NEWS

Gloucester, Virginia – The Cabell Foundation selected the Fairfield Foundation as the recipient of a $100,000, one-to-one challenge grant to support development of the archaeological park at Fairfield Plantation. In order to secure The Cabell Foundation’s award, the Fairfield Foundation must raise $100,000 in new or increased support from the Middle Peninsula community and surrounding regions over the next 12 months, starting immediately.

“We are thrilled to receive this generous grant,” said foundation Co-Director Dr. David Brown. “With the support of the Cabell Foundation, and matching gifts, we can accelerate our plans to stabilize the ruin, while continuing our preservation programs that involve hands-on work with volunteers and historic masons.”

Upon completion of the challenge, the Cabell Foundation’s $100,000 gift will be made to the Fairfield Foundation to help enhance its outdoor archaeology classroom at Fairfield Plantation in Gloucester County and protect the 17th-century Fairfield manor house ruins. The challenge match will help the Fairfield Foundation raise new funds for Phase II of a multi-year project to document, stabilize and repair the manor house ruins, and construct a protective structure to cover the manor house remains. Improvements at Fairfield Plantation will protect the fragile manor house foundations from accelerated deterioration, and will provide visitors and students access to see and explore the ruins which are the interpretive keystone for the site.

About The Cabell Foundation:

Founded in 1957 by Mr. Robert G. Cabell, III, and Mrs. Maude Morgan Cabell, The Cabell Foundation was established as a private, non-operating foundation to support the permanent needs of charitable organizations throughout Virginia, with particular emphasis on agencies in the metro Richmond region. Communities across the Commonwealth have been enriched by Foundation support to cultural arts institutions, historic preservation sites, environment and conservation initiatives, community development efforts, higher education infrastructure and the social services sector.

About The Fairfield Foundation:

The mission of the Fairfield Foundation is to promote and involve the public in hands-on archaeology, preservation and education activities within Virginia’s Middle Peninsula and surrounding areas. The foundation is headquartered in Gloucester, Virginia, and has been expanding its public programs, research opportunities and outreach activities since it was founded in 2000. The Fairfield Foundation’s goals are to educate and involve people of all ages in the process of archaeological and historical research, provide outreach to students and the general public about historic landscapes of this region and encourage discussion, research, collaboration and the preservation of our historic resources. The Foundation’s major projects include the archaeological study of the Burwell plantation in Gloucester, known as Fairfield/Carter’s Creek, numerous educational outreach projects across the region, and the restoration of the 1930s Edge Hill Service Station in Gloucester into our regional Center for Archaeology, Preservation and Education (the CAPE). Today the Fairfield Foundation is the preeminent archaeological research and preservation organization on the Middle Peninsula. The organization has grown to include innovative, nationally-recognized educational programs extending from Richmond to the Eastern Shore, developed a dedicated corps of volunteers who have donated over 70,000 hours to our mission and documented one of the most dynamic colonial landscapes in Virginia.

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A great way to assist The Fairfield Foundation is to donate this Tuesday, November 27 for GivingTuesday….  Giving Tuesday is about ordinary people coming together doing extraordinary things. Our goal this year is to raise $1500. Your donations will support the Fairfield Foundation’s public dig days, educational programming, and the development of the archaeological park at Fairfield Plantation. Please mark your calendars and participate in this worldwide movement!

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Contact:
David Brown and Thane Harpole
Co-Directors, The Fairfield Foundation
804-815-4467
fairfield@fairfieldfoundation.org