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Quarterly Newsletter, October 2021
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VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT of HISTORIC RESOURCES
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*New Listings, Virginia Landmarks Register *New Historical Markers *Ask an Archaeologist
*New Easements *Other News & Announcements *New DHR staff members
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We are delighted to announce that DHR is now part of the Secretariat of Natural and Historic Resources, a name change that took effect on July 1. Meanwhile, in mid-September, DHR and the Northam Administration bid adieu to outgoing Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources Matt Strickler, who is pursuing new opportunities with the Biden administration in DC. On Sept. 22, Governor Northam announced the appointment of Ann Jennings as our new NHR Secretary. Jennings has served as the Deputy Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources with primary responsibility for the Chesapeake Bay. Secretary Strickler was a staunch and passionate advocate of historic resources and DHR's mission. I thoroughly enjoyed working closely with him and his staff on numerous initiatives including the successful effort to rename our secretariat to include “Historic Resources.” That said, I can’t think of a more perfect candidate to step into leadership of the Secretariat of Natural and Historic Resources than Ann Jennings. I’m looking forward to collaborating with Secretary Jennings and the rest of the NHR team as we prepare for the upcoming transition and General Assembly session.
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--Julie V. Langan, Director, DHR
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VLR listings are in the counties of Amherst, Campbell, Fauquier (2), Gloucester, Henrico, Richmond and Roanoke.
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Eight Historic Sites Added,
Virginia Landmarks Register, Sept. 2021
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Among eight places listed in September on the Virginia Landmarks Register (VLR) are two historic districts originally spurred into existence during the past century’s World Wars, a frontier tavern opened in the 1760s, a grist mill that operated into the 21st century, and a Boy Scout cabin built in the 1930s by the Works Progress Administration.
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Markers cover topics in the counties of Bath, Charles City, Chesterfield (2), Lancaster (2), Rappahannock, and Rockingham; and the cities of Alexandria, Charlottesville (3), Falls Church, Norfolk, Salem, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, and Winchester
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18 Historical Markers Approved, Sept. 2021
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Among 18 new historical markers coming to state roadsides are signs highlighting the first African American to play in a National Basketball Association game, a segregated campground for Blacks established in the late 1930s, and five markers resulting from a student contest in May sponsored by Gov. Northam and the Virginia Department of Education to nominate topics pertaining to the heritage of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Virginia
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October: Virginia Archaeology Month
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The theme of DHR’s 2021 Archaeology Month poster is “Black Scholarship Across Time” and it features an historic image (from UVa’s Jackson Davis Collection) of students and teachers in a classroom circa 1930 (the school is not identified) and a recent photograph of archaeologists excavating a pit at the Woodville (Rosenwald) School in Gloucester County. The flip side of the poster presents a compilation of 63 Black segregation-era schools listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places. DHR is currently compiling an October Calendar of Events for Archaeology Month that we will post to our website. For more information about archaeology month, or to add an event to the calendar contact Laura Galke, Chief Curator, State Archaeology Division (804 /482-6441). To receive a free copy of this year’s poster, please fill out the form here.
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Ask an Archaeologist: Points Collected in Isle of Wight County
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Dear Mr. Clem,
My name is Rhodes D., and I am 9 years old.
This is a picture of my grandfather’s arrow heads. This year I’m studying Native Americans. Read more . . .
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After Dam Removal, Archaeology at Jordan’s Point, Maury River, Lexington
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Revelations of an Early Industrial Landscape
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The Maury River is neither deep nor wide where it rolls past Jordan’s Point. Only a couple hundred yards south, and up a steep wooded slope, cadets at Virginia Military Institute busily stride between the pale-olive buildings of the post. To the east, lazy traffic buzzes over the Route (US) 11 bridge and into downtown Lexington. Federal-style red brick shops and houses line the town’s streets, none of them level. Read more . . .
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Above is a much reduced image gathered via drone. It consists of several dozen images that have been mosaicked together to form this landscape photograph. About a quarter mile of the Maury River is captured here. It shows the upper dam once used to shunt water into a canal and lock at Jordan's Point. Image mosaicking courtesy of Emily Jane Murray, Florida Public Archaeology Network.
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Four Battlefield Easements Donated, July–September 2021
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DHR recorded four new easements from July through September 2021 donated to the Virginia Board of Historic Resources. All of them protect portions of Civil War battlefields and were partially funded by the American Battlefield Protection Program and the Virginia Battlefield Preservation Fund. Conveyance of a perpetual easement on a targeted property is a condition of these grants.
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River Road, New Market Battlefield, Shenandoah Co. (13.39 acres)
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Long Bridge Road Tract, Deep Bottom I Battlefield, Henrico Co. (38.5 acres)
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- Pardue Tract, Second Manassas Battlefield, Prince William Co. (5.8617 acres)
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Cedar Run Tract, Cedar Mountain Battlefield, Culpeper Co. (86.5 acres)
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Supplement for A Guidebook to Virginia’s African American Historical Markers
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Since the publication in 2019 of A Guidebook to Virginia’s African American Historical Markers, the Virginia Board of Historic Resources has approved 75 new state markers about people, places, or events in Virginia’s Black history. Consisting of the texts of 309 markers, the Guidebook is current through June 2019. DHR now offers a PDF that reproduces the texts of the 75 more recent markers. Designed by DHR's James Hare to match the 2019 book’s appearance and current through June 2021, the PDF is available for free in two different formats. Read more and download the supplement.
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Screenshot of the Places Explorer interactive map.
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DHR’s Places Explorer, Interactive Map
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As part of DHR's booth exhibit at this year's State Fair, DHR has launched a beta version of an interactive map called Places Explorer. The application is designed as a simple way for the people to learn about history and places using DHR’s inventory of registers-listed sites and historic district as well as Virginia's historical highway markers. We expect public (and DHR staff) feedback will helpful in future decisions about refining the app. The Places Explorer app is the handiwork of DHR's esteemed Jolene Smith, director, of DHR's Survey & Information Management Division.
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Other Announcements:
- In addition to Facebook, you can find DHR on Twitter, and Instagram. Please join us there
- DHR Announces 2021 Virginia Battlefield Preservation Grants to Protect 441 Acres. Targeted tracts are in the counties of Augusta, Henrico, Shenandoah, and Spotsylvania.
- African American Watermen Project: The renowned seafood industry of the Chesapeake Bay would not have been possible without the contributions of generations of African Americans. Today, many of the places associated with this legacy are disappearing. To address this threat, DHR is partnering with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the National Park Service Chesapeake Bay, and the Chesapeake Conservation Partnership to document African American watermen culture in Virginia’s coastal communities. If you have information to share about places or people related the history and legacy of African American watermen, please use this comment form.
- Regulations Governing Contextualization of Monuments or Memorials for Certain War Veterans: Draft regulations for contextualization of monuments or memorials have been approved by the Virginia Board of Historic Resources and promulgation of the regulations has been initiated on Virginia’s Town Hall website.
- National Park Service Awards Grant to James Solomon Russell–Saint Paul’s College Museum & Archives in Brunswick County. The National Park Service awarded the James Solomon Russell–Saint Paul’s College Museum and Archives in the Brunswick County seat of Lawrenceville a $46,970 Underrepresented Community Grant to expand and update its historical records and documentation about St. Paul’s, a historically Black college dating to the 1880s that closed in 2013, and the county. DHR will disburse and administer the NPS grant.
- One Virginia: DHR’s Strategic Plan for Inclusive Excellence: Gov. Northam’s Executive Order One requires that agencies take affirmative measures to enable and encourage the recruitment of a diverse staff. Additionally, as part of the Special 2021 Session of the Virginia General Assembly, Chapter 168 of the Virginia Acts of Assembly mandates that agencies create a complete diversity, equity, and inclusion plan in coordination with the Governor’s Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Developed its plan in accordance with these guiding documents from the Governor and the GA.
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Introducing DHR's New Full-Time Staff Membersositions:
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Effective October 11, Jonathan Connolly starts at DHR as our new Project Review Archaeologist within the Review & Compliance Division. Connally received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from California State University–Chico. He began his archaeological career with the US Forest Service, starting as a field technician and, eventually, became a District Archaeologist. He continued his career with the Bureau of Reclamation as a Staff Archaeologist in the Mid-Pacific Regional Office. After working out west, he transferred to the National Park Service and served as the Cultural Resource Management Specialist for Colonial National Historical Park. He currently lives in Yorktown and has three children. He enjoys kayaking, biking, as well as 17th-early and 18th-century living history and reenactment.
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Effective August 23, Jason Kramer started as our newest Archives & Survey Assistant in the Survey & Information Management Division. Kramer graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a bachelor's degree in anthropology. He has lived in Virginia all his life. Outside of work and school, he spends his free time either playing video games or getting together with friends to play Dungeons & Dragons.
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Effective August 30, Kyle Edwards came onboard as our new Easement Program Archeologist within the Preservation Incentives Division. Edwards is an historical archaeologist whose research interest is the 18th- and 19th-century Chesapeake, with a focus on plantation landscapes. Prior to joining DHR, Edwards worked as an archaeologist for the Delaware Department of Transportation and Dovetail Cultural Resources Group. He began his career as an archaeologist at the College of William & Mary before receiving an MA in Historical Archaeology from the University of Massachusetts, Boston and an MA in Anthropology at the University of Virginia. He is currently completing his Ph.D. at UVA, conducting research on the development of the plantation landscape at James Monroe's Highland near Charlottesville. When not doing archaeology, Kyle likes to explore Virginia with his wife and toddler, which sometimes also includes archaeology.
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DHR is also thrilled to announce two (much needed) entirely new positions we recently filled:
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Beginning in July, Tim Roberts accepted the newly-created Community Outreach Coordinator position. In this new role, Tim will focus on African American and Virginia Indian constituencies with the goal of increasing the number of culturally-associated properties in VCRIS. Funding allows for a $50,000 annual grant program as well as an equal amount for interns from HBCU's.
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Roberts formerly served as DHR Project Review Archaeologist in the Review and Compliance Division. Tim Roberts can be contacted via email (tim.roberts@dhr.virginia.gov).
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Beginning October 10, Elizabeth Lipford, a longtime register program Preservation Specialist in the Eastern Region Preservation Office will step into a newly-created position as an Easement Stewardship Specialist in the Preservation Incentives Division. In announcing Lipford's new role, DHR Director Julie V. Langan said, "[Elizabeth] is highly valued for her depth of experience and familiarity with all of our core programs. Given her background, Elizabeth is well-prepared to interface directly with owners of easement properties, providing them with guidance on a wide range of programs while encouraging and guiding their stewardship efforts."
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Have a great autumn! We will report back to you in December after DHR's next joint quarterly meeting of the Virginia Board of Historic Resources and the State Review Board, scheduled for Thursday, December 9.
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