Salubria - Its History and Its Future
by Michael Frost, Kathy Ellis and Gordon Lohr
Salubria is the name of the 18th century manor house built by Reverend John Thompson as he wooed a widow named Butler Brayne Spotswood. Germanna is privileged to be the owner and caretaker of this property and is working hard to preserve and enhance this treasure. To read about the exciting preservation and research work being done at Salubria, click here. Michael Frost, Kathy Ellis and Gordon Lohr are spearheading the efforts to preserve this historical jewel and they will be sharing their considerable insights in this presentation. What will you learn from this presentation?
Who was the Reverend John Thompson?
Why did he really build Salubria?
Do we know who were the crafstmen that physically built Salubria?
When did he build Salubria?
Who was Butler Brayne Spotswood? What relationship was she to Lt. Governor Alexander Spotswood?
What interesting events took place at Salubria over the years?
What interesting people have lived at Salubria?
What are learning about the construction of Salubria?
How does Salubria fit in with the general history of colonial Virginia?
What are the Germanna connections with Salubria?
How did Germanna obtain Salubria?
What efforts are currently being done to study Salubria?
What experts are helping in the study of Salubria?
What fascinating insights have we already learned about Salubria?
What might we expect to learn from future studies of Salubria?
What steps are being taken to preserve the historical integrity of Salubria?
What steps need to be taken to more fully understand Salubria?
What does Salubria promise to teach us?
To get the answers to these questions and many more, just plan on attending the Salubria presentation on July 17 at the 2010 Germanna Conference and Reunion.
Every old house quietly holds its own secrets until someone searches them out. Often there are legends that must be either proven or discounted. The Salubria Preservation & Restoration Committee, chaired by Dr. Michael Frost, was formed by the Germanna Foundation Trustees in 2009 with subcommittees directed to address specific issues at Salubria, including researching the legends attached to Salubria. The Committee has been very busy, and we now have answers to the mystery of Salubria.
What is the mystery of Salubria?
For many years, oral history hinted that Salubria was built in 1742 as a wedding gift from the Rev. John Thompson to his new bride, Butler Brayne Spotswood. No documentation, however, has been found to support this, and respected architectural historians have even put the date as late as 1763. Exactly when was Salubria constructed? How old is this great old lady?
What are some of the clues?
To add to the mystery, a brick inscribed with the lettering "MG1757" was found when Salubria's upstairs interior wall was demolished around 1950. What does that mean? How could this mystery be solved? After consulting with experts, including Colonial Williamsburg, the Salubria P&R Committee selected Dr. Dan Miles of Oxford Dendrochronology to take core samples of Salubria's structural beams.
What will this tell us?
Dr. Miles has developed dendrochronology technology which compares wood core samples to tree rings compiled into a data base of other 18th century homes. The precise year that the tree was fashioned into the main beam at Salubria can thus be identified. Dr. Miles' expertise is respected and used by prominent historians from all over the country.
So what did Dr. Miles find out about Salubria?
After taking samples from Salubria's attic, basement, original window frames, and the support beams of the interior (not original) staircase, Dr. Miles is well on his way to providing a definitive report to the Germanna Foundation. The age of these timbers, and thus of Salubria's construction and the subsequent replacement of the staircase, will solve a long-standing mystery with 21st Century technology.
And . . .
The date of Salubria's construction will be announced at Salubria on July 17, 2010 immediately following the Auction at Salubria.
You will want to be there for this historic announcement!
But there’s more:
Dr. Frost and Kathy Ellis will present Salubria: It's History & Future at 3:10 PM, at the Saturday Germanna Conference, click here for more details on their presentation.
At 6:00 p.m., just prior to the Saturday Banquet and Auction, a walking tour of house and grounds will reveal new details we've learned both about Salubria's construction and its historic gardens. Come hear the results of research on Salubria’s gardens done by the Garden Club of Virginia 2010 Rieley Fellow, Sonia Brenner.
TO REGISTER FOR THE 2010 CONFERENCE AND REUNION, JUST CLICK HERE
Who are Michael Frost, Kathy Ellis and Gordon Lohr?
Michael Frost
Michael D. Frost, PhD was elected to the Germanna Foundation Board of Trustees in the Spring of 1997, and has remained very active with Germanna since. Michael descends from Governor Alexander and Lady Spotswood through their son, Colonel John Spotswood, who is buried in the Memorial Garden of the Visitor's Center of the Germanna Foundation.
Michael chairs two committees for the Germanna Foundation Board of Trustees: the Memorial Garden Committee of the Visitor's Center, and the Preservation and Utilization Committee of Salubria, home of Lady Spotswood near Culpepper, VA.
Michael is Secretary General for the National Council of the Jamestowne Society, President of the Spotswood Descendants Society, member of the Order of Colonial Cavaliers of Virginia, member of Colonial Clergymen, member of the Board of Directors for both the Kansas City Ballet and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. Michael is the past CEO and owner of the Educational Resources, Inc, an international publishing company of diagnostic testing for colleges of nursing.
Dr. Frost was a practicing psychologist in Kansas City to adolescent boys with school adjustment problems until he founded his Kansas City publishing company in 1973. Since his sale of the publishing house and his retirement in June of 2008, Michael and his wife, Ginger, live part of each month in Kansas City and La Jolla, California where they remain active with the opera, ballet and symphony. Michael remains very active with his lineage societies in Virginia and with the mission of the Germanna Foundation.
Kathy Ellis
Kathy Ellis is a Crigler descendant (with a splash of Spilman) on her mother's side. She grew up in Ashland, Va., but has many happy memories of her maternal grandparents' Culpeper farm, Clifton. Kathy earned a BA in Biology at Randolph Macon Woman's College followed by a BS in Nursing from Medical College of Virginia and thereafter worked as a registered nurse. Her love of history led her to serve as a docent at the APVA's Scotchtown, Patrick Henry's home in Hanover, for over 15 years. There she developed a special interest in historic textiles.
Kathy has been married to Robert Ellis, a Civil Engineer, for 36 years and they have 2 sons. In 2006, with the boys grown and gone, Kathy and Robert prepared to move to Clifton Farm, which had been vacant for more than a decade. They presented the unrestored house as a case study at the APVA's 2006 Restore Virginia conference. Since that time, they have worked to rehabilitate the house and preserve its story with their combined talents of civil engineering and love of history. The oral history provided by Kathy's Crigler mother, born and raised at Clifton, has been indispensable. Lessons learned are: (1) a physical structure tells a story, and only accurate rehabilitation accurately preserves that story (2) we are not owners of these historic structures but stewards of them for the future. Clifton Farm, built c 1845 by George Roberts Crigler, great-grandson of Jacob Crigler and great-great-grandfather of Kathy, was accepted to both the Virginia and National Historic Registers in 2008.
Kathy has served on Richmond's Governor's School for Government and International Studies Foundation for 5 years, volunteers at the Museum of Culpeper History. Kathy believes strongly in the need to preserve oral histories from our older generation. She enjoys travel, reading, music... and just wishes there were more hours in the day.
Gordon Lohr