Preserve Rhode Island, in partnership with The 1772 Foundation, has awarded about $105,000 in matching grants to 13 nonprofit organizations across the state to support urgent repairs and long-term preservation at some of Rhode Island’s most treasured historic places, including four in Newport.
The one-to-one matching grants will fund bricks-and-mortar work at sites ranging from colonial-era meeting houses to lighthouses and civic halls. Since launching the program in 2020, Preserve RI has helped distribute about $830,000 in preservation funding statewide.
“The 1772 Foundation is truly an amazing partner that understands the importance of supporting non-profits who own or manage historic sites. Rhode Island needs these opportunities,” said Sheryl Hack, executive director of Preserve RI.
In Newport, the Newport Historical Society received $8,663 for exterior painting of clapboards and wood window restoration at the Wanton Lyman Hazard House, originally built in 1697. The National Historic Landmark is being reenvisioned as the Edward W. Kane & Martha J. Wallace Center for Black History, with the society seeking to spotlight the site’s diverse history.
The Preservation Society of Newport County received $10,000 to support steam cleaning and repointing of the balustrade and stairs on the back lawn of The Elms, the National Historic Landmark designed by architect Horace Trumbauer in 1901. Many of the mortar joints along the balustrade and stairs are failing, and the work is intended to ensure structural integrity and visitor safety.
The Newport Restoration Foundation received $3,930 for digital 3D building scans of the William Vernon House, originally built in 1708, which will serve as the technical foundation for accurate construction drawings as the National Historic Landmark undergoes urgently needed repairs to its exterior envelope and structural systems. The Redwood Library & Athenaeum received $10,000 for exterior painting of the west and south façades of the building, the first purpose-built library in a Neo-Palladian style, designed by architect Peter Harrison from 1747 to 1750, and the oldest continuously operating library in its original location.
Elsewhere in the state, grants went to the Exeter Grange #12; the Foster Preservation Society’s Mount Hygeia Schoolhouse; the Glocester Heritage Society’s Reuben Mason House; the Benjamin Church Senior Center in Bristol; Preserve Rhode Island’s Jeremiah Dexter House in Providence; Revive the Roots’ Mary Mowry House in Smithfield; the Friends of Pomham Rocks Lighthouse in East Providence; the Warwick Historical Society’s John Waterman Arnold House; and Kent County Community Development’s Weaver House in East Greenwich.
The 1772 Foundation, whose mandate is to preserve historic structures across seven East Coast states, relies on statewide organizations like Preserve RI to identify worthy projects and manage the local grant program.
Preserve Rhode Island, the state’s statewide advocate for historic places, is a 70-year-old nonprofit that provides guidance for local preservation groups, finds adaptive reuses for threatened buildings and engages the community through public programs at the Lippitt House Museum.
More information is available at preserveri.org.
