Germanna Community College, in cooperation with The Orange County Historical Society, The Museum of Culpeper History, and The Germanna Foundation, present a lecture by Frank S. Walker, Jr.: “James Madison: His Life, His Wife, and His House on the Hill.”  The lecture will take place on Tuesday, October 19, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. in Room 104B/C at the Germanna Community College Joseph R. Daniel Technology Center, 18121 Technology Drive, Culpeper, VA 22701 540-937-2916.

The inaugural lecture in this series, “Germanna, Orange County & Westward Expansion” was delivered by Mr. Walker at the Locust Grove Campus of Germanna Community College on October 9th during GermannaFest.  GermannaFest was the 40th anniversary celebration at the Locust Grove Campus honoring the 14,000 students who have attended Germanna Community College since its founding was made possible by a donation of 100 acres of land by the Germanna Foundation.

Frank Stringfellow Walker, Jr. was born and raised in Madison County, Virginia, just across the Rapidan River that divides Madison and Orange counties. He was the fourth generation of Walkers to live at Rosni, the dairy farm that had been in the family since it was purchased in 1805 from the heirs of Francis Madison, brother of the President. Although history was not an everyday topic of conversation in his childhood home, the family was steeped in history. On his mother’s side Mr. Walker can trace his lineage to Thomas Jefferson; and on his father’s side to Robert Stringfellow Walker, a Confederate cavalry captain with Mosby’s Rangers. When the Civil War was over, Captain Walker married and had six sons, and together with his wife and sister established Woodberry Forest School, a nationally renowned college preparatory school for boys in Madison County.

Mr. Walker was educated at Woodberry Forest, Virginia Tech (BS in agronomy) and the University of Virginia (MBA & JD). After a couple of decades as a farmer, followed by over a decade practicing law, Mr. Walker decided in 1994 to pursue yet another profession. His growing knowledge of local history became a calling. Looking around where he had lived all his life, he saw significant heritage at every turn, but many people knew little of that rich heritage, while growth and development threatened to overshadow, if not erase, the evidences of it. Mr. Walker established Tourguide, Ltd., and as a freelance tour guide, speaker and writer, began sharing his accumulated knowledge of the region with both locals and visitors.

He is motivated by the belief that as more people become aware of Orange’s heritage, they will join in the effort to promote and protect it for the next generation, even in the face of inevitable growth and development.