I'd like to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who responded to our year-end appeal. Your donation is critical to our annual operating expenses. Without your support, we wouldn't be able to continue to do the work that we do for Vermont and its communities.

For those of us working in the preservation field, a good day is a busy day. Below you'll see evidence that we have had a lot of good days!

Sincerely,

Paul Bruhn

Executive Director

Preservation Trust News

Five Groups in Post-Irene Wilmington, VT
2012 Preservation Trust of Vermont
Honor Award Winner

Preservation Awards

The Preservation Trust of Vermont is now accepting nominations for its 2014 Preservation Awards. Since 1982, The Preservation Trust of Vermont has recognized outstanding contributions in the field of historic preservation. Awards are presented to the individuals and organizations who have made special contributions in preserving Vermont's historic architecture.

Award nominations for 2014 are due on March 4, 2014. Winners will be notified by March 11th. All awards will be presented at our 2014 Historic Preservation Conference on May 2 in Island Pond, Vermont. You may download your a nomination form directly from our website, http://www.ptvermont.org.

2013 Preservation Grants in Partnership with the Freeman Foundation

Since 1994 the Freeman Foundation and the Preservation Trust of Vermont have had a partnership to support preservation projects. Over $11 million in grants have been
awarded to help more than 400 projects in communities throughout the state. These grants have played a key role in over $135 million in total rehabilitation work. The 2013 grants include:

Canaan, Grace Church: $40,000
Built in 1874, this church is remarkably intact and well cared for. The congregation is active, generous, and engaged in the community, hosting community picnics, suppers, and seasonal festivals. This grant will support reroofing with standing seam metal and repainting the building.

Lemington, Blodgett Schoolhouse: $10,000
The Lemington Historical Society and Town years ago moved this one room schoolhouse next to the town offices. They have done an exceptional job maintaining and using the building as a town hall. This grant will support making the building more secure for storing archives including making woodwork repairs to keep out vermin, replacing the wiring, pouring a concrete floor in the basement, repairing the front door, and painting the south and west sides of the schoolhouse.

Lyndonville, Vermont Children's Theater: $35,000
For the past 20 years, The Vermont Children's Youth Theater (VCT), has been located in a barn on Darling Hill Road. Converted to a 200-seat theater, the barn is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and presents 2-3 shows each year, all performed by local children ages 7 through graduating seniors. VYT builds self worth and accomplishment for all children regardless of ability, disability, and ability to pay. The barn/theater is located on the property of the Wildflower Inn, who lease the barn to the VCT for $1/year. This grant will put the building in good structural repair, including ADA, life-safety/electrical, and bathroom improvements, and will leverage VCT fundraising efforts for the total package, estimated at $75,000.

Newport, Christian Science Church: $25,000
Built in the late 19th century, this small, Gothic style church is located on East Main Street and features lancet windows and doors, a steeply pitched roof with jerkinhead gables, and a semi-detached steeple with Gothic forms and details. The spire is an irregular octagon form that once held a weathervane. This grant will support reroofing the spire with wood shingles, installing a new mast and flashing for the weathervane, repairing the belfry louvers, and installing metal roofing on the belfry floor.

Newport, Orleans County Courthouse: $50,000
Built in 1886 by one of Vermont's premiere architects, Lambert Packard, the Romanesque style Orleans County Courthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The original Pennsylvania Black Slate roof is at the end of its life. This grant will support installing a new slate roof.

Norton, Village School/Municipal Building: $37,500
This 1923 former schoolhouse houses fully renovated town offices on the lower level (completed in 2005) and historical society archives and meeting space on the second floor. A 1970s renovation of the exterior replaced the original windows with replacement windows that are now failing. This grant will support replacing the failed windows with new custom-sized windows to replicate the originals and to replace non-code-compliant wiring and lighting in the upstairs.

St. Johnsbury, St. Andrews Church: $40,000
St. Andrew's is a wooden English Gothic style church located on the Main Street in St. Johnsbury. The 1877 building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is unusual with exterior tracery, buttressing, and medieval (more pointed than Gothic) lancet windows. There is a full basement with kitchen and community room under the church. The upstairs is exquisite with an open plan and portable seating that allows the church to serve as a cultural and meeting venue. This secondary community use is a deliberate part of the sustainability plan which will help support the building's upkeep in the long-term. The congregation has been raising funds and making needed repairs to the bell tower. This grant will support repointing the brick foundation, repairing woodwork, replacing rotted flat-board siding and buttress skirts with red cedar, replacing flashing, re-roofing with asphalt shingles, and making framing repairs to one of the buttresses that is twisting due to stress.

Save the Date!
May 2, 2014 Conference: Preservation & Community

Island Pond, VT

Keynote speaker, Nancy Boone, U.S. Department of HUD Preservation Officer, will share her perspective on national trends.

Session choices include a tour of the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge; a walking tour by Prof. Thomas Visser of historic porches; a slide presentation of state-owned and grant-funded railroad properties; a look at mid-century-Modernist State Park buildings inspired by the NPS Mission 66 initiative; a funders panel on managing multiple funding sources and engaging the community; Nulhegan-Native American Cultural Traditions in the Northeast Kingdom; a presentation on Northeast Kingdom Telecom, economic development, and downtown vitality; and research papers presented by UVM Historic Preservation students.

Please check our website for information updates as they are available: www.ptvermont.org

Local Project Highlight

Click above to watch

"Plainfield Town Hall:

A Beautiful Place for Democracy"

Plainfield Town Hall

Like many of Vermont's historic opera houses, the Plainfield Town Hall has served our community in a variety of ways: concerts, classes, plays, graduation ceremonies, proms, dances and of course Town Meeting. Built in the 1840's, the building has been closed for the past few years due to a variety of structural and public health concerns.

To complete renovations of the building, a group of volunteers launched a $250,000 fundraising campaign about a year ago, using several strategies:

Grants: Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, Vermont Arts Council, State Division for Historic Preservation, Preservation Trust, and a couple of donor-directed funds within the Vermont Community Foundation.
Business support: We've received gifts from several local and regional businesses and institutions, including Goddard College and Washington Electric Coop.
Individual donations solicited in a variety of ways: multiple mailings, a phone bank, pitching at Town Meeting, Front Porch Forum and online fundraising. More than 150 people have contributed to date, including at least 40 or 50 who don't live in Plainfield.

Our most innovative strategy has been the use of Razoo, an online fundraising platform that allows us to post videos and photos and share our story via social media. It also makes it easier to raise out-of-town donations. One neat feature: donors receive a thank-you video in response to their gift. Click here to view the site (and make a gift!),

To date, we have raised more than $200,000, including about $40,000 from community donations. We hope to finish the campaign by the end of June.

Next Stage Arts and the Putney Historical Society

The Putney Historical Society is pleased to announce the receipt of two grants in connection with its ongoing collaboration with Next Stage Arts Project to preserve and renovate the historic, former church building at 15 Kimball Hill in Putney into a professional performing arts center.

The grants include $70,000 from the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board (VHCB) that was awarded at their December 2013 board meeting, and $20,000 from the Vermont Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) and the Division for Historic Preservation (DHP) that was awarded just before Christmas.

Over the last three years - with considerable local, state, and foundation support - Putney Historical Society and Next Stage Arts Project completed Phase 1 which called for $75,000 of critical work covering air circulation, energy efficiency, electrical service, access improvement, fire safety, seating, and basic stage/lighting items allowing the doors to stay open while the two organizations work to address the larger code and repair issues. The $500,000 Phase 2 capital campaign now underway assures structural and building envelope work can be completed, thus assuring the venue and historic building remain viable for the future. With these newly awarded grants, $240,000 of the Phase 2 funding has been secured.

"Putney Historical Society is excited about the positive energy that Next Stage brings to the cultural and economic life of the village, and these grants enable us to continue our work preserving and adapting the historic building that has served as a vital community gathering place in Putney since 1841," said Lyssa Papazian, Development Committee Chair for PHS.

A future Phase 3 will incorporate additional work to renovate and expand the rear addition/kitchen and complete the performance space upgrades.

"The work we are doing with the Putney Historical Society reflects a national trend to adapt and re-use important historic spaces to help revitalize communities across the country. In three short years, Next Stage has facilitated many school collaborations and events that are drawing audiences to Putney and helping support the village economy," said Billy Straus, President and Co-Founder of Next Stage Arts Project.

Putney Federated Church, Putney, VT

In 2009, the former United Church of Putney congregation donated the building to the Putney Historical Society. After the successful reconstruction and re-opening of the Putney General Store in 2011, this is the PHS's second project to provide creative solutions to economic and community development for the village of Putney.

Legislative Update

Governor Shumlin's Budget Address

Vermont State House, Photo by Sanders H. Milens

In his Budget Address before the Vermont Legislature on Wednesday January 15th, Governor Peter Shumlin proposed a major increase in funding for the Downtown and Village Center Tax Credit program- a proposal strongly supported by the Preservation Trust. Here is a portion of the Governor's address:

"Our downtowns and village centers define the Vermont way of life. In these past three years, we have supported our downtowns to grow jobs, increase housing, and help our environment.

We prioritized the redevelopment of the State Office Complex to help Waterbury recover from Irene;
We are anchoring a state-of-the-art office building in Barre, bringing hundreds of jobs close to the restaurants and shops in the beautifully restored downtown;
We provided funds for Vermont Technical College and Community College of Vermont to expand and locate campuses in the renovated Brooks Building, healing the burned-out heart of downtown Brattleboro; and
We are working with leaders in St. Albans to allow Mylan, one of the area's largest employers, to expand while sparking a redevelopment effort throughout the entire downtown.

The results mean jobs, community pride, and economic growth, all across Vermont. We have seen the benefit all over the state - in Hardwick, Newport, St. Johnsbury, Winooski, Vergennes and elsewhere. One reason this is happening is because of downtown tax credits. Every public dollar in this program brings about $15 of additional investment, and creates a chain-reaction of other economic improvements.

That is why I ask you to support my budget request of additional $500,000 in downtown tax credits, leveraging million more in downtown improvements statewide."

Vermont News

Structures Across 17 Vermont Towns to Benefit from State Historic Preservation Grants

Historic meeting houses, churches and libraries are among a list of community buildings across 17 Vermont towns receiving preservation grants in 2014. The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation recently awarded matching grants totaling $257,404 to help restore and maintain Vermont's historic buildings. Funded in this round are the following projects:

Bennington (Bennington County), Bennington Free Library

Serving residents of Bennington and surrounding communities, the Bennington Free library is comprised of two historic buildings (1865, 1936) connected by a 1986 annex. Grant funds awarded by the Division for Historic Preservation will contribute to replacement of a portion of the library's slate roof with new slate that matches the existing roof.

Braintree (Orange County), Braintree Meeting House

Originally constructed as a church and meetinghouse, the Braintree Hill Meeting House (1845) is now owned by the Braintree Historical Society. Work to restore window sash, window frames and the building's two fa�ade doors will be completed with the help of a grant awarded by the Division for Historic Preservation.

Brandon (Rutland County), Brandon Town Hall and Community Center
A centerpiece in Brandon, the Brandon Town Hall (1861) was closed between March 1979 and 2006. Reopened through the efforts of the Friends of the Brandon Town Hall, the building is used as a community center for concerts, lectures, auctions, theater productions, meetings, and dances. Ten triple-hung windows of the main hall will be restored with help from a Division for Historic Preservation grant.

Brookfield (Orange County), Old Town Hall
Brookfield's Old Town Hall (c. 1852) on Sunset Lake is now owned by the Brookfield Community Partnership. This energetic non-profit has worked to rehabilitate the landmark for the past decade. A grant awarded by the Division for Historic Preservation will aid a variety of work, including structural and exterior repairs to the building's outhouse, and clapboard, door and window repairs.

Brownington (Orleans County), Old Stone House Museum
The Old Stone House Museum (1835-6) was originally a dormitory for the Orleans County Grammar School. The building was purchased in 1917 by the Orleans County Natural and Civil History Society, which opened the museum. Work at the fourth floor clerestory, including roof, window and flashing repairs, will be completed with grant funds awarded by the Division for Historic Preservation.

Chelsea (Orange County), Orange County Courthouse
The Orange County Courthouse (1847) has served as a courthouse since its construction. The Greek Revival-style building was built by noted local master builder Horace Carpenter. A Division for Historic Preservation grant will contribute towards the cost of work at the building's bell tower, including re-gilding the copper dome.

Fairlee (Orange County), Fairlee Town Hall

Designed for local government and civic use, the Fairlee Town Hall (1914) has continuously served as a center of community affairs. Use of the second floor auditorium was discontinued in 1986 due to safety and accessibility requirements. With the help of a grant awarded by the Division for Historic Preservation, structural repairs to allow use of the auditorium will be completed.

Johnson (Lamoille County), Johnson Church Studio
Originally a Methodist church (1855), the Church Studio in Johnson was purchased by the Vermont Studio Center in 1993 and renovated to house 12 visual arts studios. Grant funds from the Division for Historic Preservation will contribute to replacement of the building's failing metal roof with a new standing seam metal roof.

Ludlow (Windsor County), Black River Academy
Constructed as a private academy in the Richardsonian Romanesque-style, the Black River Academy Museum (1888) was converted into a convalescent home in the 1930s and was empty in 1972 when a local nonprofit turned the building into a museum. The Division for Historic Preservation awarded the museum a grant to aid repair of the building's distinctive windows.

Lyndon (Caledonia County), York Street Meeting House
Originally a church (1829), the York Street Meeting House has undergone major rehabilitation in the past five years, including two previous grant-funded projects from the Division for Historic Preservation. The Upright Steeple Society will use newly awarded funding to continue work on the building, including window restoration.

McIndoe Falls (Caledonia County), McIndoe Falls Congregational Church

The McIndoe Falls Congregational Church (1850) continues to function as a house of worship as well as hosting various community meetings and events. Grant funds from the Division for Historic Preservation will allow the church to restore three of the building's original 20 over 20 double-hung windows.

Montgomery (Franklin County), Pratt Hall
Constructed between 1832 and 1835, Pratt Hall was originally an Episcopal Church. The building wascondemned in 1973 but through a local effort, the Montgomery Historical Society was formed and the building saved. The Historical Society will use a grant awarded by the Division for Historic Preservation to complete structural repairs to the building's west wall.

North Bennington (Bennington County), Park McCullough House
Constructed as a "summer cottage" for Trenor and Laura Hall Park, the Park-McCullough House (1865) was given to the Park-McCullough House Association in 1968 for cultural use on behalf of the community. Work to remediate severe drainage problems that threaten this significant building will be completed with help from a Division for Historic Preservation grant

Putney (Windham County), Next Stage Performing Arts Center
When its congregation disbanded in 2009, this former Greek
Revival-style Church (1841) was donated to the Putney Historical Society. Today its primary function is as a performance space for a local repertory company called Apron Theater. Repairs to the building's slate roof, chimney and belfry will be funded, in part, with grant funds from the Division for Historic Preservation.

Randolph (Orange County), Kimball Public Library
Completed in 1903, the Renaissance Revival Kimball Library was constructed to house the Randolph Public Library, established in 1896. It continues to serve this function, with an attendance count of 31,600 in 2012. A grant from the Division for Historic Preservation will help complete repairs to damaged masonry and resolve drainage issues at the library's east wall.

St. Johnsbury, (Caledonia County), St. Andrew's Episcopal Church
Construction began on this spectacular wooden English Gothic-style church in 1877. In 1941, a full basement was constructed below the church to house a guildhall known as Jones Hall. Major work to complete structural repairs, siding repairs and replace the asphalt shingles on the main roof will be completed with the assistance of a grant from the Division for Historic Preservation.

Westford, (Chittenden County), United Church of Westford
The United Church of Westford (1840) is the only remaining church in operation in this community. The congregation also owns and maintains a former Baptist Church (the Red Brick Meeting House) recently restored as a community center. A grant awarded by the Division for Historic Preservation will allow the church to complete steeple and spire repairs, including restoration of its weathervane.

Established in 1986, the state-funded Historic Preservation Grant Program annually awards matching grants for building improvement projects that promote Vermont's architectural and historical heritage. Since its inception, the program has granted nearly $4 million towards the preservation of more than 500 historic buildings. All properties are either listed in or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Read on for more information...

Burlington Mayor Endorses College Duo's Ambitious Plan for Moran Plant
Posted by Alicia Freese, Seven Days

Two college kids may get their chance to breathe new life into a long-dormant coal plant on Burlington's waterfront. Mayor Miro Weinberger announced Monday that he would like the city to invest $6.3 million in a proposal - concocted by two University of Vermont students - to convert the Moran Plant into the site of a performance space, restaurant, glassblowing studio and "educational brewery," among other uses. (See the New Moran website.)

Efforts to refurbish the eyesore beside Lake Champlain have repeatedly failed during the last three decades. Read On...

Landmark USA Special

The Landmark Trust USA would like to offer our fellow Vermonters a 25% seasonal discount, January through April, on regular nightly or weekly rates at any of our five vacation properties. This weather has been a corker, a roller coaster of extremes, and we want to encourage you to treat yourself to a comfortable, warm and relaxing in-state vacation get-away at Naulakha, Rudyard Kiping's home, his Carriage House, the Sugar House, the Dutton Farm House, or the Amos Brown House. All of these are historic properties, renovated preserving the culture and style of the period when each was built while offering contemporary comforts. Four of these properties are located in Dummerston, just outside Brattleboro and one is located in Whitingham, not far from Wilmington.

Please visit www.landmarktrustusa.org or call 254-6868 to learn more about us and to secure your own mini-escape. We look forward to hearing from you.

Collaboration Helps to Expedite Lake Champlain Bridge Replacement Project

US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration Newsletter, December 2013

In October 2009, just weeks after the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Lake Champlain Bridge, the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) and the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) had to suddenly close the historic bridge due to the discovery of significant deterioration of its piers. NYSDOT and VTrans worked together with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and many State and local partners to construct a new Lake Champlain Bridge, which opened to traffic ahead of schedule in November 2011, just two years after the closure of the original bridge. Read On...

National News

National Honor Awards Nominations Now Being Accepted

What do the Empire State Building, a South Carolina Gullah Geeche house, and a San Francisco YMCA building have in common? They've all received National Preservation Awards from the National Trust for Historic Preservation!

Now is your chance to nominate a deserving project, individual, organization, or agency to receive one of these prestigious, national awards.

Each year the National Trust for Historic Preservation celebrates the best of preservation by presenting the Richard H. Driehaus National Preservation Awards to individuals and organizations who have demonstrated excellence in historic preservation. Do you know of a project that deserves to join this group and be recognized as one of the best in preservation? Nominate that individual, organization, agency, or project now for a National Preservation Award. Nomination deadline is March 3, 2014.

Visit http://www.preservationnation.org/awards for more information, or contact Brendan McCormick at 202.588.6315 or awards@savingplaces.org.

National Trust Preservation Funds

Are you working on a preservation project and need seed money to help kick-start your planning efforts? Is your organization undertaking a new educational effort aimed at engaging new audiences in preservation? If the answer to either question is yes, you may be eligible for funding from the National Trust Preservation Funds grant program.

Grants from the National Trust Preservation Funds encourage preservation at the local level by providing seed money for planning and education projects. These grants help stimulate public discussion, enable local groups to gain the technical expertise needed for particular projects, introduce the public to preservation concepts and techniques, and encourage financial participation by the private and public sectors.

Grants range up to $5,000 and require a dollar-for-dollar match. Deadline is February 3, 2014. Full eligibility requirements and grant guidelines, along with a link to our application, can be found at http://www.preservationnation.org/funding. If you have any questions please contact the grants office at grants@savingplaces.org. or 202-588-6277.

National Trust Accepting Nominations for America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places

The National Trust is accepting nominations for historic sites to be included on the 2014 America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list. You may nominate a site by completing a basic online form that can be found here: http://www.preservationnation.org/issues/11-most-endangered/11-most-form.html#.UsHCJW0phic

The National Trust will accept nominations through March 3, 2014. For more information, please contact 11Most@savingplaces.org or 202.588.6141.

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