VAF-Chesapeake Chapter Annual Meeting/Papers Day

2025 Papers Day - Saturday, Dec. 6th, 9:30am-4:00pm

Registration - https://vafweb.org/event-6404177

We are pleased to announce the second annual papers day for the Chesapeake Chapter of the Vernacular Architecture Forum. Please join us for a full day of presentations and lively discussions on topics from across the region. The program will include a brief inaugural annual meeting for the Chesapeake Chapter.

Date: Saturday, December 6, 2025 

Time: 9:30am – 4pm

Where: George Washington Presidential Library

3600 Mount Vernon Memorial Highway

Mount Vernon, VA 22121

Registration Details: 

• $30 required fee ($15 for students)

• Coffee and box lunch included.

• Registration deadline Nov. 30

• Advance registration required. VAF Members may register one guest. 

• All refund requests must be received prior to close of registration.

Schedule:

9:30-10:00       Coffee and Welcome

10:00-10:30    The Architectural Evolution of Berry Hill Sam Biggers, Dominion Traditional Building Group

10:30-11:00    Designing the Anatomical Theatre at the University of Virginia

(10-minute presentation) Sara Wilson, University of Virginia

Mapping Materials and Influence at the Plains Mills

(10-minute presentation) Kate Wietor, Marstel-Day, LLC

11:00-11:15    Break

11:15-11:45    "living in a brick-kiln”: The Vernacular Landscape of the First Monticello, 1767–1796 Noah Duell, University of Virginia

11:45-12:15    The Gregg-Nichols Homestead: From Quaker Roots to Mineral Springs, Architecture and Community rediscovered in Northern Virginia’s Forgotten Past

Elizabeth Welch, Goucher College

12:15-1:30       Lunch

1:30-2:00 Explosive Architecture: Powder Magazine Design in the British North American Colonies During the 18th Century

Tessa Honeycutt, Colonial Williamsburg

2:00-2:30         Faith in Form: Early Nineteenth-Century Religious Architecture in Hanover County (10-minute presentation) Samantha Mathias, Mead and Hunt

Architectural Space and Virtual Experience: A Work-in-Progress

(10-minute presentation) Warren Hofstra, Shenandoah University

2:30-3:00         Where’d You Get That Wood? Dendrochronology and the Evolution of the Timber Trade in the early 19th-century Chesapeake Michael Worthington and Jane  Seiter, Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory

3:00-3:15         Break

3:15-4:00 Annual Meeting and Closing Announcements