ACCOMPLISHMENTS

PWCS – Brentsville Partnership Summary
Participating Teachers
Sarah Allen - Special Education instructor
Ken Bassett - PWCS Social Studies Supervisor - program planning/ support
Ginette Cain - Agnes Meyer nominee, Dale City Teacher of the Year, ESOL
Alex Carter - Social Studies Dept. Chair
Carrie English - Business Dept. Chair - Partnership Prince William Coordinator
Stephanie Enriquez - Biology instructor
John Hoffman - Advanced Placement Gov't instructor, Agnes Meyer nominee
Mary Magneson - Photography instructor
Robin L.Meyering - Archaeology instructor
Greg Prifti - Tech Ed instructor
Dr. Steve Prifti - Adjunct Prof. in Graduate Education @ GMU, Tech Ed. Dept. Chair
Ron Pugh - Art Dept. Chair
Laura Wyatt – Advanced Placement U.S. History instructor

Schools Participating
Hylton H.S., Westridge Elementary, Saunders Middle School
Student Populations served
Gifted & Talented
Special Education
ESOL
Regular Ed. - (Social Studies, Art, Tech Ed., TV productions)
Projects/Events
Sept. 2003 – July 2004
-Student presentations of Brentsville research to Historic Prince William
-Student excavation of the “Tavern Lot” (including Special Ed. students)
-Documentary research directed by the Friends with assistance from RELIC
-Students prepare baked goods and Hylton Partners donate food for Christmas party
-Documentary research directed by the Friends with assistance from RELIC
-Friends involved in curriculum development for new PWCS local history course
-Discovery kits created aligned with the SOLs with focus on Brentsville
-Research and discovery kits presentations to the Friends.
- Picturing the Past! Main Street Brentsville in the 19th Century Exhibit at Hylton H.S.,
the VA Commission for the Arts grant funded exhibit with Archaeology
& Photography students
-Students assist with Chili Cook-off and display Discovery Kits
Sept. 2003 – July 2004 continued
-Preservation Awareness day in partnership with Historic Prince William, The Friends of
Brentsville and RELIC
-Occasional Publications from Hylton Archaeology (student research
in cooperation with Friends)
-Staff development workshop in document analysis
-PWCS Summer Enrichment Program – Middle School Archaeology Camp

Partnerships - Local and Regional:

· Hylton High School Archaeology & Prince William County School System - Now in our second year, this partnership has enabled us to involve students and teachers at all grade levels: high school, middle and elementary.

· Prince William Art Society - now regularly holds outdoor paint sessions on Courthouse grounds. Note cards and artwork were sold at two of our events.

· Mosby Area Heritage Association - will place a TEA-21 funded sign on our 24 acre site. I have just been appointed to the Board of Directors for this rapidly growing regional consortium of Virginia historic sites.

· SERVE - this year marked the 5th year that guests and volunteers of our organization donated canned food goods to a local charity during our annual Christmas Open Courthouse. In true Victorian fashion of celebrating the holiday, this year, three pick-up truck loads were collected for needy area families.

· Prince William County Farm Tour - placed Brentsville Courthouse as a site on their weekend drive tour. Visitors enjoyed several "Court Day" activities and local entertainment. A USDA grant funded the design, printing and distribution of rural heritage coloring books to every 4th grade student in Prince William County. The Brentsville Historic Centre was the "centre" fold of this publication.

· Area Boy Scouts continue to help us keep our 24 acres well manicured in time for events. Two Scouts recently received Eagle Scout Awards and conducted their Eagle projects at the Brentsville site.

· Bull Run Round Table - The Friends hosted and delivered an hour long walking history tour of the Brentsville Historic Centre site for 40 members of the Round Table during the 140th Anniversary of 2nd Manassas.

· Manassas Moose Lodge - Donated use of their ballroom facilities to us during the busy Christmas season, so we could hold our 5th Annual Christmas Open Courthouse. Due to ongoing renovation at our site, all of our events were accomplished with the use of lawn tents and/or a temporary change in venue!

180th Anniversary of the Brentsville Courthouse- A picture perfect day, full of colorful costumes, barbershop quartet, an African American Baptist Men's Gospel Choir, a revolutionary fife and drum corps, a volunteer researched, written and delivered "Voices of Brentsville" presentation all culminated by the ringing of the Brentsville Courthouse bell! Congressman Tom Davis presented the Friends with a plaque of the commendation he placed in the Congressional Record to celebrate the event. State Senator Charles J. Colgan and Chairman of Prince William County Board of Supervisors, Sean T. Connaughton also played active roles in the ceremonies.

New Merchandising Opportunities- The Friends developed a picture wall calendar, designed a sweatshirt and have initiated a pilot publishing program for new research about Brentsville.

Web-site maintenance- Our volunteer webmasters at http://www.brentsville.org continually prod us for new and interesting submissions to keep our site current and a place surfers want to come back to.

Artifact Retrieval and Conservation- In several recent Phase I studies mandated by development projects, developers have offered recovered artifacts to the Brentsville Historic Centre. Prince William County now has a climate controlled, secure place to accept these remnants of the past. A flag fragment from the mid 19th Century was discovered beneath the Courthouse cupola finial. This fabric was tested and analyzed this year to determine age and type of flag. Funds for this study were granted to the Friends by the Prince William County Historical Society.

Memorial Fund- A beloved volunteer and wife of our county supervisor passed away this year. Her family requested that donations be made to the Friends of Brentsville Courthouse Historic Centre, Inc. in her memory. Over $4500.00 was raised. Although we are saddened by the loss of our valued member, we also are proud that the community puts such faith in our organization through their generous donations.

Increased Highway Visibility- This week we take delivery of our new "Mosby Heritage Area" sign. A Civil War Trails sign is under design. We await VDOT installation of a "Virginia Byways" sign on Bristow Road. In addition, one of our members obtained three flag donations: a state flag from Senator Chuck Colgan, a national flag from Congressman Frank Wolf and a Prince William County flag from Supervisor L. Ben Thompson. Lowes home supply store donated one of the flag poles, as well.

On-going Research- One of the Friends' goals this year was not only to compile research about Brentsville, but to write it down and publish! To this end, I researched, compiled and wrote an article entitled "From Outpost to Courthouse: Plotting Brentsville." This article was published in the Prince William County quarterly called "Reliquary," on the library web site, receiving almost 5000 "hits." Such strides - even though the Courthouse has been closed all year for renovations! WE ARE PROUD TO SAY THAT THIS IS AN ALL VOLUNTEER EFFORT! Please join us! We always welcome new members to be part of this talented, creative community of citizens who are committed to see that the Brentsville Historic Centre is a treasure befitting of a Commonwealth.

Please join us!
We always welcome new members to be part of this talented, creative community of citizens who are committed to see that the Brentsville Historic Centre is a treasure befitting of a Commonwealth.