By Victoria Zarbo

Remarkable 1860 Album Belonging to Waterford’s Maranda Stewart Hough Made a Cross-Country Journey Home After Being Discovered for $1.99

More than 160 years after a young Virginia woman began filling a friendship album with signatures and sentiments from friends and family, the book has turned up nearly 3,000 miles from home—and it made an extraordinary journey back to Waterford, Virginia.

California collage artist and content creator Margarete Miller discovered the 1860 friendship album belonging to Maranda Stewart Hough of Waterford in a Savors thrift store in the San Francisco area, where it was being sold for just $1.99.

Miller regularly searches thrift stores for old books, papers and other vintage materials to use in her collage artwork. But when she began looking through Maranda’s album and realized what she had found, she decided this was one old book she could not cut apart.

Instead, she began researching the young woman whose name appeared in its pages.

That research led her across the country to Waterford, Virginia, the historic village where Maranda lived and where her album originated. Now, 166 years after Maranda began collecting the signatures and sentiments of people in her life, Miller brought the album home.

Margarete returned the album to Waterford and gave a talk on it at this year’s 82nd annual Waterford Fair about the discovery of the album, her search for Maranda and the unlikely journey that ultimately brought the book back to the community where its story began.

“The Waterford Fair is more than just an event; it’s a living celebration of history, craftsmanship and community,” said Tracy Kirkman, public programming director of the Waterford Foundation. “This year, we were especially thrilled to welcome home Maranda Stewart Hough’s friendship album, bringing this remarkable mid-19th century artifact back to the community where the story began.”

The return of Maranda’s album was one of the special programs at this year’s Waterford Fair, Virginia’s oldest juried crafts fair. Since 1943, the Fair has brought visitors to the historic village for fine American crafts, original art, traditional music, historic home and garden tours, living history and demonstrations.

It remains a mystery as to how it traveled 3,000 miles to California.  It’s an unusually visual story: the handwritten album and inscriptions, the charming historic village, the descendants and local residents.

But the story has another chapter.

Inspired by the original friendship album, Miller has created a global community addendum that continues Maranda’s 1860 tradition of collecting signatures and sentiments. The new contributions connect a friendship ritual begun before the Civil War with a worldwide community more than a century and a half later. From her large group of followers, Miller has collected their signatures and copied Maranda’s signature pattern in her friendship album to create a modern-day replica.

The discovery is particularly fitting for Waterford, a village whose residents have spent generations preserving its historic buildings, landscapes and stories. The village is a National Historic Landmark District, and the Waterford Foundation works to protect its distinctive 18th- and 19th-century character and surrounding farmland.

The album is now with The Waterford Foundation.

About the Waterford Foundation

The Waterford Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the historic village of Waterford, Virginia, a National Historic Landmark District. Proceeds from the annual Waterford Fair support the Foundation’s work to protect the village’s distinctive 18th- and 19th-century character and surrounding farmland. For more information about the Waterford Foundation, including membership, visit waterfordfoundation.org.

About the Author: Victoria Zarbo is a member of the Bendure Communications team and thought this story fitting for the Old Town Crier and we agree. Looking forward to checking the album out the next time we are in the Waterford area.