Our Commissioners
The Jefferson County Historic Landmarks Commission consists of five appointed members. These commissioners have expertise and knowledge in the areas of architecture, historic architecture, archaeology, historic preservation, and local history. The JCHLC is charged with aiding the county government and its citizens in the protection and preservation of our local historic resources. The JCHLC meets at 7:00pm on the second Wednesday of every other month. Meetings are held in the Jefferson County Commission room in the basement of the Charles Town Library.
Martin Burke
Chair emeritus
Martin Burke is an objects conservator. He holds degrees from University of Michigan, Shepherd University, and pursued graduate studies at George Washington University. For seventeen years he was an objects conservator at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution and for thirteen years Head Conservator at Harpers Ferry Center, National Park Service. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC).
Addison Reese
Chair
Addison Reese has a background in education and currently works at the Shepherdstown Public Library where she has conducted genealogy and local history research workshops. She specializes in cemetery restoration and is the caretaker of the Kearneysville Methodist/Boyd Carter Memorial Cemetery as well as an assistant superintendent for Fairview-Gibsontown Cemetery. She is a board member of the African American Community Association of Jefferson County (AACAJC) and part of the Mayor’s Select Committee for the African American Cemetery in downtown Charles Town. Addison has also written historical articles for the Shepherdstown Observer and regularly assists others with genealogical research.
Term Expires: 3/31/27
Lyle Rush
Treasurer
Lyle is a retired IT professional, whose 30+ year career included computer programming and web design at the National Geographic Society, as well as being the Data Center Manager at one of the nation’s leading library automation companies, Library Systems and Services, Inc. He received an RBA from Shepherd College, where along with updating his IT skills, he studied Archaeology. After graduating Lyle assisted with several phase one and phase three archeological surveys at various historic locations in Jefferson County, including Happy Retreat, and the William and Reginal Green sites. For nearly a decade, he also participated in surveying and documenting a large number of historic structures in Jefferson County, which dated between 1735 and 1835. This survey culminated in the book, Uncommon Vernacular, by John Allen. More recently, he has been working as a team member doing cemetery restoration at various cemeteries in the county, and as a member of the Roman Church and Burial Grounds committee (Shepherdstown) he has been doing restoration and research into the burials there.
Term Expires: 3/31/28
David Carroll
Commissioner
David Carroll is a professional archeologist and historian who has spent his 26-year career working in the Mid-Atlantic region, primarily in northern Virginia. He received his undergraduate degree in history from Shepherd College and received his Master of Arts in historical archeology from the University of Leicester. He has excavated and researched a wide variety of cultural resources including dwellings, taverns/ordinaries, mills, ironworks, cemeteries, and Native American villages. Mr. Carroll has also documented and analyzed numerous historic buildings and structures. He is a lifelong resident of the Eastern Panhandle, growing up in the Bolivar/Harpers Ferry area and now residing in Shepherdstown.
Term Expires: 3/31/25
Leigh Koonce
Secretary
H.S. Leigh Koonce is a lifelong resident of Jefferson County. He was educated at St. Maria Goretti and Shepherd University. Professionally he has worked as a private tutor, journalist, bookseller, political organizer, non-profit organizer, political consultant, and fundraiser. Currently he is employed by the Old Charles Town Library and Jefferson County Museum as both the development coordinator and the special collections coordinator.
Koonce has written three books, Stories from the Ballot Box: History and Reflections from Jefferson County, Erebian Musings, and Miss Elsie of Claymont. His creative and critical work has appeared in a number of publications in West Virginia and beyond.
Able to trace both sides of his family’s presence in America to the early 1700s, Koonce is the great-great-grandson of Senator George Koonce, an attendee at the first Wheeling Convention and the great-great-grandson of John Allstadt, who was kidnapped and held captive by John Brown in Harpers Ferry.
Term Expires: 3/31/28
John-Henry Dale
Commissioner
John Henry Dale is a Senior IT and AV Engineer and local business owner born and raised in Jefferson County, surrounded by its historical sites and scenery. As a child he attended the Claymont School, adjacent to the largest Washington family home, Claymont Court. This early exposure to Washington family history, combined with living in nearly every town in the county, provided him a life-long and county-wide education in Jefferson County’s local history and how it relates to the larger American historical narrative. With a Bachelor of Science in International Studies from Kenyon College and a Master of Science in Digital Media from the University of Edinburgh, he has received multiple grants and awards for his work in live spatial audio. He is an AVIXA Certified Technology Specialist (CTS) who has produced large-scale enterprise live streaming video events for leading Fortune 500 organizations and aims to incorporate cutting-edge digital media and imaging technologies into his work with the JCHLC to discover and share more of this county’s fascinating history with the world.
Term of Service Ends: 03/31/28
Jack Hefestay
Liaison to the JCHLC
County Commissioner Jack Hefestay was appointed as the liaison to the JCHLC effective January 2025. Jack is a graduate of the University of Colorado where he majored in US and European History, emphasizing diplomatic topics as well as numerous engineering disciplines. He is a retired U.S. Navy Captain with 25 years’ experience active and reserve duty. Additionally, he was also employed by several large aerospace corporations as a system engineer/integrator before retiring in 2004. After retirement jack and his wife settled in the region where his ancestors first laid roots in the mid-1750s. He previously served two different unexpired terms on the JCHLC as treasure and is glad to be affiliated again with this fine group of historians.
Term Expires: 12/31/28
Elizabeth Nicholson
Commission Assistant
Elizabeth Nicholson is an AmeriCorps member with the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia. She holds a BA in history from the State University of New York at New Paltz and is currently pursuing a Master of Design Studies in Historic Preservation at the Boston Architectural College. Elizabeth is passionate about preserving local history and engaging communities in heritage conservation.
Term Expires: 10/07/25