Grants: State Preservation Grants: 2007 Summary

Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts congratulates Karen Binder, Joan Abrams, and Gioia Browne from Blithewold Mansion, Gardens and Arboretum

The 2007 State Preservation Grant awards, worth a total of $1 million, funded capital preservation work at 20 museums, cultural art centers, and public historic sites from 13 towns and cities around the state. The 20 State Preservation Grant projects were selected from a pool of 36 applications.  

The list of grant recipients represents 13 Rhode Island communities, from Little Compton to Foster, Cumberland to Block Island. It includes an array of Rhode Island venues, with local treasures like Smith’s Castle in North Kingstown, state icons like Pawtucket’s Looff Carousel and Jamestown’s Beavertail Light, and internationally significant landmarks like the Great Friends Meeting House in Newport.  The grants will preserve such diverse structures as a windmill, an observatory, an armory, and a barn—not to mention seven historic house museums. 

The $1 million in grant awards will go a long way by supporting projects with a total value of $4,559,308. Small grants will support small gems like the Museum of Natural History in Roger Williams Park. Large grants of up to $100,000 will support important community landmarks like the Bristol Naval Reserve Armory, Blithewold, the Newport Art Museum, and the Edward Everett Hale House in Matunuck.

town	property	grant
Bristol	Bristol Naval Reserve Armory (Town of Bristol)	$100,000
Bristol	Blithewold	$100,000
Cumberland	Franklin Farm Barn (Town of Cumberland)	$69,000
Foster	Foster Town House (Town of Foster)	$11,880
Jamestown	Beavertail Light	$50,000
Little Compton	Wilbor House Museum (Little Compton Historical Society)	$29,773
Middletown	Sherman Windmill (Newport Restoration Foundation)	$15,950
Middletown	Witherbee School (Town of Middletown/Middletown Historical Society)	$22,330
New Shoreham	Block Island Historical Society	$50,000
Newport	Kingscote (Preservation Society of Newport County)	$95,011
Newport	Cushing Memorial Gallery (Newport Art Museum)	$100,000
Newport	Great Friends Meeting House (Newport Historical Society)	$50,000
North Kingstown	Smith’s Castle (Cocumscussoc Association)	$30,000
Pawtucket	Looff Carousel (City of Pawtucket)	$93,317
Providence	John Brown House (RI Historical Society)	$60,000
Providence	Museum of Natural History and Planetarium (City of Providence)	$9,166
Providence	Ladd Observatory (Brown University)	$46,970
South Kingstown	Hale House (Pettaquamscutt Historical Society)	$70,801
South Kingstown	Reynolds House (Tavern Hall Preservation Society)	$11,748
Warren	Maxwell House (Massasoit Historical Association)	$28,235
TOTAL AWARDS		$1,044,181