Welcome to the Fort Germanna Visitor Center.
Well I've come to the Fort Germanna Visitor Center to learn about Fort Germanna.
So let's go inside and see what we can find. When you come to the Fort Germanna Visitor Center, you
will find a room that has several displays around the outside of the room. These displays tell the
history of Fort Germanna. In 1711 german miners and metal workers were recruited in Germany to come to
America. This group of Germans came to America and settled at what was known as Fort Germanna
in 1714. This is depicted in the first four panels that you see here at the visitors center.
These Germans built Fort Germanna, which was a five-sided fort with one row of houses
and a block house in the center. they have descriptions of this in some letters that
were set during the time period. Now at the time they built Fort Germanna,
it was the western most settlement in Virginia. That's kind of hard to believe these days.
In 1717 another group of Germans came to Fort Germanna. Their story is told in panels five and six.
The 1717 colonists settled near Fort Germanna on the west bank of the Rapidan River in 1720.
Governor Spotswood came to Fort Germanna, and had the palisade walls torn down,
and he began construction on his great mansion which he called the Enchanted Castle. In 1749 the
Enchanted Castle burned to the ground. This was the end of Fort Germanna and the Enchanted Castle.
Now the site is an archaeology site. The Fort Germanna Visitors Center has a spiral staircase
that leads to an observation deck. On this observation deck you can look out,
and see the archaeology center, and a grave, and behind these two things you can see
the woods, and through those woods they have trails that lead down to the river that you can hike on.
Well now let's go over to the archaeological center, and see what things they have in there.
In the archaeology center, they have a discovery table for children, where they can pick up and hold
artifacts that have been reproduced. These aren't the originals, so that children can learn about
archaeology, and the types of things that they are finding at the site of the enchanted castle.
Here at the archaeology center, they have several displays of items that they have found
on the site during their digs.
At the archaeology center you can also see their workspaces, and desks, and watch them work as they
analyze the artifacts they find. The day I was there, one of their staff members were painting
reproductions of some of the items that they had found during their digs.
Currently you cannot visit the archaeology site where they're doing the digs. This site
is located on the other side of the main road and it is only open on certain days,
when they invite the public to their digs. Well I found the archaeological center quite interesting,
and it was nice to see the people who actually work here doing things.
They actually have Governor Spotswood's son buried on the property here. That's pretty amazing.
Also at the Fort Germanna Visitor Center, they have a small research library where people can come
and learn about their ancestors, who may have been among the original settlers at Fort Germanna. Well
I hope you've enjoyed our visit to Fort Germanna Visitor Center. This place was fascinating with
all the information I learned. Part of history most people don't even hear about. Governor Spotswood
had another fort built in 1714, and I have made a video about this fort, Fort Christanna, and you
can find the link to that video right here, or you can subscribe to my channel. thank you.