Huntley Headlines

 
 

FOHH:  An Overview, 1990-2012

by Barbara Ballentine, President, Friends of Historic Huntley

1991


May 15 - Planning meeting with Michael Rierson, election of officers


October 24 - Lecture, “From Out of the Past,” Mike and Barbara Keck


October 26 - Dedication of Huntley Meadows Park (HMP) new visitor’s center, Friends of Historic Huntley (FOHH) information displayed and shuttle buses were run to Historic Huntley; tours were given to 44 people


October 29 - Lecture, “From Out of the Past,” Mike and Barbara Keck


December 6 - Huntley Meadows Estate sold to M/I Homes


1992


February 4 - Huntley Headlines: First issue of FOHH newsletter


April 8 - By-Laws signed: Norma Hoffman, Susan Escherich, Glenn Curtis, Janet Hawkins (same names on the Articles of Incorporation)


May 14 - Fairfax County Architectural Review Board (ARB) approves the plans for Huntley Meadows townhouse development; FOHH members made statements urging the Board to protect the views of and from Huntley


February 23 - Huntley Headlines


May 24 - Freedom Hill Chapter of the Virginia DAR dedicates their plaque “to recognize the historic importance of Huntley” and in celebration of the centennial of the Virginia DAR


July 17 - Articles of incorporation document signed; Stefan Negel, a lawyer with the National Trust for Historic Preservation reviewed the bylaws and the incorporation document


August 29 - Open House; Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA) opens Huntley to the public; Dixieland Band; FOHH participates; more than 220 visitors


October 8 - Annual membership meeting and lecture, “Alexandria at the Time Thomson F. Mason Lived There,” T. Michael Miller


1993


February - Huntley Headlines


March 2 - Joint meeting FOHH and the Fairfax County Heritage Conservancy and lecture, “What it Means to Live in an Historic District,” Richard Bierce and Bruce Krivisky


March 6 - Afternoon tea for volunteers at Susan Escherich’s house


August 12 - Hearing at ARB regarding M/I Homes request to put balconies/decks on the backs of houses overlooking Huntley; ARB upheld their 1992 decision to deny; M/I Homes appealed to Fairfax County Board of Supervisors (FCBOS); FOHH members spoke; in 1994 the decision was appealed to the FCBOS which upheld the ARB decision


October -Huntley Headlines


September 18 - Open House with Katherine Spivey of the Living History Foundation reenactors,  portrayed Miss Sara Mason, Mason’s daughter; more than 300 visitors in the rain


October 20 - Annual membership meeting and lecture, “Interpreting an Early 19th Century  Plantation Site,” Linda Goldstein, Director, Woodlawn Plantation


1994


April 16 - Open House with Living History Foundation reenactors and The Harmonica Club  of Washington, D.C.; posters for a contest illustrating Huntley by students at  Groveton Elementary School were displayed; winners and prizes were awarded; more than 350 visitors


April - John G. Kofler donates a watercolor of Huntley to FOHH


Summer - Huntley Headlines


Fall - Huntley Headlines


October 22 - Dedication of the Huntley highway marker on Harrison Lane; elected officials,  FCPA, FCBOS and History Commission members attended and spoke; the marker was purchased jointly by FOHH and the Fairfax County History Commission; funding assistance came from others as well, including the Friends of Huntley Meadows Park


November 15 - Annual membership meeting, Barbara Naef and Richard Sachi of FCPA discussed long-range plans for Huntley; Richard T. Pro, Lee District representative, FCPA, discussed a possible trail linking HMP and Huntley


1995


Spring - Huntley Headlines


April 23 - Lecture, “Historic Huntley’s Landscape,” Brian Katen, landscape architect


May 7 - Open House held in conjunction with HMP celebrating its 20th anniversary


September 16 - Open House


1996


Spring - Huntley Headlines


April 21 - Lecture at Stone Mansion, “A Personal Journey into Local Archaeological and

Historical Research,” Jack Hiller


May 3 - Signed Cooperative Agreement between FOHH and FCPA


May 5 - Open House, “Children of the 19th Century,” Hybla Valley Elementary School; same day as Wetlands Day; the walk between HMP and Historic Huntley was interpreted.


August 20 - Watercolor of Historic Huntley painted by John G. Kofler, FOHH member and resident of Tauxemont, loaned to T. Dana Kauffman, Lee District Supervisor, FCBOS


Summer - FOHH board establishes a new group, “FOHH Advisors,” who will advise the  board on technical matters


Late Summer - Huntley Headlines


September 21 - Open House: featured a “dig box” with Jack Hiller assisting diggers; some antique furniture and place settings were put on temporary display by Jeanne Niccolls, FCPA’s collections manager; Groveton, Hollin Meadows, Hybla Valley, and Burgundy Farm County Day elementary schools all participated; the Potomack Duet, Jackie O’Reagan and Linda Kapusciarz, entertained on string Instruments, nearly 200 visitors


Autumn - Huntley Headlines


October 22 - Annual membership meeting and panel discussion related to planning activities and trails in the area near Historic Huntley


1997


March 15 - T. Dana Kauffman, Lee District Supervisor, FCPA staff, and interested architects  and preservation professionals from local architectural schools toured Huntley  and held a brainstorming session to determine how it might fit into school curricula; the meeting was part of Supervisor Kauffman’s plan to form a consortium of architectural schools to use Huntley as an architectural study site


Spring - Huntley Headlines


April - Display featuring Huntley at Martha Washington Library


April 20 - Lecture, “…His Sisters and His Cousins and His Aunts …,” Genevieve Jones


May 4 - Open House


Fall - Huntley Headlines


September - Display featuring Huntley at John Marshall Library in Rose Hill


September 27 - Open House


Fall - HMP starts “History Mystery Tours”; FOHH member researches social customs of the period to enhance the tour for third- and fourth-grade students


October 21 - Annual membership meeting and fall lecture, “Virginia Tech’s Proposal for an Architectural Study of Huntley,” Ron Kagawa, Washington-Alexandria Center, College of Architecture and Urban Studies, Virginia Tech; “Update on Plans for the Route 1 Corridor,” Jack Kelso, Lee District Planning Commissioner


1997-1998 - Virginia Tech, Alexandria Campus students work on an architectural study of Huntley


1998


Spring - Huntley Headlines


Spring - Slide show of the history of Huntley was researched and produced by members of  FOHH; the slide show was later made into a PowerPoint presentation and used for many years


April 19 - Lecture, “Southeastern Fairfax County: The Civil War Years,” Francis A. O’Brien


May 3 - Open House; Brigitte Martin and Robert Magee discuss cooking in 1825


Fall - Huntley Headlines


September 20 - Annual membership meeting and opening of exhibit on Huntley with scale model of Huntley based on scale drawings by Virginia Tech-WAAC students; FOHH members determined the content and helped write the text for the exhibit


October 3 - Open House


November 3 - Vote for FCPA bond issue with $1 million for Huntley passes; FOHH  members testified at two hearings in favor of the bond


December - FOHH members toured Chestnut Hill, home of Bonnie and A.C. Echols and the Loudoun County estate of Thomson F. Mason


1999


Spring - Huntley Headlines


March 19 - Students from Virginia Tech WAAC presented the results of a study they conducted on Huntley; the study, funded by the FCPA, identified and documented visible physical changes to the structure, systems, and materials and made recommendations for its stabilization and partial restoration


May 2 - Open House in conjunction with Wetlands Awareness Day


Fall - Huntley Headlines


October 2 - Open House


October 17 - Annual membership meeting and fall lecture, “Family Life in the Antebellum Era as Revealed Through Thomson Mason Records,” Jeanne Niccolls


2000


Spring - Huntley Headlines


May 21 - Open House with “Hunt for Huntley,” a scavenger hunt for historic facts


May - Yvette St. Laurent, a local artist, donates a large oil painting of Huntley to FOHH


Fall - Huntley Headlines


October 7 - Open House with scavenger hunt


Fall - General Management Plan process begins; FOHH board members participate in the Citizens’ Advisory Committee, and FOHH president, Robbie McNeil, chairs the committee


2001


Spring - Huntley Headlines

May 12 - Open House, introducing “A Day in the Life of the Mason Family,” a new puppet  show written and with puppets created by FOHH members


Spring - Citizens’ Advisory Committee for Huntley participates in a review of the Proposed County-Wide Trail that will follow Harrison Lane; three alternate routes were considered


Spring - Work continues on the General Management Plan and start of the Comprehensive Development Plan for Huntley; FOHH participates


Fall - Huntley Headlines


October 14 - Open House with puppet show and scavenger hunt, 92 visitors


October 23 - Public hearing on the General Management Plan and the Comprehensive Development Plan for Huntley

November 2 - FOHH presented with an Elly Doyle Park Service Award Special Recognition by FCPA; the award recognizes volunteer organizations and individuals making outstanding contributions to county parks


2002


Spring - Huntley Headlines

March - “Historic Structures Report for Huntley Historic Site,” published by FCPA; the project was funded in part through a Certified Local Government grant from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources written and secured by a member of FOHH


May 11 - Open House


Summer - FOHH representative meets with FCPA Huntley Construction Project Team


Fall - Huntley Headlines


Fall - FOHH paid for the reprinting of 15 copies of Huntley’s Historic Structures Report which were donated to libraries and several historic sites


Fall - Three oaks on the edge of HMP are on the Fairfax County Tree Registry as the largest of their kind in the county and maybe the oldest; there are two swamp  chestnut oaks and a pin oak

October 13 - Open House


2003


Spring - Huntley Headlines


March 12 - Spring lecture, “Historic Structures Report for Huntley Historic Site,” Richard Bierce; Mr. Bierce prepared the report in partnership with Shafer, Wilson, Sarver  and Gray, PC


May 10 - Champion swamp chestnut oaks on edge of parkland pruned with grant funds raised by Friends of Huntley Meadows Park (FOHMP) and FOHH and with a lot of volunteer labor from arborists from Bartlett Trees and Growing Earth Professional Tree Care


May 10 - Open House


Fall - Huntley Headlines


October 12 - Open House


2004


Spring - Huntley Headlines


April 24 - FOHMP and FOHH awarded a Friends of Trees Award for their outstanding  contribution toward the conservation of trees in Fairfax County by the Fairfax County Tree Commission


May 16 - Open House


Fall - Huntley Headlines


Fall - FOHH board by-laws changed to include representatives from FOHMP and Huntley Meadows Homeowners Association as voting members


October 16 - Open House


October 21 - Annual membership meeting and lecture, “What is Next for Huntley?” by Michael Rierson, FCPA, and Debbie Robison, SWSG


2005


March - Joint board meeting of FOHMP and FOHH


Spring - Huntley Headlines


Spring - New brochure of the Mason children printed; researched by Shirley Scalley


March - Joint board meeting with FOHMP; adoption of Lockheed Boulevard and Harrison Lane in the “Adopt-a-Highway” program


May 15 - Open House and puppet show, introducing Sir James (Mason’s horse)


Summer - 112-year-old white oak tree at corner of Harrison Lane died; bowls and other objects were created from the wood by Don Johnson and Don Riggs


Fall -Huntley Headlines


October 15 - Open House with puppet show


Fall - Donation of $50,000 from the Madison Corporation for Huntley restoration with assistance from T. Dana Kauffman, Lee District Supervisor


2006


Spring - Huntley Headlines


Spring - ARB approves plans for the restoration of Huntley FOHH spoke in favor of the plans


Spring - FOHH installed a sign on the Huntley site to give information to the public on history and upcoming events while the site is mothballed


April 29 - Adopt-a-Road Clean-up on Harrison Lane


May 21- Open House; presentation of gift to T. Dana Kauffman, Lee District Supervisor


Fall - Huntley Headlines


October 15 - Open House with puppet show


October 15 - Drawing of winning ticket for raffle for Huntley Oak Tree Bowl handcrafted by local woodworker, Don Johnson; bowl made from wood of the 112-year-old white oak tree cut down on the property


November 5 - Lecture, “Why is it called Lockheed Boulevard? Huntley’s Airport History,” Paul Freeman; cosponsored with FOHMP


November 18 - Adopt-a-Road Clean-up on Harrison Lane


November 28 - Annual membership meeting


2007


Spring - FOHH board creates a new classification of board membership called “emeritus”


Spring - Huntley Headlines


March 24 - Adopt-a-Highway clean-up day


April 29 - Open House


May 16 - Celebration of the transfer from the FCBOS to FCPA of a strip of land on the northern edge of HMP which holds the champion swamp chestnut oaks; one of the trees could have started in 1824 which would put it in place when Huntley was built; research by FOHH discovered that the land belonged to the FCBOS


Fall - Huntley Headlines


October 20 - Adopt-a-Road Clean-up on Harrison Lane


October 21 - Open House


November 27 - Annual membership meeting


December 9 - Drawing of winning ticket for raffle for Huntley Oak Tree Bowl handcrafted by local woodworker, Don Johnson; bowl made from wood of the 112-year-old white oak tree cut down on the property


2008


Spring - Huntley Headlines


May 18 - Open House


Fall - Huntley Headlines


October 19 - Open House


October 19 - Drawing of winning ticket for raffle for Huntley Oak Tree Bowl handcrafted by  local woodworker, Don Johnson; bowl made from wood of the 112-year-old white oak tree cut down on the property


November 4 - Park Capital Improvement bond referendum passes with close to $2 million for Huntley


November 18 -Annual membership meeting


2009


Spring - Huntley Headlines


May 17 - Open House


Summer - FOHH thanks Congressman Jim Moran who secured $100,000 for Huntley restoration through the National Park Service’s Save America’s Treasures grant program


September 22 - Charles Davis, FOHH board member, and Carolyn Gamble, HMP staff, were  interviewed by Andrew Mills for Public Access TV’s “Virginia Time Travel”


Fall - Huntley Headlines


October 18 - Open House; Friends of Fairfax County Archaeology and Cultural Resources

(FOFA) highlighted Huntley’s archaeological and architectural resources


November - Congressman Jim Moran secures $100,000 for Huntley restoration through th National Park Service’s Save America’s Treasures grant program; FOHH board members participate in the Section 106 review process for the grant


November 17 - Annual membership meeting


2010


Spring - Huntley Headlines

May 16 - Open House – last one before construction starts FOHH board members participate in the Section 106 process regarding the Save America’s Treasures grant which Fairfax County received from the National Park Service


Summer - FOHH funds an intern to assist with research of the building


Fall - Huntley Headlines


December 1 - Annual membership meeting featuring descriptions and photographs of

construction


2011


April - FOHH participates in the Federation of Friends Groups

May - FOHH votes to fund a web site for Historic Huntley; J.G. Harrington will develop the site for FOHH


Huntley Headlines not published since there will be no Open House


Summer - FOHH funds a cultural resource intern, Nora Allen, who works with FCPA staff at the construction site, recording the progress in many photographs and writing a description of the architecture which will be used in future tours of the building


2012


Spring - Huntley Headlines


Spring - FOHH web site created by J.G. Harrington


May 6 - Wetlands Awareness Day at HMP, FOHH participates with a table


May 19 - Historic Huntley opening celebration


Fall - Huntley Headlines


 

1972


November 3- Huntley listed on the National Register of Historic Places


1976


May - Huntley Historic District adopted


1986


Fairfax County Board of Supervisors purchases 2.8 acres containing the Mason buildings


1990


October 9 - Meeting to discuss forming a Friends group at home of Kathi and Robbie McNeil