July 2021
A Message from the Executive Director
Happy Independence Day from Waterford!

I hope this newsletter finds you relaxing with a cold drink surrounded by friends and family. After quite an unusual summer last year, I am looking forward to once again enjoying fireworks over the Water Street Meadow and the many other July 4th activities sponsored by the Waterford Citizens’ Association. When I am seated on a blanket in the Bond Street Tanyard, listening to music and visiting with friends and neighbors, I am grateful for the many Waterfordians who have worked to create and maintain the unique community we have today in our special village. 

This month we are celebrating the volunteers who keep our mission moving forward! Read below to learn about a few volunteers and the work they have done over the past few months. Let us know how you would like to get involved in the work of the Foundation! Keep reading to meet one of our newest Board members. Look for information about registration for the 5th Annual Historic Waterford Trail Run. Don’t miss updates from the Waterford Craft School and hear the latest news about this year’s Waterford Fair. And of course, read to the end to find memories from Waterford’s past. This month we remember the shared celebrations and everyday experiences of Waterford’s early 20th century Black community.

Enjoy!


Stephanie C. Thompson
Celebrating our Volunteers!
Since the very beginning, the work of the Waterford Foundation has been driven and sustained by our dedicated volunteers. From the over 400 volunteers who help put on the Waterford Fair, to the handy people who pick up a hammer or paint brush, to Miss Nickens and our many year-round volunteers, we could not do the work of preserving the Landmark and educating the public without their help. In recognition of countless volunteer contributions throughout our history, today we are profiling a few volunteers who generously donated their time and talents during the past few months.
Bill and Sue McGuire may no longer be village residents, but that won’t keep them from a good restoration project. Active members of the Properties subcommittee, Bill and Sue can always be counted on to show up with their tools and expertise to care for Foundation properties. While our staff were out of the building working from home due to Covid-19, Bill and Sue repainted key areas in the interior of the Old School that had long needed attention. And over the last month, they replaced the worn out porch floor on the 1911 classroom wing of the Old School. Their beautiful work gives a great first impression to visitors to the Old School. Thank you Bill and Sue, yet again!

Volunteer work enables us to stretch our limited budget for restoration and maintenance of our 13 historic properties. Please fill out the volunteer form below if you would like to volunteer your time to help preserve our historic buildings!
Over the years, many young people have left a lasting impact on our historic village. Seniors at Woodgrove High School, Maya Balboni and Emily Hudak chose Waterford’s Phillips Farm trail as their Senior Capstone project this spring. Over two weeks in May and June, Emily and Maya each contributed around 50 hours of volunteer time maintaining the trail. They trimmed back overgrown areas of the trail, removed trash and downed limbs, and pulled invasive plants. The students also worked with longtime volunteer John Souders to reconstruct the lost plank-on-a-chain bridge across Balls Run, enabling trail visitors to more easily cross the stream where it enters South Fork Catoctin Creek. Thank you Maya and Emily for your contribution to Waterford as you finish your high school career. We wish you the best of luck as you head off to college in the fall!
Invasive plant removal and periodic trail maintenance are just a couple of the many tasks that our Phillips Farms volunteers accomplish throughout the year. Let us know of your interest in helping maintain the trail using the volunteer form below.
Meet our Board: Cristen Parks
Cristen Parks is a stay-at-home mom to three boys (12,9,6), two big dogs, and 19 chickens! She and her family moved to Waterford four years ago from Ashburn. Before kids, she was an elementary school special education teacher, and she has also worked as a preschool teacher and photographer.  Cristen is also a devoted volunteer at her boys’ school. 
Both Cristen and her husband Dave are originally from Western Loudoun; Dave is from Lincoln, and Cristen is from Lovettsville. They both grew up going to the Waterford Fair, and Dave’s mother taught at Waterford Elementary years ago! When looking for a family home they were drawn to the Western Loudoun open spaces and views of their youth, and they eventually purchased one of the Carr farm properties just outside the village. The Parks share their views with participants of the Historic Waterford Trail Run, who pass through the Parks’s property on the 10k route. Cristen served on the Foundation’s General Nominating Committee in 2020, and she is looking forward to more volunteering with the Foundation now that she is serving on the Board. 

5th Annual Historic Waterford Trail Run - Registration opening 7/10/2021
Attention runners!

Registration for the 5th Annual Historic Waterford Trail Run opens July 10, 2021. Mark your calendar and plan to join us for a 5k, 10k or 1 mile Fun Run through the Waterford National Historic Landmark. Find more information, including the link to register on our website: 

 

2021 Waterford Fair
Come out Friday evening, Aug. 20th, raise a glass to being able to gather, see old friends and make new ones as we talk about what this year's Fair will look like! Members and village residents can pick up their Fair tickets and car parking passes. New residents, this is a great time to hear what it's like to "live the Fair". Please let us know if you plan to come by emailing oldschool@waterfordfoundation.org by August 14th.
 
We are now accepting applications for the Old Mill Shop. Artisans and crafters can apply by following this link. The application deadline is July 15, 2021.
 
Applications are now being accepted for the Fine Art Show and Art Mart. Follow this link for details or to apply: Art at the Fair! Deadline: September 1, 2021.

If you are interested in participating in at the Dried Flower Barn (wreaths, centerpieces, wildcraft and foraged dried bundles) email the office for an application.
 
Volunteer as an individual or part of a group -- we can use the help! Check out the full list of projects we need help getting ready for the Fair and let us know you are interested: https://tinyurl.com/waterfordvolunteer.
What’s new with the Waterford Craft School
Our summer sessions are in full swing here in the Old School. Instructors and Fair artisans Karen Wychock (Basketry) and Michael Aylward (Stained Glass) filled the auditorium with laughter and learning. Sunday's basketry session was open to teens. We are grateful to the two participants that brought their granddaughters, as both girls are keen to hone their skills in future classes! It's gratifying that our mission of preserving heritage craft traditions is taking root across generations.
Volunteers are an essential part of every facet of the Waterford Foundation, and the Waterford Craft School is no exception. We wrapped up June with a fun-filled week of Colonial Camp (ages 8 - 12), welcoming our very first high school summer camp counselors to the program. Jorja (Loudoun Valley HS) and Daniel (Freedom HS) spent the week assisting instructor and historic craft preservationist, Brett Walker, both in the classroom and on educational tramps through the village. Both teens jumped right in, lending a hand with everything from helping with craft projects and keeping everyone together on hikes and farm visits, to moving chairs and tables on a hot summer day. During the daily lunch hour, Grayson (Woodgrove HS) stepped in to provide relief, keeping a watchful eye over rowdy games of freeze tag, and entertaining campers on his guitar. Each counselor researched and contributed a delicious 18th century-inspired dish for Friday's communal Colonial Feast. All three teens were hardworking, responsible, curious, creative, and kind–a wonderful fit for this inaugural effort. Many thanks, Jorja, Daniel, and Grayson!

If you would like to volunteer in the Waterford Craft School tent at the Waterford Fair, Oct 1 - 3, we'd love to have you! Please complete the volunteer application, https://tinyurl.com/waterfordvolunteer.
There are many other opportunities to experience the joy and satisfaction of learning a heritage craft. Gift certificates are available online in $25 increments.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube! 

As always, if you have suggestions for classes, or have created something that was inspired by a Craft School workshop, we'd love to hear from you. Send your comments and images to lkovatch@waterfordfoundation.org
Thank You to Our New & Renewing Members!
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 June 2021!
New & Renewing Members: June 2021
Ms. Deborah Zungoli
Mr. George Rambo
Mr. Scott Schorr
Ms. Sherry Satin
Mr. & Ms. George & Edith Schwiekle
Mr. Eugene Couser
Our Sustaining Members are: Mr. John Caron & Ms. Nancy Doane, 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, Mr. & Mrs. Mark Sutton, Mr. & Mrs. Brandon & Clare Synge, Ms. Carrie Beach, Mr. Adam Groenhout, Ms. Christine Gleckner and Mr. Clay Steward, Mr. Michael Healy & Mr. Eric Christenson.

To become a sustaining member, click here and choose "recurring donation" to set up a monthly gift!

Stories from Waterford: Building Community through Shared Celebrations
Coming together in shared experiences and celebrations built a strong Black community in Waterford. As today’s Waterfordians come together to celebrate Independence Day with fireworks, a parade, and shared meals, we remember the celebrations and traditions of Waterford’s Black community in this excerpt from A Rock in a Weary Land, A Shelter in a Time of Storm:
Singers at John Wesley Methodist-Episcopal Church, mid 20th century.
The adults, too, took their pleasures where they could find them. More than a few mothers supervised younger children’s foraging for wild berries, cherries, apples and pears in season. Older children remember days of being off on their own but bringing home quantities of fruit to be canned for winter desserts.

Sundays meant church. “A lot of it!” according to one resident who as a child accompanied her devout mother but cast envious eyes at her father out playing baseball where the boys played during the week. But church was not all pews and prayers and preachers. In the early 20th century the congregation was still raising money to pay for the new John Wesley church, and many socials were held for that purpose. “Harvest Home” was another event, in the autumn, where the congregation’s many gardeners brough their home-canned goods and fresh produce to decorate the church, then to distribute to the needy elsewhere in the county. 

Music was a never-ending source of pleasure, inspiration and pride. John Wesley church produced more than its share of fine singers, from Annie Ferrell and her spine-tingling gospel songs, to the excellent Waterford quartet of Hiram Minor, Paul “Scoopum” Mallory, tenor Clarence Coates, and Wade Bentley, singing bass. In the 1930s the men were often heard in impromptu gatherings on the front porch of the Corner Store. They also performed throughout the county and on several occasions sang for Virginia Governor Westmoreland Davis at his estate near Leesburg. Bentley’s stepbrother, Fred Jackson, incidentally, worked as Davis’ chauffeur. 

Hiram Minor, one of Web and Annie’s seven children, had inherited his parents’ old home on Waterford’s Big Hill. Gladys Jackson Lewis fondly remembers snuggling into Grandmother Emma Gaither Robinson’s feather bed and listening to the men “up at Hiram Minor’s singing Steal Away. They’d probably had a little ‘kickapoo juice,’ as Mama used to say, but they sounded even better!” A man of many talents, Hiram was also skilled with a needle and thread, giving the village seamstresses a bit of competition.

Ed Collins, a Union drummer during the war, came home and organized a local band, the African-American counterpart to the whites’ Waterford Cornet Band. When the Independent Order of Odd Fellows held a funeral for one of its own, members in the brass band would trail the casket to the cemetery in their purple collars and caps, playing their brother to rest.


Find more memories from Waterford’s Black community in A Rock in a Weary Land, A Shelter In a Time of Storm, by Bronwen C. and John Souders. Copies are available online for purchase online at www.waterfordfoundation.org.
Waterford Foundation Offices Now Open
The staff at the Waterford Foundation are happy to finally be back in the office! Please stop in and see us anytime Tuesday-Friday, 10am-2pm. We'd love to see you!

Our staff has updated all of our policies and procedures to make sure the Old School is clean, sanitized and ready for events and programs. 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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