National Park Service Awards $11.9 Million in 250th Anniversary Preservation Grants to 26 Sites, Including a Massachusetts House Built in 1752
The National Park Service has awarded a total of $11.9 million through its Semiquincentennial Grant Program to 26 historic preservation projects across the United States, funding repairs to buildings and sites associated with the founding of the nation. The money comes from the Historic Preservation Fund, which is financed by Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas lease revenues rather than tax dollars.
Congress created the program in 2020 to support the physical preservation of properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places, including buildings, sites, structures, objects and historic districts, with states, Tribes, local governments and nonprofit organizations eligible to apply. Congress appropriated $11,907,000 for the fiscal 2025 and 2026 rounds combined. Individual awards range from $15,000 to $750,000, are made through a competitive process, and do not require a non-federal match, although matching funds can be a competitive factor.
One recipient is in Hadley, Massachusetts, where the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Foundation received $224,855 for roof and cellar work on a house built in 1752 and known as Forty Acres. The house was the first built outside Hadley's town center, was occupied by one extended family for nearly two centuries, and was converted into a museum in the 1940s. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and its collections of furniture, letters and diaries document eight generations of the family.
The Park Service says the grants fund hands-on preservation of cultural resources tied to the nation's founding, with this round of work timed to the United States' 250th anniversary in 2026, so that listed properties can mark the anniversary year in better condition.
(Source: National Park Service)
Source: National Park Service
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图片来源：Wikimedia Commons，位于Hadley的Porter-Phelps-Huntington老宅（John Phelan摄），CC BY 3.0 | Image: Wikimedia Commons, Porter-Phelps-Huntington House in Hadley, Massachusetts, by John Phelan, CC BY 3.0
