The Heritage Fund, a cooperative effort of Preservation Maryland and the Maryland Historical Trust, has selected its 2023 award recipients. The Fund provides direct assistance for the protection of historical and cultural resources and promotes innovative demonstration projects that can be successfully replicated to meet Maryland’s historic preservation needs
The grant program is intended to serve the needs of tangible cultural resources in Maryland. Historic sites, buildings, districts, objects, and archaeological resources are all eligible for funding.
Preservation Maryland is pleased to announce the following Heritage Fund recipients:
Accokeek Foundation – Expanding Access to Black & Indigenous Narrative of the Potomac
Award amount: $9,855
Accokeek will identify, organize, and catalog the vast resources and library materials the foundation has collected over the past 65 years. A full inventory will be conducted of the existing collection in order to create new wayside exhibits that combine cultural traditions and the history of waterways and watermen with contemporary resource challenges, ecological sustainability, and resilience initiatives to convey an indigenous stewardship ethic.
Archeology Society of Maryland – Ground Truthing Cresap’s Fort
Award amount: $10,000
This project will support ground-truthing excavations of the remote sensing data collected by MHT and the Western Chapter of the ASM in November 2020. The data collected in the 2020 survey was successful in identifying numerous anomalies that now must be “ground-truthed” to determine age and function.
B&O Railroad Museum- Jim Crow Era Segregated Car, C&O No. 409 – Exhibition Reinterpretation
Award amount: $5,000
The B&O Railroad Museum will reinterpret and update the exhibit in the C&O No. 409 to better explore the connection between railroad history and Black history in America from the time of slavery through the Civil Rights Movement.
City of Cumberland – AHS Baltimore Street Oral History Project
Award amount: $3,150
The Allegany High School Historical Research Methods Class will use existing documentation along with oral history methodology methods to conduct historical research of the 37 historic commercial buildings located on Baltimore Street in downtown Cumberland. The finished project will be displayed at the Allegany County Museum from late spring through summer 2024 and later at the Rosenbaum Building on Baltimore Street.
Award amount: $3,410
The City of Frederick, in partnership with the African American Cultural Resources and Heritage (AARCH) Society, will contract with a professional historian and graphic designer to prepare text and graphics for a proposed historical marker at the Emancipation Association building.
In celebration of Preservation Month in May, Preservation Maryland President & CEO Nicholas Redding presented the City of Frederick and AARCH Society with a check for the project.
First & Franklin, Presbyterian Church of Baltimore – Independent Analysis of Church Spire
Award amount: $10,000
Funding will support the structural analysis and ultimate repair of the spire of First & Franklin Presbyterian Church. The goal is to stabilize the brownstone spire, remove the scaffolding holding it together, and restore the integrity of the urban landscape for the community.
Johnsville United Methodist Church – Restoration 23 – Church Foundation Repair
Award amount: $8,000
Funding will support foundation and roof repairs as well as, window replacement and stucco restoration of this historically black church.
Peale Center for History & Culture – Evaluating & Amplifying Accomplished Arts Apprenticeships at the Peale
Award amount: $4,000
This grant will support an independent evaluation of The Peale’s Accomplished Arts Apprenticeship (AAA) program and the publication of its learnings and results by Dr. Zahava Doering. Part of the evaluation/reporting process includes recording the apprentices’ personal stories and responses to their introduction to the historic preservation trades of the AAA program.
Prince George’s County Memorial Library System – PGMLS History Digital Exhibition & Preservation
Award amount: $3,000
Funding will support the digitization of memorabilia, ledgers, photographs, ephemera, and historical documents held in the library system archives. Digitization will male these items accessible to the public again as many items cannot be safely displayed or handled.
Preservation Trades Network – International Preservation Trades Workshop (IPTW)
Award amount: $10,000
The grant will support the implementation of each pre-conference workshop and include the purchase of project materials and personal protective equipment for the demonstrators and attendees. The IPTW 2023 workshops will include drystone masonry, cemetery, window, and log preservation and restoration.
Town of Mount Airy – Flat Iron Preservation Project
Award amount: $10,000
The Town of Mount Airy will use the funding to hire an architect who can produce the design and construction documents necessary to move the project forward and inform construction on the Flat Iron building.
Walkersville Southern Railroad Museum Inc. – Brick Repairs at Glade Valley Mill Building
Award amount: $10,000
Funding will go toward the repair of brick corbelling that has deteriorated and will prevent its collapse. The repaired building will allow the museum to continue welcoming tourists to the site, which contains a wealth of local history.
Washington College – Maryland’s Maritime Cultural Landscapes: Identification, Interpretation, Preservation Conference
Award amount: $10,000
In an effort to provide a needed forum to advance the understanding of the impact of climate change and rising water levels as they relate to Maryland’s maritime cultural landscapes, Washington College’s Center for Environment and Society’s Past is Present Initiative plans to hold a conference with the support of the Heritage Fund grant. This conference will provide a forum where researchers, preservationists, planners, and concerned citizens can gather to discuss topics and gain perspective for identifying, interpreting, and preserving places where land and water meet.