Vermont Nets Federal Grant To Inventory Barns
By Jason Gibbs
Vermont Governor Jim Douglas press release
October 17, 2007
COLCHESTER – The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation has been awarded a $150,000 federal grant to carry out the first state-wide inventory of Vermont’s barns to further efforts to preserve them.
In a ceremony at the Farmhouse Center, which received a state barn preservation grant last winter, Governor Jim Douglas on Wednesday announced the Preserve America grant that will help fund the Vermont Barn Census.
“By involving Vermonters in a developing a state-wide inventory of our barns, we can help strengthen our efforts to preserve these iconic structures as part of our working landscape,” Governor Douglas said.
The project will recruit volunteers and students from Vermont’s schools in all 251 towns to identify barns and other agricultural outbuildings in their communities during several weekends in the spring and fall of 2008, and the spring of 2009.
These volunteers will take photographs and notes in the field, and then submit the data to develop a web-based barn survey form that will be developed by the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation.
Save Vermont Barns, a program of the Mt. Holly Barn Preservation Association, will compile the information in a database that the public can access via the web to learn about barns in their community and across the state.
“We know that our state's rich agricultural heritage and working landscape draws visitors to Vermont,” Governor Douglas said. “And preserving barns is an important part of strengthening both our tourism and agricultural industries.”
The state’s Barn Program grants, administered by the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, provides owners of agricultural buildings with matching funding of up to $10,000 for a variety of capital repairs.
Eligible projects include repairs to roofs, foundations, walls, sills and overall stabilization.
The owners of the Farmhouse Center initially considered demolishing their barn, which was built around 1845, but decided to restore it instead and received a $10,000 state barn preservation grant last winter to help repair its sills and roof.
The Farmhouse Center now hosts several programs including creative adult job training education; horse training, therapeutic riding, and summer equestrian camps for children, including those with emotional and behavioral challenges.
“This historic setting really helps reinforce the Farmhouse Center’s focus on Vermont’s agricultural heritage and connection to the earth, and we’re pleased that the state will be taking stock of our historic barns with this grant to improve efforts to preserve them,” said Joan Powell, the center’s owner.
The grant comes from the federal Preserve America program, which is administered by the National Park Service and whose Honorary Chairwoman is First Lady Laura Bush.
The program recognizes the importance of historic resources in communities across the country. Eighteen towns in Vermont have been designated as special Preserve America Communities.
A kickoff conference for the Vermont Barn Census is planned for the spring of 2008, and a wrap-up celebration for the fall of 2009.
For more information, visit www.historicvermont.org/ or www.preserveamerica.gov/
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$9,702,930,731,000.00
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$31,684.39 Per Citizen |
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