My Nonprofit Reviews

Judith Broeker and Jamie Donahoe run Adventures in Preservation and are just as passionate about history and historic places as we (The Fairfield Foundation) are. Our organizations met over four years ago and teamed up on our first project in the summer of 2011, reglazing the original metal windows at the Center for Archaeology, Preservation and Education (CAPE), a restored 1930 Texaco Service Station. The next year we teamed up on a plaster workshop and last year embarked on a new (old) project at Fairfield plantation, the cornerstone site of our organization. Judith and Jamie put together amazing experiences like these all over the globe – and have been doing it for years – so having their help at Fairfield is a true honor and a great way for us to learn and grow.

At the end of August 2014 we’ll host workshop participants – known as Jammers (a play on words for preservationists) – who will not only learn to excavate and document the manor house ruin at Fairfield plantation, but also help stabilize it. Just as with other Adventures in Preservation workshops, experts instruct the participants and there is constant hands-on work to drive the lessons home. Thane, Anna, and Dave (Fairfield Foundation staff) will supervise the archaeology, but we have the great Ray Cannetti (historic mason and stone cutter), Jason Whitehead and Bill Neff (Colonial Williamsburg’s Trades Department), and Matt Webster (Colonial Williamsburg’s Curator of Architectural Collections) to handle assessing the Fairfield manor house ruin and instructing participants in the arts of lime mortar preparation, brick laying, and repairing sections of the brick foundation. You can check up on this workshop at AiP's website and our own (fairfieldfoundation.org).

The most important lesson behind this workshop is the interconnection between these things our organizations love: archaeology, preservation and education. We should not dig unless we have a plan in place to preserve what we discover. At the same time, we often need archaeology to precede the stabilization of historic buildings, so that we do not inadvertently destroy a building’s history while we are trying to save it. And most important of all, we must involve the public and share with them the discoveries. These lessons from the past benefit us all, but only if we make them accessible to everyone.

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