Submitted by the Fluvanna Historical Society
At its annual meeting held at Evergreen Baptist Church on Sunday, Oct. 11, Fluvanna Historical Society President Kathleen Kilpatrick announced the society’s appointment of Hayley Tartaglino Tompkins as its new executive director.
“I am so honored to have been selected to lead this organization. It’s an incredibly fortunate gift to be able to work in our county’s history — getting to learn more about it, make it accessible to the people who need it, work with a community so invested in its preservation, and work alongside such a dedicated crew of staff and volunteers who care so deeply about it — and all in the place where I was born and raised. I will do my best to guide the society into the future as we continue to explore our past.”
Tompkins first came to the society in 2007 as an intern and returned year after year during the summers while she attended the College of William and Mary.
After earning her master’s degree in library and information sciences and spending 15 years in public library service with Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, including nine years as branch manager of the Crozet Library, Tompkins returned to the Fluvanna Historical Society as archives director and volunteer coordinator in January 2025.
The society’s executive board unanimously voted to appoint her executive director in September.
“Hayley stands on the shoulders of two outstanding former executive directors — Tricia Johnson, who retired last fall, and Judy Mickelson, our groundbreaking first executive director,” Kilpatrick said. “Both took the society forward in scope and impact in Fluvanna. We have every faith in Hayley’s energy and proven ability to lead in that way for the future!”
The meeting also announced the recipients of this year’s Community Service Awards, a program named in honor of Marvin Moss.
“Meeting the goals of the society rests on partnership within and for this community. Clearly Fluvanna is blessed with people who care deeply about the county, its people, its rich history, and in passing forward the lessons, both the inspirations and the cautions, of that history as guides and assets for the present and future.”
The awards recognize individuals and groups for exemplary work in preservation and for fostering and supporting an understanding of Fluvanna’s history and culture.
The Community Advocacy Award went to Haden Chapel Community Church, headed by Kristel Harris, for its successful campaign to save the historic meeting place as a community resource following its closure by the Methodist Church.
The Public History Award went to Linda Staiger for her work identifying and mapping enslaved communities in the county, information displayed on a poster.
The Volunteer Hero Award went to Fluvanna Historical Society volunteers and staff for their sustained work and dedication to identifying and advocating for the preservation of important historic and cultural sites threatened by the proposed Valley Link transmission lines.
A record three Historic Preservation Awards were presented this year.
One went to Don and Conny Bellamy, who did exemplary, comprehensive work to preserve and restore the historic house and visual landmark known as Solitude.
Another went to the trustees of Union Baptist Church at Shores for restoring the cemetery and working to honor and identify those interred in unmarked graves.
The final award went to Fluvanna County government, particularly the Board of Supervisors, for its stewardship and restoration of the historic 1830 courthouse, designed by John Hartwell Cocke as a precedent-setting architectural model and built by skilled enslaved workers.
Supervisor Tim Hodge of the Palmyra District accepted the award on behalf of the board, speaking about the importance of preservation.
Kilpatrick thanked Hodge and the board for “the steadfast commitment to ensure a landmark of national significance is fitted for its third century of public use as a gathering place and, importantly, as a shared and unifying symbol of our community identity.”
The society thanked Evergreen Baptist Church for hosting the annual meeting. The historic church’s history and service date to 1888. The society also thanked the church volunteers who helped make the gathering possible, particularly society volunteer and church member Montchell Brice.
