Press release
What: Lovettsville Historical Society Fall 2022 Mini-Course— Where We Live: The German Settlement
When: Monday nights October 3, 10, 17, and 24 from 6:30-9:00 p.m..
Where: Meeting at the Lovettsville Museum, 4 E. Pennsylvania Avenue, Lovettsville VA 20180
The Lovettsville Historical Society and Museum will be offering a fall mini-course in the field this autumn, offered on Monday nights October 3, 10, 17, and 24. Entitled Where We Live: The German Settlement¸ the four-session course will use the Lovettsville Museum, the Town of Lovettsville, and the surrounding German Settlement of Northern Loudoun to better familiarize local residents with the history, artifacts, stories, and key historic sites of their neighborhood.
Conceived and co-taught by Lovettsville Historical Society Board members Rich Gillespie and Mike Zapf,
Each session of the class will be partly in the museum, partly on the road in the Lovettsville area. “Our community has many long-time families, some dating back to the mid-18th century,” says Rich Gillespie.
“Among long-time residents, there is a fundamental understanding of place, of landmarks, of the basic arc of our local history, of its stories. Remember the airline crash outside Lovettsville? Those Union Civil War encampments around town? The Revolutionary War veterans from the German settlement? That Confederate guerilla Mobberly who pistol-whipped the Virts girl? The whiskey distillery over to Taylorstown by the bend in the creek? When they come into the museum on Saturday afternoons, those stories are known and much on display has a basic familiarity. But Loudoun has long been growing and changing, Lovettsville and the German Settlement with it. Our population today are mostly “new people”—people helping our community keep vibrant with new ideas and new enthusiasm, but who haven’t been given the opportunity to know that history. We want to widen the group who ‘gets’ the German Settlement’s Heritage and appreciates the insider stories, places, and history that’s here. Adding to our monthly lecture series on topics of local historical interest, we thought a course in the field might be an exciting and fun way to go to reach folks.”
The four sessions are not sold individually, but rather as a package, because the sessions build on each other.
“We hope people who sign up for the class can come to the majority of sessions, though we understand that most will miss a class or two,” said Gillespie. “We’d like to build a community of fellow learners who think a fall night would be a great time to go exploring and learning.” The class will use the Lovettsville Museum at 4 East Pennsylvania Avenue in Lovettsville as a base of operations, then use local cemeteries, in-town structures and landmarks, and key satellite villages such as Tankerville, Taylorstown, George’s Mill, and Morrisonville to make sense of our local area. Each session will be a mix of teaching and exploring.
To sign up for the class, go online to www.lovettsvillehistoricalsociety.com where you can learn more. The cost of the class is $50.00 and will be used to help with the Lovettsville Museum’s upcoming expansion.
or Visit the new Lovettsville Historical Society & Museum Square Store to reserve your spot and view other items for sale!
For further information, contact:
Edward Spannaus 540-822-9194, or 703-727-9758