Online Lecture: Historic Germanna, Virginia’s First German Settlement

Join us for a virtual lecture on Wednesday, June 24, 2026 at 6 pm ET with Historic Germanna’s executive director Jennifer Hurst-Wender to learn about the fascinating story of one of Virginia’s early settlements.

Virginia is not only one of the original 13 colonies, it’s also home to the very first permanent English settlement in the New World. After the founding of Jamestown in 1607, the colony continued to expand, eventually becoming the wealthiest and most populated, and a move to make the town of Williamsburg the new capital in 1699. Much of the colony’s economic success derived from agriculture and especially tobacco production, but mining also played a role in Virginia’s economy. Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood actively recruited experienced miners from the Holy Roman Empire to come to Virginia and establish a mining industry. Spotswood had been granted 86,000 acres in Spotsylvania County, and his German miners settled in two waves, first in 1714 and again in 1717. The name “Germanna”, which was selected by Spotswood, was a reflection of the German immigrants who sailed across the Atlantic and the British Queen Anne who was in power at the time of the first settlement at Germanna.

Please use the form below to sign up for this excursion into Virginia’s colonial history, the lives of these early immigrants from the Siegerland, the Palatinate, Baden and Württemberg along with their ongoing influence today. Many of these families intermarried for generations, and produced a rich genealogical heritage.

This lecture is part of our special America250 program series. Please use the form below to sign up.