Freedom Community Historical Society and Swan’s Island Historical Society are among 18 private nonprofit organizations to receive one-for-one matching grants for maintaining historic buildings in Maine.

Maine Preservation, partnering for a second year with The 1772 Foundation, awarded historic preservation the grants for a total sum of $100,000. The grants ranged in amount from $2,000 to the grant maximum of $10,000, with one organization receiving the latter amount.

Grants were provided for exterior work: painting; surface restoration; fire/security systems; repairs to/restoration of chimneys, porches, roofs, and windows; repairs to foundations and sills; and masonry repointing. Projects were evaluated by Maine Preservation field services staff, who also will manage the grants. Each grantee was required to have matching funds for its project.

Maine Preservation Executive Director Greg Paxton said, "Maine Preservation is honored to partner with The 1772 Foundation to deliver support to nonprofit organizations across Maine as they seek to update and preserve their historic buildings, which are critical cultural resources for their communities and the state. We are pleased to help the organizations they house to continue and upgrade the key services they offer. The 1772 Foundation funds supplement the limited in-state grant funding currently available to support preservation efforts in Maine."

President of The 1772 Foundation Margaret Waldock commented on the importance of these grants to the preservation community. 

"With these grants, The 1772 Foundation continues its investment in preservation efforts that protect assets of community importance,” she said, in a Maine Preservation news release. “While the individual grants may seem small, we have found they leverage considerable local resources and opportunities – community-provided matching dollars, support for local businesses and tradespeople, and the long-term power of incremental, small-scale capital investments in roofs, windows, and structural improvements that protect and maintain the value of assets over time."

Maine Grant recipients were:

Bar Harbor Historical Society (Bar Harbor)
Brick Store Museum (Kennebunk)
Colonial Theater (Augusta)
Eastport Public Library Association (Eastport)
Frances Perkins Center (Damariscotta)
Freedom Community Historical Society (Freedom)
Friends of the Greenville Depot (Greenville)
Historic New England (South Berwick)
Hubbard Free Library (Hallowell)
Norway Landmarks Preservation Society (Norway)
Old Bristol Historical Society (Bristol)
Percival P. Baxter Foundation for Maine’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children (Falmouth)
Phillips Historical Society (Phillips)
Readfield Union Meeting House Corporation (Readfield)
Swan’s Island Historical Society (Swan's Island)
Tate House Museum (Portland)
Vaughan Woods & Historic Homestead (Hallowell)
Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture & the Environment (Freeport).
 

For more information and questions about the program, please contact Maine Preservation info@mainepreservation.org, 207.847.3577. 

Maine Preservation is the independent nonprofit member-based statewide historic preservation organization, that promotes and preserves historic places, buildings, downtowns and neighborhoods, strengthening the cultural and economic vitality of Maine communities.  www.mainepreservation.org.

The 1772 Foundation was named in honor of its first restoration project, Liberty Hall in Union, New Jersey, which was built in 1772 and is the ancestral home of the Livingston and Kean families. The late Stewart B. Kean was the original benefactor of The 1772 Foundation. The 1772 Foundation works to ensure the safe passage of our historic buildings and farmland to future generations. More information about The 1772 Foundation may be found at www.1772foundation.org.