alas, the wagons and trains don't stop there anymore.

NEW MEMBERS

Natlian Lee

MANY THANKS TO OUR GENEROUS

2023 HERITAGE CENTER SPONSORS & CORPORATE MEMBERS

Deborah Baker

Jeanette and Nick Cadwallender

Barbara Hicks Cecil

Jim and Betsy Greene

Mary Katherine Greenlaw

Lucy Harman

It's that time! Please become a 2023 sponsor! Corporate and private contributions are welcomed! Help us continue to save our history!

To become a Heritage Center Sponsor, please visit our website. If you have any questions, please contact The Heritage Center at (540) 373-3704.

Collections Update

Books: (1) Land of Goshen, A History of the Goshen Baptist Association of Virginia; (2) Ramoth Baptist Church, Stafford Virginia; (3) Virginia War History in Newspaper Clippings.

Additional books: (1) Old Virginia Houses Along the Fall Line; (2) Virginia Place Names - Derivations, Historical Uses; (3)Photographic Studies of Old Virginia Homes and Gardens.

Anyone familiar with our website has noticed and perhaps utilized the clickable link at the bottom of the page ; Support us on Amazon Wishlist. However, if you are not familiar with it, please explore the page and the list here, www.crhcarchives.org and see if anything strikes a chord of personal interest that you may then wish to donate to The Heritage Center.

As an example, there is a book found on our wish list; Spotsylvania County, Virginia Marriage References and Family Relationships, 1721 - 1800. This is just one example of the many informational sources we actively seek.

Along with records of history, The Heritage Center also accepts donations of archival supplies.

We are always grateful for donations of new collections, materials to bolster the archives, or supplies to aid in the archival process.

Thank you for your interest in the Center's collections.

John Reifenberg

Collections Manager

The Heritage Center gladly provides research services. Please contact The Center for research requests and rates at contact@crhcarchives.org

Hours

Open by Appointment.

Location

900 Barton Street #111

Fredericksburg, VA

22401