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2014 SESSION

14100950D
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 32
Offered January 8, 2014
Prefiled January 2, 2014
Commending Stafford County.
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Patron-- Stuart
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WHEREAS, Stafford County, an integral part of the Commonwealth’s and nation’s history, will proudly celebrate its 350th anniversary in 2014; and

WHEREAS, Stafford County’s rich history reaches back in time to before its official establishment in 1664; and

WHEREAS, Stafford County was the site of such prehistoric animals as the longest dinosaur in Virginia, the Sauroposeidon, and the home of large numbers of the Patawomeck and Manahoac tribes; and

WHEREAS, Captain John Smith sailed up the Potomac to Stafford County, while Pocahontas was kidnapped from Stafford’s Indian Point; and

WHEREAS, during the colonial period, Stafford County provided such supplies as fish, tobacco, iron, and flour to Great Britain through its port town of Falmouth on the Rappahannock River; and

WHEREAS, the nation’s first president, George Washington, lived in what is now Stafford County from the age of six to 19, and stone from Government Island was quarried to build the White House and United States Capitol; and

WHEREAS, Stafford County is also the site of the historic Aquia Episcopal Church, one of the oldest active colonial churches still in operation today; and

WHEREAS, Stafford County served as a logistical and transportation center during the Civil War with more than 200,000 Union soldiers camping, eating, and living off the land; Chatham, a Georgian mansion, was used as a Union headquarters and hospital; and

WHEREAS, Chatham, located in Stafford County, was also the site of visits from important historical figures; Walt Whitman and Clara Barton served as nurses there, and President Abraham Lincoln was also a guest, making Chatham the only private home known where both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln crossed the threshold; and

WHEREAS, Stafford County was also the location from which Southern abolitionist Moncure Conway led his family’s slaves to freedom in 1862; and

WHEREAS, Stafford County residents witnessed firsthand the effects of war as Union and Confederate forces clashed at the bloody Battle of Fredericksburg; and

WHEREAS, in 1916, American impressionist artist Gari Melchers moved to Belmont, a Georgian-style frame house in Stafford County; today, the house and a nearby studio serve as a tourist destination for local residents and visitors; and

WHEREAS, Stafford County serves as an important crossroads as the location of Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia Railway Express, the FBI Academy, Interstate 95, and Stafford Regional Airport; and

WHEREAS, today, residents and visitors to Stafford County enjoy a wide array of historical, cultural, and recreational activities; and

WHEREAS, Stafford County’s 350th Blue Ribbon Planning Committee, appointed by the board of supervisors, has planned an array of celebratory events in 2014 to salute the county’s past, present, and future; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly hereby commend Stafford County on the occasion of its 350th anniversary; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Anthony Romanello, the Stafford County administrator, as an expression of the General Assembly’s congratulations and admiration for the county’s contributions to the Commonwealth and nation.