Several Southern Vermont communities received historic preservation grants from the state, including $11,800 for the Rockingham Meeting House and $15,000 for the Old First Church in Bennington.
The Rockingham Meeting House, which is a National Historic Landmark, is undergoing a multi-year restoration project. The state grant will go toward completion of roof repairs.
The Old First Church, built in 1804, was designed by Lavius Fillmore. The grant will go toward repairs allowing for the reinstallation of the building’s weathervane.
In Arlington, St. James Parish, the oldest Episcopal parish in the state, received a $17,500 grant toward repairs to the tower of the 1830 Gothic Revival-style stone church.
The Halifax Historical Society’s home, which was built as a chapel by local Sanford Plumb and has served as a church, grange and schoolhouse, general municipal building, and fire company, received $7,500 to help pay for a new roof.
A project to restore the West Townshend Stone Arch across Tannery Brook received $20,000. The bridge was built in 1910 by self-taught dry stone mason James Otis Follett. State funding matches support from a National Park Service Save Americas Treasures grant and town funding.
The Westminster Institute constructed a Colonial Revival-style building in 1924 with an auditorium, meeting spaces, and a public library, now the Butterfield Public Library. A grant of $5,500 will go toward repairing the building’s slate roof.