Winchester Area Newcomers Club
General Meeting
Guest Speakers
2022-2023
Our General Meeting with a speaker is held every month from September through May.
January
Anna Lehman
Program Coordinator for the Godfrey Miller Center
28 South Loudoun St.
Winchester, VA
Highlights from the Presentation
The mission of the the Godfrey Miller center is to serve adults of the community by providing benevolent services, fellowship programs and community events in the historic home and the Woltz pavilion.
To fulfill this mission the center has a rich smorgasbord of activities! Some examples:
Games: canasta, bridge, pinochle, ,mahjong
Classes: art, strength & conditioning exercise, bible study, computer workshops, technology help sessions
Fun: weekly luncheons, tea parties, craft workshops
…and so much more. Anna spoke enthusiastically about programs the center currently offers and that she is always happy to receive new program ideas!
The Godfrey Miller House has a fascinating history stretching back to 1785. For a full history of how Godfrey Miller's private home was given to Grace Lutheran Church as a home for elderly ladies, and then became a fellowship center for older adults, and a complete list of activities check out their website at Godfreymillercenter.org.
FEBRUARY
Kristen Laise, Executive Director
Belle Grove Plantation
Middletown, Virginia
www.bellegrove.org
Highlights from the Presentation
Kristen presented us with a powerpoint presentation that included a brief history of Belle Grove Plantation but it mainly focused on the results of the Slave Dwelling Project and the research tools used in the effort to identify all the individual slaves owned by the Hite family.
When Jost Hite married Nellie Madison, the sister of James Madison, in 1783, the couple received almost 500 acres of land in Frederick County. Their manor house still stands and Belle Grove Plantation is now a National Historical Landmark, a Virginia Historic Landmark, and a historic property of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
It is estimated that between 1783 and 1851 the Hite family owned 276 slaves, and one of the Belle Grove projects is to identify each individual slave and construct their family trees using the Hite family papers, wills, court documents, and census records, just to name a few.
Kristen spoke about the archeological dig in the area where the old slave quarters stood that has yielded over 60,000 artifacts. New technology helps researchers interpret such finds, the most fascinating one that Kristen mentioned was seeds. At some point in time on the site, there was a fire that inadvertently led to the preservation of seeds. These seeds can now be analyzed on a level that reveals what kind of seeds they were and thus giving historians specific information about what crops were grown at the time.
Of particular interest to members in the audience this morning was Kristen’s description of the Stitch-A-Name Quilt Project sponsored by Belle Grove and the Winchester Embroidery Guild. Each quilt block will have the embroidered name of a slave, including family relationships if possible. Over 270 slave men, women and children will be remembered on this quilt!
Kristen pointed out the many ways to volunteer at Belle Grove Plantation, including gardening, docent work and volunteering in the museum shop. She also listed a plethora of events and activities open to the public.
The Belle Grove Plantation website (bellegrove.org) is incredibly rich with information. To read in detail about the powerful, fascinating and textured stories that can now be told about individual slaves and their families and life on the plantation, check out in particular:
https://www.bellegrove.org/about/enslaved
https://www.bellegrove.org/about/enslaved/the-slave-dwelling-project
For a Virtual Tour :
MARCH
Sharen E. Gromling
President of the Shenandoah Apple Festival
Highlights from the Presentation
Sharen has been a volunteer for the Shenandoah Apple Festival for 43 years, and is now in her second year as President.
After all these years of service, Sharen is still enthusiastic about volunteering because she believes that the Winchester community spirit is very special! The Shenandoah Apple Festival has been a tradition since 1924 and for which we, the community, open our doors and welcome everyone to come and celebrate. Sharen loves the fact that for 10 days Winchester transforms itself into a land of pink and green, a brief moment in which time is suspended for young and old to enjoy fun, pageantry, and parades.
This year there will be over 50 events! The full event calendar can be viewed at https://www.thebloom.com/.
Sharen spoke about the rich history of the festival attendees. The list of celebrities that have served in various capacities is impressive. The list includes Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Lucille Ball, just to name a few! Check out the whole list here:
https://www.thebloom.com/past-celebrities.html
Past Queens have included 2 President’s daughters; Lyndon Johnson’s daughter Lucy in 1964, and Gerald Ford’s daughter Susan in 1975.
The Queen for this year is Isabella Astin, daughter of actor Sean Astin (Samwise Gangee of “The Lord of the Rings”). Isabella is his youngest daughter, the older two were Queen in 2014 and 2018. The whole Astin family is coming in from California for the event.
The Apple Blossom Festival has added some new events this year. To name a few, an Esport Tournament, Pickleball Tournament, Wheelchair Race added to the 10K, Teen Dance and a Fiesta Latina which will be free to the public.
It takes 2000 volunteers to organize and run the Apple Blossom Festival. The Festival is expensive to fund. It costs about $2 million with $100,000 used to cover celebrities. A great deal of the revenue comes from 2 events, the 10 day Carnival in Ward Plaza and the 2 day Wine Festival. Rain is always a factor, and over the years many events have been moved to indoor venues.
Many events require tickets. In the past, tickets were sold in several locations in Winchester, but are now only available on-line. The events that usually sell out quickly are the Friday luncheons and this year, probably the Contemporary Christian Concert that closes out the Festival.
Sharen highlighted a new partnership with Sherando High School. The art class has published an Apple Blossom Festival children’s coloring book. All the proceeds will go back to the art department.
The Apple Blossom Festival is truly a community event and it has something for everyone!.
Guest Speakers
2022
Tonia Sweeney
Director of Volunteers for Blue Ridge Hospice
http://brhospice.org/about-us?
Mike Robinson
Local author of “Winchester Tales.”
Elizabeth Albert
Managing Director
Shenandoah Theater Summer Music Program
https://www.su.edu/conservatory
Sabra Veach
President of the Winchester Lions Club
Karen Rice
Director of Continuing Education & Lifelong Learning
Shepherd University, Shepherdstown, WV
shepherd.edu/lifelonglearning
krice@shepherd.edu
Stacy McFarland & Jill Johnson
American Red Cross
Redcross.org
Dr. Donna Michel
Winchester Medical Center “Walk with a Doc Program”
https://walkwithadoc.org/join-a-walk/locations/winchester/