President: Howard Lambert; Vice President: Gregory A. Mertz; Treasurers: Peter Mocarski and Peggy Mocarski; Secretary: Peggy Misch (newsletter editor)
Board of Directors: Elicia Belle, Jane Brookins, Don Carlson, Helen Geisler, Wilfredo Golez, Myra Lane, Larry Pullen, and Paul Warmack
Photo left: The Wilderness Run Players at the Graffiti House
Brandy Station Foundation Holiday Open House, December 7th
The Board of the Brandy Station Foundation thanks its members
and friends for their support. Our open house will be on Saturday,
December 7th, from 1:00 to 4:00 PM
The Open House features the Wilderness Run Players’ holiday
dulcimer music and refreshments.
All are welcome. Please mark your calendars for music, food and a
time for meeting old friends and making new ones.
The Graffiti House is located at 19484 Brandy Road in Brandy Station, VA
22714 and will be decked out for the festivities. The Graffiti House will be open
for tours beginning at noon.
The Brandy Station Foundation is a non-profit 501 (C) 3 organization and for
more information, please visit www.brandystationfoundation.com or call
540.727.7718.
President’s Corner
The Foundation's foundation project at the Graffiti House is underway.
Greetings,
Happy Holidays. It has been a pleasure to serve as the President of the Brandy
Station Foundation for another year. We have continued to make great progress in several areas over the last twelve months. First, on behalf of the Board of the
Brandy Station Foundation, I would like to thank you for your support. It is
through your membership and support of the Brandy Station Foundation that we are able to tell our story to visitors each year. I would also like to thank our
greeters, guides, speakers, exhibitors, volunteers, members of the Advisory
Committee as well as each and every member of the Board of Directors for
making 2024 another very successful year.
In my message to you in December of 2023, I requested your assistance in
making significant improvements to the Graffiti. At that time, we had sought and received funding from the Culpeper Board of Supervisors and the Northern
Piedmont Community Foundation to initiate several projects. However, our goal
was to raise additional funds to fully fund several important projects. I am
pleased to report that many of the projects have been completed or are nearing
its conclusion. Specifically, the weather boards on the exterior of the Graffiti
House were either repaired or replaced and the entire house repainted. We have
initiated work to repair the foundation of the Graffiti House which should conclude in the next few weeks.
We renovated the main bathroom to make it compliant with American with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements, replaced the hot water heater and made significant repairs to the heating and AC unit. As we look to 2025, additional improvements are planned including replacing the flooring in several areas of the Graffiti House. Additionally, we continue to make progress on updating our media to make the graffiti on the second floor more accessible to individuals with disabilities. I would like to also add that two additional historical markers were installed near the flag poles as part of the Civil War Trails program.
Over the last year, we can take great pride in all that has been accomplished.
We enjoyed another active year with speakers and events throughout the year
starting with Dr. Michael Hill speaking at our Annual Meeting in April. Some of the additional speakers during the year included Gene Schmiel, Ph.D., Greg Elder, Chief Historian with the Defense Intelligence Agency, Reverend Adrian Sledge and members of the 23rd USCT reenactment group as part of a living history event during the Brandy Station Foundation’s Open House in June. The Brandy Station Foundation, for the very first time, hosted a 5K and 10K race near the Culpeper Regional Airport. It was a highly successful event with over 50 runners taking part. Once again, the Brandy Station Foundation hosted Spirits of the Graffiti House. It was well attended with over seventy visitors.
However, the biggest event of 2024 was the dedication of the Culpeper Battlefield State Park at Brandy Station. The park was the culmination of years of hard work by members of the Brandy Station Foundation, the American Battlefield Trust, many other preservation organizations, the local community and support from state officials. On a beautiful day in June, the park was finally dedicated on Fleetwood Hill. The keynote speaker was Governor Glenn Youngkin and in attendance were members of the American Battlefield Trust and a number of state and local officials.
Governor Glenn Youngkin on Fleetwood Hill for the opening of Culpeper
Battlefields State Park on June 8, 2024
As we close out 2024, the Brandy Station Foundation will be participating again
this year in the Pohanka Christmas Tree Challenge fundraiser for nonprofits to be held at Pohanka Nissan of Fredericksburg on December 14th. The event is
hosted by the family of the late Brian Pohanka, a former member of the Brandy
Station Foundation. I would like to encourage you to visit their online website and submit a bid on the Brandy Station Foundation Christmas tree. For more
information about the auction items and delivery, please contact Shaindel Arana
by email at sarana@pohanka.com or call 540-322-5355. The Foundation will
close out the year with our Annual Holiday Open House Party at the Graffiti House on December 7th from 1 – 4 PM. There will be plenty of holiday fare and music by the Wilderness Run Players. We look forward to seeing you at this annual event.
In closing, it is with great excitement that we look forward to 2025. We anticipate wrapping up many of the improvements to the Graffiti House. Plans are already underway to improve our displays and exhibits throughout the house and accommodate visitors unable to tour the graffiti upstairs. In addition, we are planning to host a robust list of speakers, events and activities in the months ahead. To accomplish much of what we have planned requires additional resources. The Brandy Station Foundation is seeking volunteers to assist with greeting our visitors and those who would like to give tours. If you are unable to serve in the capacity of greeter or tour guide and know someone who might be interested, please let us know. Training will be provided to all those interested in volunteering. And finally, if you have an area of expertise in any field do let us know. We are always looking to expand our knowledge base and be more effective in carrying out our duties and responsibilities as members of the Brandy Station Foundation whether you are in the IT field or would like to be a guest speaker at one of our guest speaker programs. Once again, thank you for your support and looking forward to seeing you at one of our upcoming events.
Howard Lambert
President, Brandy Station Foundation
Brandy Station Foundation participation in NEH grant “Off the Wall: Digital Preservation of Civil War Graffiti Houses.”
The Bandy Station Foundation has been participating in the planning phase of
a National Endowment for the Humanities grant for a project called "Off the Wall: Digital Preservation of Civil War Graffiti Houses." The deadline for the application for the $350,000 follow-on Implementation grant application was July 18, 2023. In April of this year, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced $26.2 million in grants for 238 humanities projects across the country.
The announcement included funding for the implementation of the “Off the Wall: Digital Preservation of Civil War Graffiti Houses” project at George Mason
University that will create a digital archive of graffiti left behind by Union and
Confederate soldiers at historical sites in Northern Virginia, containing individuals’ names, hometowns, regimental units, jokes, political statements, Bible verses, and pleas for help, offering a unique window into Civil War military service.
The three year project will take places between 2024 and 2027. The Roy
Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media (RRCHNM) at George Mason
University, in collaboration with six local partners – the Office of Historic
Resources, City of Fairfax, Virginia; the Brandy Station Foundation; the Office of Historic Preservation, Prince William County; the Manassas Museum System;
NOVA Parks; and the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation had requested
an Implementation grant in the amount of $350,000 for this project. These funds will support the building and publishing of a digital archive focused on soldiers’ graffiti found in Civil War-era structures located in the greater Northern Virginia region operated by our six local project partners. The digital archive will provide scholars, students, and the public access to not only the graffiti, but also to a reasonably large collection of ancillary archival material associated with the graffiti. Taken together, the resources in this digital collection will provide users – both the general public and scholars – with a digital resource that offers unique and often unexpected insights into the lived experience of war in America from 1861-1865. The project will also solve a thorny metadata problem related to image mapping on vertical surfaces.
In a letter of support for the grant application deed June 12, 2023, BSF President
Howard Lambert wrote:
“The Brandy Station Foundation wants to participate in applying for a National
Endowment for the Humanities Preservation and Access Implementation grant.
We understand that the grant funds for “Off the Wall: Digital Preservation of Civil War Graffiti Houses” will support the building of a digital archive focused on soldiers’ graffiti found in Civil War-era structures located in the greater Northern Virginia region.
The Brandy Station Foundation is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization and
relies on donations for its preservation and education endeavors. Major funding
comes from individual donations and grants. Foundation memberships as well as gift shop sales and donations by visitors to the Graffiti House also provide needed funds for the Foundation and the maintenance of its Graffiti House.”
Giving Tuesday, December 3, 2024
Giving Tuesday is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. GivingTuesday was created in
2012. As a nonprofit, we would be grateful for your support on that day.
The Mightycause platform provides a chance for nonprofits to raise extra funds in addition to the dollars raised in the campaign.
Here is the link:
On Giving Tuesday, donations may also be made directly on the Brandy Station
Foundation website: https://www.brandystationfoundation.com/donate
or, a check made out to Brandy Station Foundation may be sent to this address:
Brandy Station Foundation, P.O. Box 165, Brandy Station, VA 22714-0165
Thank you!
2024 Christmas Tree Challenge
This year the BSF is participating for the second year is a non-profit fundraising
event called The Christmas Tree Challenge sponsored by Pohanka Nissan of
Fredericksburg Dealership. On December 14th, there will be an auction gala night.
This event is dedicated to raising funds to assist nonprofit organizations that live
in the area and are legally established as 501(c)3. Free four-foot trees were
distributed to participants who then decided on a theme, decorated the tree, and
reached out to area merchants and individuals for commitments for donations.
BSF President Howard Lambert, BSF Board members Elicia Belle and Myra Lane, as well as BSF Advisory Committee member Betty Franklin are on the committee for this project
Spirits of the Graffiti House
Kim Lillard, left, with Amy Warmack & Paul Warmack of Culpeper Paranormal.
“Spirits of the Graffiti House” was held at the Graffiti House on October 18th. Members of Paranormal Culpeper Paranormal displayed their paranormal investigation equipment and shared their findings from various locations. Tours of
graffiti were given in the upstairs rooms of the Graffiti House and stories were shared around a bonfire behind the house. Culpeper Paranormal conducted a
raffle to investigate with them on a date to be determined with the winner.
Culpeper Paranormal kindly donated the proceeds of the raffle to the Brandy
Station Foundation.