Bledsoe And Rhea Counties To Receive Tennessee Historical Commission Grants

  • Tuesday, September 26, 2017

The Tennessee Historical Commission State Historic Preservation Office has awarded 32 matching grants totaling almost $750,000 from the Federal Historic Preservation Fund allocated to non-profits, municipalities, universities and civic organizations across the state to support the preservation of historic and archaeological resources, including both Bledsoe and Rhea Counties. 

“These grants are a critical part of the Tennessee Historical Commission’s mission and contribute to the study and protection of Tennessee’s treasured historic places,” said Patrick McIntyre, state historic preservation officer and executive director. 

Awarded annually, 60 percent of the project funds are from the Federal Historic Preservation Fund and 40 percent of project funds come from the grantee. Grants are competitive and the Tennessee Historical Commission staff reviewed 51 applications with funding requests totaling approximately $900,000, significantly more than the amount of funding available. Many of the grants are recurring, leaving roughly $250,000 available to award each year. 

Grant awards include a wide variety of historic and architectural projects, all of which are listed below. Examples are $40,000 to help restore the windows at the c. 1885 Moore County Courthouse in Lynchburg and a $12,000 grant to the city of Savannah that will be used to develop a mobile tour application for area historic sites. Other funds will assist in funding preservation planners in all nine of the state’s development districts, in building and archaeological surveys, and design guidelines for historic districts. Several other grants are for the rehabilitation of historic buildings, for posters highlighting the state’s archaeology, and training for historic zoning staff or commissioners. 

One of the Commission’s grant priorities is for projects that are in Certified Local Governments, a program that allows the 41 enrolled communities to participate closely in the federal program of historic preservation. Ten Certified Local Government communities were awarded grants this year, including $24,000 awarded to the Metro Historical Commission in Nashville to help fund a cultural landscape plan for Fort Negley. Additional priorities include those that meet the goals and objectives of the Tennessee Historical Commission’s plan for historic preservation. Properties that use the restoration grants must be listed in the National Register. 

A complete list of grant recipients and/or sites of the projects include:
 
Bedford County
City of Shelbyville
$2,000 to send 2 staff or commissioners to the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions’ Forum conference.
 
Bledsoe County
Bledsoe County Government
$15,600 to fund a survey of historic resources in the county.
 
Carter County
Sycamore Shoals State Park
$7,185 to fund paint analysis in the National Register-listed Carter Mansion in Elizabethton.
 
Cheatham County
Tennessee Division of Archaeology
$11,400 to fund remote sensing at Mound Bottom State Archaeological Area.
 
Davidson County
Metropolitan Historical Commission
$5,000 to send 5 staff or commissioners to the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions’ Forum conference.
$24,000 to fund a cultural landscape plan for the National Register-listed Fort Negley.
 
DeKalb County
Town of Alexandria
$5,400 to fund the restoration of the National Register listed Seay Chapel and East View Cemetery.
 
Hardin County
City of Savannah
$12,000 to fund a mobile tour application for historic sites in the city.
 
Haywood County
City of Brownsville (Haywood Heritage Foundation and Main Street)
$6,000 to fund a website on historic resources in Brownsville.
 
Jefferson County
Glenmore Mansion Chapter of the Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities
$36,000 to fund restoration of the National Register-listed Glenmore Mansion.
 
Knox County
Knoxville Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission
$3,000 to send 3 staff or commissioners to the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions’ Forum conference.
 
Maury County
City of Columbia
$18,000 to fund design guidelines and update the preservation plan for historic districts in the city.
 
Monroe County
 Monroe County Government
$18,396.60 to restore brickwork on the National Register-listed courthouse.
 
Moore County
Metropolitan Government of Lynchburg/Moore County
$40,000 to restore windows on the National Register-listed Moore County Courthouse in Lynchburg.
 
Rhea County
Rhea County Government
$45,900 to repoint brickwork on the National historic Landmark-listed Rhea County Courthouse.
 
Roane County
City of Harriman
$29,850 to fund structural assessments and work on the National Register-listed Temperance Building.
 
Shelby County
Memphis Landmarks
$6,000 to send 6 staff or commissioners to the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions’ Forum conference.
 
Wilson County
Cumberland University
$35,000 to fund restoration of the National Register-listed Memorial Hall.
 
Multi-County Grants
 
Tennessee Preservation Trust
$10,000 to fund the Statewide Historic Preservation Conference.
 
Middle Tennessee State University, Department of Sociology and Anthropology
$3,457 for posters for Tennessee Archaeology Week.
 
Middle Tennessee State University, Fullerton Laboratory for Spatial Technology
$49,542  to digitize data for historic / architectural survey files and for survey data entry for computerization of survey files.
 
Tennessee Division of Archaeology
$4,000 to test two sites of historic Rosenwald schools.
 
Tennessee History for Kids
$9,000 for history trading cards.
 
East Tennessee Development District
$36,000 to fund a preservation specialist staff position for the East Tennessee Development District.
 
First Tennessee Development District
$30,000 to fund a preservation specialist staff position for the First Tennessee Development District. 
 
Greater Nashville Regional Council
$25,000 to fund a preservation specialist staff position for the Greater Nashville Regional Council.
 
Memphis Area Association of Governments
$25,000 to fund a preservation specialist staff position for the Memphis Area Association of Governments.
 
Northwest Tennessee Development District
$36,000 to fund a preservation specialist staff position for the Northwest Tennessee Development District.
 
South Central Tennessee Development District
$50,000 to fund a preservation specialist staff position for the South Central Tennessee Development District.
 
Southeast Tennessee Development District
$54,000 to fund a preservation specialist staff position for the Southeast Tennessee Development District.
 
Southwest Tennessee Development District
$50,000 to fund a preservation specialist staff position for the Southwest Tennessee Development District.
 
Upper Cumberland Development District
$40,000 to fund a preservation specialist staff position for the Upper Cumberland Development District.
 
For more information about the Tennessee Historical Commission, please visit the Web site at:    http://www.tnhistoricalcommission.org.

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