Maryland Heritage Areas Authority Provides 63 Grants to Heritage Tourism Sites, Activities and Organizations Across Maryland.

Susquehanna Museum of Havre de Grace at the Lockhouse

Sixty-three matching grants totaling $2,713,480 were awarded to Maryland non-profits, local jurisdictions and other heritage tourism organizations – including heritage, historic preservation, natural resources and educational organizations– by the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority (MHAA). These grant funds support heritage tourism projects and activities that expand economic development and tourism-related job creation throughout the state (full listing available here). MHAA oversees Maryland’s system of 12 locally-administered, State-certified Heritage Areas.

Nominations Being Accepted - 38th Annual Maryland Preservation Awards

Representatives of the Ridgely Rosenwald School, 2012 Award Recipients

The Maryland Historical Trust began its tradition of honoring outstanding preservation efforts throughout the state in 1975 with the creation of the Calvert Prize.  The Maryland Preservation Awards are presented annually by the Board of Trustees and honor outstanding achievements in the following categories:  Leadership and Service; Education and Community Engagement; Project Excellence; and Stewardship. The awards recognize activities in historic preservation, architecture, archaeology, museums, cultural conservation, education, and related fields and represent the best of preservation in Maryland.  

Individuals, non-profit and for-profit organizations or institutions, museums, and federal, state and local agencies are all eligible to receive MHT Preservation Awards.  Current MHT staff, Trustees and projects solely sponsored by MHT are not eligible.  Projects using MHT grant funds are eligible.  Self-nominations are accepted.

The deadline for nominations for the 2013 Maryland Preservation Awards is October 5, 2012.

Complete information and nomination materials are available here.

MHT Loans Available For Capital Projects

Franklin Hall, Chesapeake City, Cecil County
photo by Ron Francis

Did you know that the Maryland Historical Trust offers loans at a low interest rate for acquisition, refinancing, and rehabilitation of historic properties, as well as for certain predevelopment costs?  Nonprofits, local governments, business entities, and individuals are eligible to apply, but the project must have a strong public benefit in order to be a successful loan candidate.  To learn more about MHT’s Capital Loan program, please visit our website at: http://mht.maryland.gov/loans_mht.html

New Roadside Historical Markers Installed

Stuart Grosvenor and members of the 
Janet Montgomery Chapter of the DAR 
dedicate the new Richard Montgomery 
marker in Rockville. 
Photo courtsey of Nancy Kurtz, MHT

The Maryland Historical Trust, the State Highway Administration and local partners have developed and installed seven new markers along Maryland’s roadways.  The markers celebrate people, places and events important in the history of the state, including Ocean City, Maryland’s Atlantic Ocean resort; the Somerset County seat, established in the seventeenth century; a nineteenth century African American community and school in Anne Arundel County; the nation’s first war hero and namesake of Montgomery County; a hexagonal fieldstone school in Harford County; a seventeenth century battle along the Severn River; and a twentieth century African American community baseball park in Somerset County.

See more information on each of the markers below.

Maryland Heritage Areas Authority Provides 51 Grants to Heritage Tourism Sites, Activities, and Organizations Across Maryland

CROWNSVILLE, MD (July 11, 2011) – Fifty-one matching grants totaling $2,298,000 were awarded to Maryland non-profits - including museums, tourism sites, historic preservation, natural resources and educational organizations, as well as local jurisdictions - by the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority (MHAA). These grant funds support heritage tourism projects and activities that expand economic development and tourism-related job creation throughout the state (see full listing in the full release).

Proposed changes to LEED - Preservationists make your voice heard by January 14!

The United States Green Building Council is accepting public comments on the latest version of the LEED rating system and preservationists have an opportunity to weigh in on these proposed changes. You can read more about the revisions under consideration, their potential impact on historic buildings and find out how to submit your comments by visiting the National Trust for Historic Preservation's website.



Miller's Court, in Baltimore, recieved a LEED Gold rating
and won one of five 2010 Smart Growth Awards from the
Environmental Protection Agency



LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the most widely used and well-known system for measuring the environmental impacts of buildings and encourages strategies and techniques that reduce water and energy consumption, the use of recycled materials, and the "smart" siting of buildings, among other things. While the historic preservation comunity has been touting the environmental benefits of maintaining and reusing existing buildings for decades, the LEED rating system has helped launch the environmental impacts of buildings into the public consciousness.

National Park Service to sponsor Regional Meetings for Chesapeake Bay Partners

The National Park Service Chesapeake Bay Office and its partner Chesapeake Conservancy invite you to attend one of four regional meetings taking place in January, 2011.

Technical and financial assistance from the National Park Service can have a significant impact on the work of state and local governments and non-profit organizations. To be most effective, NPS can't operate in a vacuum . . . we need to ask you about our work, what we can do better, and what we can do for you.

The meeting agenda is simple: NPS will give brief overviews of our work in the Chesapeake region. This includes the Captain John Smith Chesapeake and the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trails, the Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network, and our work with public access and stewardship opportunities as part of the federal strategy for Bay restoration. Chesapeake Conservancy will share highlights of their recent projects that support these initiatives.