Vermont Nets Federal Grant to Inventory Barns
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.
The Barn Census project is a collaboration of many generous
partners: Save Vermont Barns, a project of the Mount Holly
Barn Preservation Association, the Preservation Trust of Vermont,
UVM Graduate Program in Historic Preservation, Vermont Housing
& Conservation Board, Preservation Education Institute,
Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing, and the Vermont
Department of Agriculture.
For more information, visit www.historicvermont.org/
or www.preserveamerica.gov/
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