Chatham Chatter, 3rd Quarter, July-September 2025
- Friends of Chatham
- Jul 1
- 8 min read
Updated: Jul 4
President's Message
Greetings All and Happy Summer! Mother Nature seems to be plunging into her normal hazy, hot and humid response to the season, which makes working outdoors a challenge. But the Friends of Chatham Board has turned some of its attention to planning activities for the coming months. The Membership Committee has made the arrangements for our next Member Mingle, scheduling it for August 2 at Tapa Rio. We got very positive comments about having a gathering there last year, and therefore decided on a return engagement. This year’s Tapa Rio Member Mingle will begin at 4:45 PM. We will have a separate room, which should make mingling easier. This will be a Dutch Treat event - as the Member Mingles always are - and it promises to be a fun occasion.
Switching from an already planned event that should be fun to more serious planning for the future, The FOC Board will hold its annual Retreat on Saturday, August 9. While we refer to this as the Retreat, it is held in the same room where we have our regular Board meetings, but it is a longer session where we discuss our plans for the future and weigh the pros and cons of various approaches. The Retreat is normally quite productive and the conclusions reached help the organization move forward in a positive direction.
FOC has our August Member Mingle all arranged, thanks to the Membership Committee, but otherwise we have discussed plans for the next few months only in general terms. The Park Service, however, does have some events planned that are happening soon. One of these is the “Sparking Freedom at Chatham Walking Tour.” This is a 30-to-45-minute program happening at 2:00 PM every day through August 3 on the grounds of Chatham. It features presentations on resistance to enslavement at Chatham while walking among the places where those events happened.
History at Sunset programs will return to Chatham this year, with the first one scheduled for July 5 at 6:30 PM. It will be a stationary program on the Chatham lawn and will focus on the Occupation of Fredericksburg. This is the description of the program: During the summer of 1862, Union soldiers occupied Fredericksburg and experienced life around people whose perspectives on the war were vastly different from their own. For Fredericksburg’s civilians, the occupation put a spotlight on war’s ability to impact a community and be a catalyst for change. This program explores the ways the 1862 occupation of Fredericksburg challenged the assumptions of soldiers and civilians about the nature of the Civil War and shaped how they understood their place in it.
There will be other History at Sunset programs and they will be described on the NPS website when they are scheduled.
All the Best,Carol Hyland, President
Honoring Our Donors
An Update to the Donor Walls of Honor is in the Works
When you visit Chatham, do you ever go into the Summer House beyond the fishpond to get out of the sun for a bit? And have you noticed the two framed wooden plaques that are hanging on the left and right walls as you enter from the garden?
The plaques were created almost 10 years ago using wood from the shutters that had been taken off of the main house at Chatham in 2014 and replaced with the current shutters that remain to this day.
Those were early days for Friends of Chatham (FOC), an organization created in 2012 through an agreement with the National Park Service, under the auspices of the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.
The Summer House refurbishment had been completed through an FOC contract with Habalis Construction in early 2015, and Friends of Chatham was then involved in the Window and Door Project with Olde Towne Windows & Doors and completed during 2016-2017.
Our fledgling organization had been blessed by the generosity of our members, members of the community, and organizations like the Lang Family, the Baer Family, The Fitzhugh Family, Dovetail Cultural Resource Group, and The Duff McDuff Green, Jr., Fund of The Community Foundation of the Rappahannock River Region.
The Board of Directors then in office and through the efforts of then-Secretary Sharon Adinolfi commissioned retired Marine Greg Morin to design and build the Donor Wall of Honor for donors who made a donation of $5,000 or more to Friends of Chatham. The two plaques shown above were the result of Greg's efforts.
The plaques are in the process of being refurbished after suffering weather-related wear and tear during these last several years. As part of this refurbishment, we are also updating the plaques to acknowledge the generosity of our members and donors.
Those donors who gave a donation of $5,000 or more toward a specific project or to Friends of Chatham in general will continue to be honored on the original plaque that will return to its site on the west wall of the Summer House. Those donors who made a donation to the Friends of Chatham Endowment at the levels listed below will be honored on the Endowment Donor Wall of Honor which will return to its site on the east wall of the Summer House.
Friends of Chatham Endowment Fund Donor Levels
$2,500 ~ Stafford Sponsor
$5,000 ~ Diana Sponsor
$10,000 ~ Ellen Biddle Shipman Sponsor
$25,000 ~ Helen Stewart Devore Sponsor
$50,000 ~ William Fitzhugh Sponsor
$100,000 ~ John Lee Pratt Sponsor
We look forward to having the refurbished and updated Donor Walls of Honor returned to the Summer House this summer and thank you for your patience.
Submitted by:Patsy Thompson, Director, Ways & Means/Fundraising
Nancy Fahy, Past President
Upcoming Events
2 August 2025 (4:45-6:45 PM): Friends of Chatham Member Mingle at Tapa Rio
(1101 Sophia St)
Join Friends of Chatham for Dutch treat cocktails and tapas in the private room near the entrance. It's a great opportunity to meet new and potential members.
25 October 2025, 17 December 2025, 14 February 2026, 14 May 2026 Fredericksburg Symphony Concerts7:30 PM at James Monroe High School
Please join us in our special-reserved Friends of Chatham seating section at next season’s Fredericksburg Symphony Concerts. More details with specific reservation due dates will be sent out by email prior to the concerts.
TBD 2025: Canal Quarter Arts (1517 Princess Anne St)Member Mingle)
This event will provide attendees with a splendid combination of local art, refreshments, conversations, and Chatham appreciation. The tentative date is Sunday, September 21, from 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm. All FOC members and guests are invited - an e-mail invitation will be sent closer to the date of the event. We will have complimentary beverages and light hors d'oeuvres, and plenty of room to mingle and check out the art of over 60 local artists represented at the studio. Some of the artists will be in attendance, and members will have the opportunity to make purchases if desired. We are excited to showcase local talent and hope to encourage more artists to join Friends of Chatham as well.
January 2026: Ristorante Renato Annual “Funraiser”(422 William St)
We will be returning to this fabulous local restaurant for this important annual “funraising” event. Members and guests will enjoy fine dining in a festive atmosphere with the opportunity to win donated baskets full of wonderfully decorated gifts and treats.
March 2026: St. Patrick’s Day Member Mingle, Location TBD
Continuing a longstanding tradition, Friends of Chatham members will join together for a luncheon to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
April 2026: Photographer’s Meet and Greet at Chatham
A Meet and Greet for local photography (camera and cell phone) enthusiasts will be held at Chatham. Format will be similar to the event described in the Recent Events section of this newsletter.
Recent Events
Chatham Photographer Meet and Greet on 13 April 2025
Area photographers gathered at Chatham to socialize with pizza and participate in a fun photo contest for a $100 downtown gift card prize. The contest theme was “Springtime at Chatham”, and the submitted photos reflected the seasonal color and beauty of Chatham. Bob Martin’s patriotic-colored Chatham scene won the top prize, and is a classic Chatham photo for the ages.
Photographers: A: Sara Stachkunas; B: Bob Aarikson; C: Jim Purton; D: Bob Martin; E: Debbie Stachkunas; F: Erik Brito; G: Raymie Chapman; H: Judy LaFratta.
A Rogers and Hammerstein Celebration
Fredericksburg Symphony Concert at JMHS on 17 May 2025
Continuing a tradition that began in 2024, Friends of Chatham members joined together in a specially-reserved seating section for the Fredericksburg Symphony “A Rogers & Hammerstein Celebration” concert. Three famous broadway artists joined the symphony in serenading the audience with Broadway classics from shows like South Pacific, and the Sound of Music.
Friends of Chatham Annual Meeting at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library on 3 June 2025
Our annual meeting was held at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library, Fredericksburg Branch, at 1201 Caroline Street, Fredericksburg, VA 22401. Members joined together in celebrating this past year’s accomplishments and to learn about plans for the upcoming year.
From the Garden
Photos credit: Carol Fry
Spring arrived at Chatham bringing beautiful perennial blooms to the garden. Despite the unusual amount of rain we received this season, the volunteers stayed busy weeding, deadheading and planting the annuals in the various beds. Because of the increased number of volunteers that we have had, we are ahead of schedule with planting! This year we are trying out a new plant (hyssop), that should be very attractive to the pollinators. We are excited to see how it works out.
Once we have completed planting all of the annuals, we will continue to concentrate on keeping the beds tidy for the remainder of the Spring/Summer growing season.
Come out and see all of the new annuals that have recently been planted, and don’t forget to check out the lantana over by the kitchen house.
Membership
As an historic property, Chatham requires constant care, and members' financial and volunteer contributions help support the preservation of this site. THANK YOU for your participation during Fiscal Year 2024-2025.
The new FOC Fiscal Year starts on July 1, 2025, and ends on June 30, 2026. Please consider renewing your membership to continue supporting the organizational mission.
Membership Levels are Individual, $25.00; Family, $50.00; Contributing, $100.00; Sustaining, $250.00; River Terrace, $500.00; and Faberge Circle, $1,000.00. Renewal checks may be mailed to Friends of Chatham, PO Box 36, Fredericksburg, VA 22404, or renew electronically by visiting the Friends of Chatham website.
Website and Social Media Update
We encourage everyone to visit our Friends of Chatham website at www.friendsofchatham.org and see the terrific design and content improvements that have been made with the help of our website manager, Deborah Newman at arts@petitetaway.com. For membership and donations, payment acceptance is provided via Givebutter, which allows a greater variety in payment methods, to include Paypal and credit/debit cards.
Our Facebook page, Friends of Chatham, Inc., is very active with beautiful photos and news related to Chatham being posted and shared on a daily basis. We encourage you to follow our Facebook page, if you are on social media, so you can automatically view our content.
For Sale: $35 each*
FoC is selling signed and numbered limited edition prints of Chatham Manor by Joseph M. Serino, 18 1/2 in. x 23 3/4 in. If you are interested in buying a print you can email us at friendsofchatham@gmail.com. Prints can also be purchased online from our homepage at www.friendsofchatham.org.
* Includes shipping and handling
Did you know you can support FoC when you buy bulbs for your garden from Brent and Becky's Bulbs? Go to www.bloominbucks.com. Select Friends of Chatham in the drop down menu, follow the prompts, and start shopping. Twenty-five percent of your purchase will go directly to Friends of Chatham.
