The German-American Heritage Foundation and its member Germanna Foundation are proud to announce the opening of the latest exhibit of the German-American Heritage Museum of the USA. On display through March, Colony 1714: Germanna and the Ironworkers is the inaugural exhibit in the Museum's exhibition series German Entrepreneurship. 

On Thursday, March 17th, at 6:30pm the German-American Heritage Foundation is proud to present Dr. Eric Larsen, archaeologist of the Germanna Foundation, who will give a lecture on archaeological significance of the Germanna site and describe the ongoing process of researching and excavation. A reception will follow.

This exhibit presents the story of the founding of the westernmost settlement of the British Empire, and the surprising fact that it was German speaking from the very beginning. The visitor will come away with a deeper understanding of how the imperatives of trade, transatlantic migration, and geopolitics drove Virginia's colonial Governor Alexander Spotswood to identify, recruit and settle talented ironworkers from the German Siegerland to a small fort on the frontier of European civilization.The settlement of the 42 colonists of the Reformed faith from the iron-working Siegerland  doubled three years later by the arrival of 20 German-speaking Lutheran families, with more to follow. The ancestors of the Germanna colonists came from modern-day North Rhine-Westphalia, the Palatinate, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Austria, and Switzerland.

Eric Larsen, Ph.D., Germanna Foundation archaeologist, has more than 25 years of archaeological experience, having worked with the National Park Service at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, and for the University of Maryland on sites in Annapolis, Maryland.  He directed fieldwork at the Freedmen's and Contraband Cemetery for the City of Alexandria, Virginia, and has assisted with excavations at George Washington's Boyhood Home at Ferry Farm (near Fredericksburg, Virginia) for the George Washington Foundation.  He has taught introductory Archaeology classes and trained numerous students through a variety of Field Schools primarily in the Mid-Atlantic States.

All attendees are requested to RSVP in advance. Admission is $10, $5 for students and seniors.
To register please click here.