GermanFest, an Oktoberfest-like event to be hosted by the Shenandoah Germanic Heritage Museum (SGHM), is set for Saturday September 25, 2010 from 10 am – 6 pm.  The Festival will be held at the Hottel-Keller Homestead, located at 11523 Back Road, Toms Brook, VA 22660, home of the Shenandoah Germanic Heritage Museum. It is our first event and is SGHM’s coming-out party as we introduce our new name to the public.

The Shenandoah Germanic Heritage Museum, which encompasses a 392 acre homestead, historic buildings, and a variety of artifacts such as household implements, furniture, tools, documents, and other items related to the history of the property and the people who lived there from the early 1740s until 1984, collects, preserves, and displays artifacts related to the Valley’s Germanic people.  We are dedicated to public understanding of the Germanic Heritage of the Great Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. We -

• maintain and exhibit our original Germanic homestead
• collect, demonstrate, and document artifacts of everyday life
• collect and share stories of the Germanic lifestyle
• continue to expand our genealogical data of Germanic settlers in the Shenandoah Valley

Three items that will appeal to a wide audience are

• The front 200 acres of our property are a part of the core battlefield area (Gen. George Armstrong Custer among others were there) of the Battle of Toms Brook, September 19^th, 1864 (get detailed information at http://www.hottelkeller.org/battle_of_toms_brook.php)
• The Hottel and Keller families are maternal ancestors of world famous local singer Patsy Cline
• More than half of all the Germanic surnames in the Shenandoah Valley (Pitman, Funkhouser, Snarr, Zirkle, Borden, Crabill, Sheetz, etc.) can trace some of their ancestral roots to the Hottel and Keller families.

GermanFest will feature

• Non-stop live entertainment and educational speakers including an authentic German band
• Children’s activities
• Re-enactors from Revolutionary, Civil and/or French and Indian Wars
• Arts and Crafts Vendors with period craft demonstrations
• Authentic German Food
• Beer and Wine Garden

The Shenandoah Germanic Heritage Museum is owned and operated by Hottel-Keller Memorial, Inc, (HKMI) a non-profit organization.  For more information on HKMI go to www.hottelkeller.org.