News & Announcements
The latest news and announcements from Friends of Happy Retreat.
Appalacian Chamber Music Festival Programs Announced!
The Appaclacian Chamber Music Festival announced the festival programs for this summer! read more
The Ownership of Happy Retreat by the Hammond Family, 1800-1837
As detailed in previous issues of our newsletter, Charles and Mildred Washington were forced by poverty and ill health to deed their interest in Happy Retreat, consisting of the house, outbuildings and about 800 acres, to their son ... read more
Historic Letter from Frances Bassett Washington to Martha Washington (March 1793)
Introduction: HISTORY AT IT’S BEST FROM INSIDE HAPPY RETREAT, by Marjorie Gaestel Those that know me know that one of my favorite Happy Retreat subjects is the portrait of the lovely Frances Bassett Washington that hangs in one of our ... read more
May 2021 Rising Sun Newsletter
Friends of Happy Retreat, like the rest of the world, is gradually emerging from the pandemic. Although we were not able to hold events over the past year, work on restoration and planning continued. As reported in our last newsletter, read more
Historic Sewing Machine Donated to Happy Retreat
Friends of Happy Retreat is appreciating a personal donation given to us by a descendant of Charles and Mildred Washington. This sewing machine belonged to Francis Washington, Jr. and his wife Lucy Walters Washington and their daughter read more
December 2020 Rising Sun Newsletter
Over the past year, we have been exploring ways to leverage historic preservation tax credits to finance the remaining restoration of Happy Retreat. In a nutshell, combined Federal and West Virginia state historic preservation tax ... read more
Fall 2020 Update
Hello Everyone, Thank you for checking back with us. Here we are approaching Fall already and we are all anxious to get back to normal. Hopefully it’s in the near future for us. Unfortunately we were unable to celebrate the ... read more
August 2020 Update
Hello again Fans and Patrons, Another update from all of us here at Happy Retreat. We are still working toward being able to open up the house for your visiting pleasure. Of course we are still under the social precautions due to the ... read more
July 2020 Rising Sun Newsletter
It is with great sadness that I report the death of Kevin Lee Sarring, the generous and multitalented architect who gave so much of his time and talent to the restoration of Happy Retreat. Kevin was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s ... read more
July 2020 Restoration Update
Restoration of the smokehouse and stone kitchen is nearing completion. Over the winter, master carpenter Dave Kardok prepared the framing for the new roof. Many of the original rafters were simply split logs with the tree bark still on read more