Mark your calendar!

 At 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 18, join other patriots at the Germanna Foundation's Brawdus Martin Germanna Visitor Center for a public reading of the United States Constitution to celebrate Constitution Day. Your participation in this patriotic event will help attending Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts work their way toward a merit badge.

This celebration is cosponsored by Germanna Community College, James Madison Museum, Liberty Heritage Society, Historic Little Fork Church, the Museum of Culpeper History, Brandy Station Foundation, Civil War Museum at the Exchange Hotel, Out of Time Teachers, Spotswood Family Descendants, Mine Run Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Orange County Tourism and Visitors Bureau, Center for Civic Education, and the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership.

Please bring 1) a lawn chair; 2) a snack to share; 3) a flag to wave, and 4) your family's copy of the United States Constitution. Scouts and members of the public will gather at the recently dedicated cloister at the Germanna Memorial Garden for the afternoon program of public reading of the Constitution led by Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts from the Virginia Piedmont, followed by special presentations. 

A rarely-seen official record of the ratification of the Constitution by the Virginia Ratification Convention will be on display on September 18^th at the Germanna Visitor Center museum.  Dated June 25, 1788, the document is signed by the President of the Virginia Ratification Convention, Edmund Pendleton. 

Marc Wheat, President of the Board of Trustees, said “The Trustees of the Germanna Foundation are grateful to the James Madison Museum and the Honorable Helen Marie Taylor of Orange County, Virginia for this special exhibit of one of the most important documents to the liberties of Virginians.”

The U.S. Constitution was drafted by the delegates at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, but it could not become effective until ratified by nine of the thirteen states.  Virginia's approval was critical - not only was Virginia the largest and most influential state, but its convention was held after eight states had voted approval of the Constitution.  Yet Patrick Henry opposed ratification, as did a number of state leaders such as George Mason.  James Madison returned to Virginia to lead the fight for ratification. 

The Virginia ratification convention lasted nearly a month, with Madison and Patrick Henry in direct conflict on every topic.  Madison prevailed on June 25, 1788, with the final vote 89-79 in favor of the new Constitution.

RSVPs are not required for this anniversary celebration, but please let us know how many in your party will attend via http://www.germanna.org/contact_us .  Free orientation tours of the Brawdus Martin Germanna Visitor Center will begin at 2:15 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public.

You are invited to underwrite this event and the public educational programs of the Germanna Foundation by contacting Melissa Hook at the Germanna Visitor Center, (540) 423-1700.  The levels of giving for the Great American Host Committee to be publicly recognized at the Celebration of the Constitution are: Supporter ($50 - $99); Patriot ($100 - $249); Minuteman ($250 - $499); and Founder ($500 and above).

The Germanna Foundation, chartered in 1956 as The Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization focused on preserving the heritage of the earliest organized settlements of Germans in colonial Virginia beginning at Fort Germanna in 1714 under the auspices of Virginia's colonial Lt. Governor Alexander Spotswood.  The Germanna Foundation owns and manages the colonial manor house “Salubria” in Culpeper County and 179 acres of the historic Germanna settlement adjacent to the Locust Grove campus of the Germanna Community College in Orange County, built on 100 acres of land given by the Germanna Foundation to the people of the Commonwealth of Virginia for that purpose in 1969. The Germanna Foundation sponsors its own Germanna Boy Scout Troop 199 of the Stonewall Jackson Area Council to transmit our ethic of stewardship and leadership to the next generation.

The Germanna Foundation's Brawdus Martin Germanna Visitor Center is located at 2062 Germanna Highway (Route 3), Locust Grove, VA 22508 next to the Germanna Community College Locust Grove Campus.  Telephone: (540) 423-1700.  Updates will be posted at http://www.germanna.org/node/387.