Staff

Mikaeel Martinez-Jaka

Visitor Services Assistant

Mikaeel Jaka is a Visitor Services Assistant at Oatlands, where he helps guests explore the estate’s historic mansion and gardens while ensuring a welcoming and informative experience. With a background in community engagement and customer service, Mikaeel is passionate about sharing stories that connect the past to the present. His interests in photography and cultural history inform his work and inspire his commitment to preserving and interpreting historic places for future generations.

Karen Cowan

Visitor Services Assistant

As a Visitor Services Assistant at Oatlands, Karen Cowan enjoys welcoming guests and helping them connect with stories that bring history to life. Before joining Oatlands, she provided compassionate care to families and their pets for over five years as a professional pet sitter and worked in an optical laboratory crafting precision contact lenses. A proud mother of three adult children, Karen has long volunteered in community service roles and believes in creating a warm, inclusive, and informative visitor experience. Her enthusiasm for history and hospitality shine in her work at Oatlands.

Bridget Santos

Gardener

Bridget Santos brings artistry to her work as a gardener at Oatlands, blending horticultural expertise with creative design vision. A former aircraft mechanic in the U.S. Air Force, she approaches landscape care with discipline and dedication. Currently pursuing a B.F.A. in Graphic Design and Fine Arts at George Mason University, she integrates aesthetic principles from her studies into her garden work. Her capstone project—branding for a restaurant and creating a hand-bound recipe book—reflects her multidisciplinary talent for design, storytelling, and craftsmanship.

Amanda Patterson

Communications Specialist

Amanda (“Mandy”) Patterson is the Communications Specialist at Oatlands, where she leads creative outreach through social media, storytelling, and community engagement. She holds a master’s degree in Special Education from George Mason University and has taught in preschool and special education settings across multiple grade levels. Mandy is dedicated to making history accessible and engaging for all audiences, including those with special needs. Her collaborative spirit and imaginative approach help bring Oatlands’ rich and complex stories to life. Outside of work, she is a proud mom, avid runner, and dog lover who believes history is meant to be felt, shared, and celebrated.

Hannah Schetselaar

Education Assistant

Hannah Schetselaar is an Education Assistant at Oatlands, where she brings to life the stories of people and place through research-driven programs and interpretation. She earned her B.S. in Psychology from Roanoke College and her M.A. in History and Public History Certificate from Virginia Tech. Her experience includes archival research for the Genealogy of Slavery project, documenting Black resistance in the 1600s, and community-based history projects with the Christiansburg Institute. At Oatlands, she combines scholarship and storytelling to make history inclusive and relevant for modern audiences.

Donna Bohanon

Education Associate

Donna Bohanon is the Education Associate at Oatlands, where she develops K–12 programs that connect students with the site’s diverse stories through history, science, and agriculture. Her lessons align with Virginia’s Standards of Learning and inspire curiosity about the past and the environment. A graduate of Northern Virginia Community College’s Public History and Historic Preservation program, Donna transitioned to museum education after a 30-year career in the federal government working in financial management. She previously worked at the Loudoun Heritage Farm Museum, facilitating engaging programs on local heritage and land use. Deeply committed to preserving African American history, Donna chairs the Black History Committee of the Friends of the Thomas Balch Library and represents the Sterling District on the Loudoun County Heritage Commission.

Audrey DeAngelis

Public Historian

Audrey DeAngelis has served as a Public Historian at Oatlands since 2024. A native of Williamsburg, Virginia, she earned her B.A. in Anthropology from James Madison University and has worked in public history and archaeology at Colonial Williamsburg, Historic Jamestown, and the Old Barracks Museum in Trenton, New Jersey. Passionate about immersive storytelling, she brings history to life through living history portrayals from the American Revolution to World War I. At home, Audrey enjoys spending time with her partner and their lively menagerie of opinionated pets: Roxie, an elderly beagle mix; Marie, a spirited teenage cat; and Félicette, a venerable guinea pig—each with strong opinions about history’s unsung heroes.

Mark Schroeter

Landscape Supervisor

Mark Schroeter served as Oatlands’ Landscape Supervisor starting in 2011, preserving and enhancing its historic gardens with a blend of traditional craftsmanship and sustainable practice. His career began in Florida in 1995 as an estate gardener and later took him to the Architect of the Capitol in Washington, D.C., where he maintained the grounds of the U.S. Capitol complex. He also served for five years at the renowned Inn at Little Washington, managing orchards and kitchen gardens for its award-winning hospitality program. Returning to Oatlands, Mark continues a legacy of horticultural excellence, stewarding the land with care and creativity.