The Historic Preservation Society of Gettysburg – Adams County (HGAC) is excited to once again be offering grants in order to help owners of historic barns maintain and preserve their barns. If you own a barn and want to be considered for a barn preservation grant in 2024, applications are now being accepted for consideration until March 1, 2024.
Since 2013, the HGAC Barn Preservation Project and Grant Program has made grants available to 48 owners of historic barns to help extend the life of their barn and to help preserve the rural character of Adams County. The maximum grant amount this year has been raised to $5,000, which must be matched by the barn owner’s labor or a cash outlay of that amount for materials or contract labor.
Grants are only awarded to historic barns that are within Adams County and that are listed on the HGAC Barn Register. At the present time, the Register includes 412 barns, which is over one-quarter of the historic barns in the county. Barns are added to the Register by HGAC, at the request of the barn owners. Inclusion in the Register provides recognition of the barn and the opportunity to participate in the HGAC grant program, but inclusion does not legally bind the owner in any way whatsoever.
It is expected that the grant money to be disbursed by HGAC in 2024 will help with the stabilization and repair of at least six more historic barns. Once again this year, additional funds are available to HGAC to be specifically awarded to barns in the Adams County Fruit Belt area.
There is no application fee to apply for the grant if the barn owner is an HGAC member. If an applicant is not an HGAC member for the year 2024, the grant application must include a check for $25 to pay for HGAC membership for the year. Application guidelines and the application itself are available on-line at www.hgaconline.org. From the home page menu for “Programs”, click on the words “Barn Preservation Project/Grant Program”. Then click on the words, “Barn Grant Applications and Guidelines”, which will reveal the links to the grant guidelines and application.
If you have questions about the grant program after having examined the materials on the HGAC website, or if you would like to have your barn added to the HGAC Barn Register, please call Curt Musselman at 717-659-8827 or send an email to shinbone605@comcast.net.
One of the goals of HGAC is to help fund as many barn preservation projects as possible and to help barns owners by providing technical advice and recommendations. All projects are reviewed using ten criteria contained in the grant guidelines including the visibility of the barn to the general public, the age of the barn, the need for immediate repairs and whether the work will help maintain the historic character of the barn. There are often a host of maintenance and preservation issues that barn owners are faced with, and HGAC’s grants encourage owners to take on one project at a time rather than throw in the towel and demolish the barn.
Curt Musselman, Executive Director of the HGAC Barn Preservation Project, noted, “Our success is thanks to the generosity of our many supporters. One thing that all of our donors have in common is that they value the contribution that these iconic structures make to our historic and largely rural communities. Many of these solidly built barns continue to serve the agriculture industry even though they may be fulfilling a different role than they were originally intended to carry out.”
Historic barns no longer used in agriculture still help to preserve the agricultural settings and historic landscapes that are so important to the tourism industry and to preserving the rural character of Adams County. If you would like to be a part of preserving the historic barns in Adams County by helping to sponsor the HGAC Barn Preservation Project, please get in touch with Bob McIlhenny, the project’s Director of Development at (717) 420-6500.
Featured image caption: The historic Crawford Barn, not far from the Gettysburg Battlefield, has been carefully restored and maintained over the last several decades by Gabor and Elizabeth Boritt. In
2018, it received a HGAC Barn Preservation Grant to help rebuild one of the barn’s walls.
Charles (Chuck) Stangor is Gettysburg Connection's Owner, Publisher, and Editor in Chief. I would like to hear from you. Please contact me at cstangor@gettysburgconnection.org.
Hi, I would like to apply for the barn preservation program for my barn.
Donna Der
780 Harney rd littlestown pa
17340. 443-506-9198.
Email donnaann.der@gmail.com