Old Senate Chamber Restoration Is Now Under Way

As any visitor to the Maryland State House over the past five years can guess, something big is brewing in the old Senate Chamber.  The bare brick walls of the chamber have inspired many questions as to what’s going on.  Why has the room been stripped down?  What does it mean? The answers are simple.  The State of Maryland has undertaken to restore the room to its appearance in 1783 when it was center stage in the birth of our nation.

The President’s Dais in the Old Senate Chamber, 2009.

From November 1783 to August 1784, the Continental Congress used the Maryland State House as its place of assembly, and it was in this chamber, as all Maryland school children can tell you, that George Washington resigned his position as commander in chief of the Continental Army.  As important as this was, it was not the only event to take place during that time.  On January 14, 1784, Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris officially ending America’s struggle for independence.  Shortly thereafter, Thomas Jefferson was named America’s first ambassador to a foreign country.

Maryland has always been extremely proud of the role the old Senate Chamber played on the national stage, but in the intervening two centuries the Senate Chamber was unfortunately stripped of its colonial interior. In the 1870s, as the State House underwent a major overhaul to address structural problems, the room was gutted leaving virtually no visible trace of the 18th century. Less than thirty years later, however, public outcry resulted in a restoration of the room.  This early preservation endeavor captured the spirit of the room’s original finish and allowed visitors to once again experience the significance of what was now called the Old Senate Chamber.

The Old Senate Chamber in 1905.

 Almost a century after that restoration, structural problems required invasive repair work on the plaster of the room, and this work revealed evidence of the original finishes that was previously unknown and which sparked an in-depth study of the room’s 18th-century fabric. Newly uncovered documents, along with advanced investigative technologies, have led the state to undertake a second restoration, one that is more accurate and authentic than was possible in 1905. 

MHT hopes to use this blog to document the reconstruction effort over the next several years allowing visitors to our site to understand the physical and documentary evidence that will restore the old Senate Chamber to a room that Washington would recognize.  

The old Senate Chamber restoration project is a collaborative effort between the Department of General Services and the Maryland Historical Trust, with full approval of the State House Trust, and assistance from the Old Senate Chamber Advisory Committee.  The Maryland State Archives also serves as a partner in undertaking documentary research on the room as well as the lead role in the interpretation and exhibits within the Senate Chamber and adjacent rooms.

Efforts so far have focused on the investigation phase of the project. Stay tuned for more entries relating to the history of the room, the project team, and results of the investigation.

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.