We, at Preservation Alliance of Baltimore County, hope that this message finds you, and those close to you, well.
During these still hard and stressful times, we are grateful to our supporters in helping us in advancing our mission of preserving our County’s historic buildings, sites, and landscapes. During these challenging times, historic places become even more important in their connection to the knowledge of our past, and their offer of respite and stability for the present and future.
Through our advocacy, Preservation Alliance works hard to keep our vital historic buildings standing. We are also here to assist historic homeowners and caring community members with the preservation of historic properties, through technical and legal assistance. While not all preservation causes this year have worked out as we would have preferred, like the nomination of the historic Bosley property in Towson to the County Landmarks’ list, we are remain committed to figuring out new ways to save our irreplaceable historic places. Preservation Alliance is also monitoring troubling trends, like the renewed trend of historic buildings being torn down for parking lots, and working on solutions to abate them.
We are particularly grateful this year for a National Endowment for the Humanities and Maryland Humanities CARES Act grant that will help us continue our work, in addition to our previously highlighted grants from our Baltimore County government, in partnership with the Baltimore Community Foundation, for a Maryland State COVID-19 Nonprofit Recovery Grant, as well as the Maryland Arts Council for a State Emergency Grant
While we had planned an increased offering of historic tours and workshops, especially for National Historic Preservation month in May, we were obviously not able to offer this. We are, however, continuing our on-line lecture series and are looking at other ways of highlighting our historic resources, and will update you about this early next month. Health protocols permitting, we hope to resume some level of outside tours in the Springtime, along with a get-together in March at the historic Monkton Mill; which is now an Art Gallery & Arts Education Center.
So that we can save even more historic structures, Preservation Alliance is working to increase our funding in order to expand our programming. We are especially focused on growing our decade-old Grant Fund, allowing us to increase the number of buildings we can help preserve and restore. Through our grantors and supporters, we have been able to expand our programming to assist Senior Citizen home-owners with preservation and repair work to their historic houses.
Thank you again for caring about our County’s historic buildings and sites, and for your continued support. We wish you all a healthy and safe New Year.