There are three prominent structures located on the north side of Main Street in Gloucester that are often called the Booker buildings. Each has its own history, and they have endured changes through the years, but all were built and maintained by the Booker family. Sadly, the buildings are currently slated for destruction, as the […]
The Main Street Oral History Project
We recently launched a special page on our website dedicated to local oral history. Our first contribution to this initiative is The Main Street Oral History Project: preserving and presenting the remembered history of Gloucester’s Main Street community, through its people, places and buildings. It began with the 1930 Edge Hill Service Station, which is currently […]
Virginia Archaeologists converge on the Middle Peninsula
Last Friday, the Fairfield Foundation and the Gloucester Main Street Preservation Trust (GMSPT) co-hosted the winter meeting of the Council of Virginia Archaeologists (COVA). COVA is Virginia’s professional archaeology organization, and is dedicated to the preservation and study of Virginia’s archaeological resources through fostering public awareness, advancing archaeological knowledge, and facilitating interaction between professional and avocational archaeologists and Virginia’s Department of […]
What is the C.A.P.E?
The Center for Archaeology, Preservation and Education (The CAPE!) at the former Edge Hill Service Station in Gloucester is going to be our new home and headquarters. But it will be so much more than that! As a regional preservation center and archaeology lab, the CAPE will be a place where the public can learn […]
Rotten Eggs and Other Mischief: Halloween Traditions on Gloucester’s Main Street
The following is the third installment in a series of blog posts focused on the oral history project directed by University of Florida graduate student Jessica Taylor, aimed at recording oral histories about the Edge Hill Service Station and Gloucester’s Main Street community. Prior to conducting the interviews, Jessica outlined for us the importance of oral history. […]
Celebrating the history of the Gloucester Woman’s Club and Edge Hill House
The Gloucester Woman’s Club is holding their 100th Anniversary Open House on October 5th at their home, the Edge Hill House. In preparation for this event, we have been helping the Woman’s Club create new interpretive guides for visitors and historically-inspired scripts for costumed interpreters. The tour explains some of the unique stories of this historic house, allowing guests to […]
“The cool guys in Gloucester, the cool girls in Mathews”: Oral History Reveals Courtship Strategies of Gloucester Youth in the 1940s and 50s
In August, The Fairfield Foundation wrapped up interviews for an oral history project directed by University of Florida graduate student Jessica Taylor, aimed at recording oral histories about the Edge Hill Service Station and Gloucester’s Main Street community. What struck Jessica as a common thread through many of the interviews was the interplay between the spread […]
Fairfield Foundation Launches The Center for Archaeology, Preservation and Education (CAPE)
This week a plumbing leak in our long-time lab facility covered the floor with an inch of water, making the space temporarily unusable. Although we were better prepared for this lab flood than an identical one in April 2012, we are left without a fully operational lab. We are forced once again to shift our operations to a temporary facility, limiting our […]
$96,000 = $348,000: Help us make the Edge Hill Service Station YOUR community preservation center!
You read it right the first time! This grant will complete the restoration of the Edge Hill Service Station – creating a center for preservation in our community. The Fairfield Foundation, working hand-in-hand with Gloucester County, received a Transportation Enhancement grant from the Federal Highway Administration. The funds, administered by the Virginia Department of Transportation […]
