Lovettsville Historical Society & Museum

By Lori Hinterleiter Kimball Many cemeteries contain unusually carved or shaped gravestones, but the markers that look like tree trunks are some of the most unusual.  Called by various names – tree trunk stones, tree […]

Five Revolutionary War Patriots were honored on Saturday, July 24, at an impressive and colorful ceremony held at the New Jerusalem Lutheran Church Cemetery in Lovettsville, sponsored by the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR). […]

Following are the biographies of the five Revolutionary War Patriots who were recognized in the July 24 grave-marking ceremony at New Jerusalem Lutheran Church Cemetery. Johannes (John) Axline  (presented by Dr. Donald Cooper of Leesburg […]

Almost ten years ago, on September 11, 2011, the Lovettsville Historical Society presented, as part of its monthly lecture series, a presentation on the German Settlement in the Revolution.  Here is the slide show that […]

Our monthly newsletter for July 2021 has just been published.  It features reports on the Museum reopening on August 3, and plans to resume our monthly lecture series, as well as the annual Lovettsville Elementary […]

The Family & Friends of Mount Sinai Cemetery, a project of the Lovettsville Historical Society, was at the Leesburg Juneteenth celebration on June 19 at Ida Lee Park. Pictured are Claudette Bard, Ed Bard, and […]

By Howard Gilbert Timbers An important landmark of the Timbers Family history is the small community near Lovettsville, Virginia called Little Britain.  This small, rural close-knit African-American community was centered around its church (Mount Sinai […]

Herbert Traxler 5 February 1945-24 April 2021 “The most beautiful memorial that a person can receive, stands in the hearts of his fellow men.” Lovettsville’s Oktoberfest lost one of its most enthusiastic and long-time supporters […]

  Clare Matheny, a graduate student and a resident of the Taylorstown area, has created a video about the Taylorstown Mill and the efforts over time to preserve it, which she has agreed to share […]

Our May Newsletter is now available. View it here.  

On April 15, the Loudoun County Heritage Commission sent a letter to the Family & Friends of Mount Sinai Cemetery, a project of the Lovettsville Historical Society, supporting the group’s request to have representatives appointed […]

Our latest newsletter issue, for April 2021, is now available.  One of the history features is about the Hawker log store, and how it made its way from Sunnyside, a community in southeast Frederick County […]

The Family & Friends of Mount Sinai Cemetery, consisting of families of those buried in the Mount Sinai Free Will Baptist Cemetery near Lovettsville, as well as neighbors and others, have appealed to the Loudoun […]

  By Edward Spannaus The 19th-century Mount Sinai Free Will Baptist Church, at “Little Britain” southwest of Lovettsville, has a history which is unique among the churches – black and white – in Loudoun County. […]

By Sarah Searle    When my husband and I purchased our small farmstead on Purcell Road, just outside the town limits of Lovettsville, it was through the eyes of two people who had grown up […]

Family and Friends of Mount Sinai Cemetery are planning a Spring clean-up, as a first step toward a restoration of this historic cemetery which was active from at least 1887 to 1955, perhaps longer. The […]

Our latest newsletter, for March 2021, is now available. It features articles on Robert Booth, an early Dutchman’s Creek Pioneer, and on Mount Sinai Cemetery — both announcing that family and friends of Mount Sinai […]

Our feature-filled newsletter for February is now available here.  

By Edward Spannaus I was staffing the Museum about a year ago – when we were still open – when a somewhat familiar-looking gentleman walked in. He introduced himself as Wayne Allgaier from the Brunswick […]

  By Lori Hinterleiter Kimball Anyone walking or driving recently by the intersection of East Broad Way/Milltown Road and Lovettsville Road would have noticed earth-moving equipment contouring the land in preparation for our new community […]

By Edward Spannaus Christian Gottlieb Ruse (1746 – 1821) and Anna Catherine Ruse (1756? – 1802) came to our attention some years ago, because they were early owners of the land on which the Lovettsville […]

We have just published our December 2020 newsletter.  You can get it here.  

This story in the November issue of the Waterford Foundation newsletter caught our eye, especially the part at the end of the story about the 1888 brawl with a group of visitor from Lovettsville.  We […]

  Read our November newsletter here.    

Here’s a story you may have missed, in the absence of the Brunswick Citizen and its news coverage of “Greater Lovettsville”. We learned about this incident from the Hagerstown news source WDVM, which published out […]

  Memorial Address for Elaine Walker  Delivered by Michael Zapf on behalf of the Lovettsville Historical Society, October 10th, 2020 at the Walker Pavilion, Lovettsville Elaine Walker’s career in the administration of Lovettsville’s town government is […]

Our October 2020 Newsletter is now available and ready for your reading enjoyment. This issue features an article on the World War II Gold Star Service Flag at New Jerusalem Lutheran Church; a new feature […]

Our September 2020 Newsletter is now available.  Read it here.   

During colonial times, it was common for land tracts to be given colorful names, such as “Tasker’s Chance,” “Arnold’s Delight,” “Mortality,” or “Mill’s Folly” — all of which were in nearby Frederick County, Maryland. “Folly” […]

Our August Newsletter is now available, featuring an introduction to the Loudoun Farm Heritage Museum and the role that Lovettsville-area farming plays in the story it tells.  Get the Newsletter here.  

  Visitors from the Lovettsville area who have toured the Loudoun Heritage Farm Museum in Sterling for the first time, are pleasantly surprised to find that the Western Loudoun County and the Lovettsville area are […]

The Lovettsville Historical Society is sponsoring an exciting new project, called “Voices of Lovettsville,” to collect stories of our local citizens’ experiences during these extraordinary times of the coronavirus. Sheryl Frye has volunteered to lead […]

Our July newsletter launches the “Voices of Lovettsville” campaign, to collect the stories of your experiences in the time of Covid-19.  And our history feature story is a bit of a history mystery:   discovering how […]

  The Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1919 was the worst ever in world history  – except perhaps for the 14th century Black Death — taking an estimated 675,000 lives in the United States, and 50 […]

The June newsletter provides a guide to Loudoun County online history resources, and highlights our remembrance of former Mayor and LHS Board Member Elaine Walker.  History features include a Civil War story by Jim Rada, […]

James Rada was scheduled to be our speaker for the May 17 presentation in our monthly Lecture Series — which is now on hold due to the Coronavirus shutdown of public events.  We asked Mr. […]

The following letter was sent to the Board of Supervisors by the Executive Committee of the Loudoun County Preservation and Conservation Coalition: May 1, 2020 The Honorable Phyllis Randall Chair, Loudoun County Board of Supervisors 1 Harrison […]

Memorial Day remarks by Edward Spannaus, Lovettsville Historical Society, May 25, 2020, delivered as part of the Town of Lovettsville’s virtual Memorial Day Ceremony. The video of the entire event can be viewed here.    […]

We have just published our monthly newsletter for May 2020. Even though we are forced to close the Museum, and postpone all lectures until it is safe to meet again,  there is still lots to […]

This is the letter sent to the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors by the Lovettsville Alumni Association, asking the Board to halt the demolition of the Community Center with its classrooms from theold Lovettsville School: […]

By Nancy Spannaus In the Hamilton-vs.-Jefferson conflict that raged throughout America in the early Republic, there weren’t many parts of Virginia which consistently elected opponents of Thomas Jefferson, but one of them was Loudoun County. […]

The Loudoun County Heritage Commission sent a letter to the Board of Supervisors on March 31 supporting the Lovettsville Historical Society and the Lovettsville Alumni Association in their efforts to save the historic sections of […]

On April 14, 2020, Fred George, President of the Lovettsville Historical Society, sent the following letter to Catoctin Supervisor Caleb Kushner and the entire Loudoun County Board of Supervisors:    

The Lovettsville Museum and our lecture series is shut down,  but history is not shut down!  It is open. We continue to bring you our newsletter, in which we will point you to some useful on-line resources which you […]

Hessian Soldiers in Lovettsville  By Edward Spannaus During the American Revolution, tens of thousands of German soldiers were sent by their rulers to fight against the American colonists on behalf of the British crown. Thousands […]

The March newsletter is now published.  See it here.

By Michael Zapf In our February 2020 Newsletter we introduced Dr. James A. Willard, who resided and practiced in Lovettsville from 1867 until his death in 1906. Two sources of information give us in-depth insights […]

German Immigrants, American Pioneers: The Brunners of Schifferstadt Presented by Patricia Ogden and Boyce Rensberger Sunday, March 8, at 2:00 p.m. St. James United Church of Christ, Lovettsville, Va. The saga of one desperate German […]

By Michael Zapf Readers may recall the article published on the Lovettsville Historical Society website of January 25th, 2018, “The Fascinating Story Behind Wilfred Emory Cutshaw’s Crumbling 1854 Book” which also appeared as “Gems of […]

Kicking off the Lovettsville Historical Society’s 2020 Lecture Series: “Lovettsville 101” An Introduction to The German Settlement Sunday, February 9, 2020, at 2:00 p.m. St. James United Church of Christ 10 East Broad Way, Lovettsville […]

Get the full January issue here.  Feb. 9:  “Lovettsville 101:”  An introduction to The German Settlement Rob Jones honored at LHS Annual Membership Meeting Feature article:  Luther Potterfield and the Lovettsville Potterfields: A Family Divided Rev. […]

Luther H. Potterfield and the Lovettsville Potterfields: A Family Divided By Edward Spannaus   (This is an edited version of talk presented to the Lovettsville Historical Society, on Sept. 20, 2015)   The Civil War […]

    The Rev. George E. Handley, who spoke as part of the Lovettsville Historical Society’s lecture series in 2015, died on Dec. 20,2019  in Winchester.  Funeral services were held at the Village at Orchard […]

The first order of business at the Lovettsville Historical Society’s 2019 Annual Membership Meeting on Dec. 15, was the presentation of a donation to retired Marine Sergeant and Paralympic Bronze Medalist, Rob Jones, for the […]

Our latest newsletter is now available! See it here.

  Why does that house have two front doors?    One little-known feature which gives the Lovettsville area a distinctive Germanic flavor, is the presence of a number of two-door houses – that is, two […]

“The Lost History of Potomac Marble” Presented by Paul Kreingold. Conservation Director of the Loudoun County Chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America. Sunday, November 10, at 2:00 p.m.   When the Capitol of the […]

Jimmy Spring (above, center), who was featured in our “Living Legends of Lovettsville” presentation on Dec. 11, 2016, passed away on September 22.  The 2016 event was presented before a packed house in the fellowship hall at New Jerusalem […]

Read our latest newsletter here.

Above:  Photograph from The Times-Herald, Feb. 10, 1953, courtesy of Brunswick History Commission.  Automobiles are crossing the old bridge, as a construction crane is used to lower the superstructure for the new bridge, which replaced the […]

“Germanna 101: Virginia’s First German Settlement” Presented by Ashley Abruzzo, Germanna Foundation Sunday, October 13, at 2:00 p.m. Almost two decades before German settlers began streaming into Virginia’s Loudoun Valley and the Shenandoah Valley, the […]

Second Annual Tasting, Tales, and Tunes: Lovettsville Historical Society Night at Hiddencroft Vineyards Thursday Evening, October 17, 2019—7:00-9:30 p.m.  Those of us who live in this region relish the unique history, culture, stories, music, foods, […]

Get the newsletter here .

“The Shenandoah Valley’s German Heritage” Presented by Karen Good Cooper, President of the Shenandoah Germanic Heritage Museum Shenandoah County, Va. Sunday, September 8, at 2:00 p.m. When census takers asked Americans at the end of […]

See our August newsletter here.