Making a Big Impact

Above: Restoration work on the Lost Mural in Burlington, Vermont, was supported through Historic New England's Community Preservation Grants program in 2020.

Historic New England’s Herbert and Louise Whitney Fund Community Preservation Grants help support smaller preservation organizations tell truer, diverse, and representative stories across New England by funding projects that range from building restoration and archival digitization to research and publication, podcasts, and more. Historical memory of towns is often safeguarded by community organizations that are staffed by a small number of professionals and/or tireless volunteers. These organizations have no dedicated grant writers and are frequently out competed by larger institutions that have more capacity for grant seeking. However, their work is no less important and has a great impact on their communities. Grassroots work is the lifeblood of the preservation movement and without it much of our cultural memory would be lost. Historic New England acknowledges the dedication and perseverance of such organizations and annually awards six grants to one organization from each New England state to help them continue their work. We celebrate these communitybased efforts by sharing the following overviews of projects by four recent Community Preservation Grant recipients to help tell their communities’ diverse stories and celebrate their vibrant futures. – Elizabeth Paliga, Preservation Services Manager, Northern New England

Norwich Historical Society, Norwich, Connecticut

The Historic New England Community Preservation Grant was used to hire an intern to research Haitian connections to the c. 1750 Diah Manning House, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Named for its most famous owner who served as a drummer and personal bodyguard to George Washington in the Revolutionary War, the Diah Manning House also played host to a future president of Haiti during the Haitian Revolution.

Young Jean-Pierre Boyer stayed with the Mannings as a prisoner and refugee from 1800 to 1801 and served as President of the Republic of Haiti for twenty-five years.

Later in his career he sent $400 to the widow of Diah Manning in fond memory and with thanks for his time with them. The Norwich Historical Society worked with the diversity director at the Norwich Free Academy and the Norwich NAACP to find a student to help research Jean-Pierre Boyer and his time in Connecticut. Tenthgrader Ashnaelle BiJoux, who is of Haitian descent, was hired to perform the research and write a short article on the subject.

Ms. BiJoux’s research will help improve public awareness of the site and its diverse history. The Norwich Historical Society frequently gives guided walking tours of the neighborhood, and this project will be integrated into those tours to explore Norwich’s historical Haitian connections and be more representative of its richly diverse modern population. - Regan Miner, Executive Director, Norwich Historical Society

Greenfield Historical Society, Greenfield, New Hampshire

People may think that Greenfield, New Hampshire, is a quiet, country town where nothing happens, but they are mistaken. The Greenfield Historical Society, with help from Historic New England’s Community Preservation Grant and NHGives, published a new book, In the Shadow of Crotched Mountain, Revealing Greenfield’s Colorful Characters, Past & Present, that includes research from newspapers, archival documents, and interviews.

The book was entirely researched, written, and self-published by the society’s directors. It tells stories of some of Greenfield’s most notable and renowned characters, such as the daredevil pioneer aviator who landed his biplane on the White House lawn, the inventor of the Narrow Gauge Railroad, the famous horticulturalist who cultivated the country’s first high bush blueberries from wild berries on Crotched Mountain, and the inventor of the Tommygun - “The gun that made the Twenties roar.” The book tells of the ghost of a grieving mother howling in the night; pumpkins, VW Beetles, and pianos flying through the air; a gruesome 1881 murder/suicide; and the discovery of a 309-pound gold nugget. Mixed in are endearing and humorous recollections of Greenfield’s “ordinary people,” told by friends and family members. This book has caused quite the buzz with some locals ordering multiple copies to share, and even out-of-staters are chiming in with family stories. It has put a skip back into the steps of those who love Greenfield and has given the true flavor of this not-so-quiet, little, country town. -Amy Lowell, Treasurer, Greenfield Historical Society

Foster Preservation Society, Foster, Rhode Island

The Winsor Blacksmith Shop was built c. 1870 by Ira Winsor in Foster, Rhode Island, and remained in the Winsor-Hayfield family until 1992. In 1993 it was donated to the Foster Preservation Society with the stipulation it be removed from the property and relocated. The following year, the shop was moved to its current location on Howard Hill Road adjacent to the 1796 Town House.

The shop is unique in that it has an ox sling. Oxen, unlike horses, cannot stand on three legs, so the blacksmith required a sling to support the animal while affixing shoes to its hooves. The blacksmith did more than shoe oxen and horses, he made or repaired wagon springs, door latches, tools, hinges, andirons, harnesses, farm hardware, household utensils, pots, pans, and more. The Foster Preservation Society has made a sincere effort to restore the shop and to preserve the many artifacts therein.

Historic New England’s Community Preservation Grant, in addition to funding from the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission and private donors, helped the Foster Preservation Society raise the funds to obtain a one-third matching grant from the State of Rhode Island Senate Grant. This allowed the society to preserve the Winsor Blacksmith Shop by installing a new fire hydrant and hand-hewn red cedar roof, and the south side of the building has a new sill and shingles. The restoration is not complete, with window repair, door hinges, and staining left to do, but for the immediate future the structure is safe thanks to this work. - Ada Farrell, Director, Grants & Acquisitions, Foster Preservation Society

Lost Mural Project, Burlington, Vermont

Vermont’s Lost Mural, painted by Lithuanian artist Ben Zion Black in 1910, is recognized internationally as a rare survivor of the artistic style that once proliferated in the thousands of painted wooden synagogues across Eastern Europe. In 1986, the 155-square-foot triptych treasure was hidden by a false wall when the mural’s former home, Chai Adam Synagogue, was converted into an apartment building. In 2010, with the encouragement of notable scholars, a campaign was mounted to rescue and preserve the mural. By 2015, following an extraordinary collaborative effort by experts in architecture, conservation, construction, engineering, and rigging, the fragile mural, encased in a protective steel frame weighing 7,500 pounds, was relocated to its new permanent home at Ohavi Zedek Synagogue less than a mile away from its original site.

With support from arts, humanities, and preservation foundations, including Historic New England’s Community Preservation Grant, the Lost Mural was fully cleaned in 2021, revealing the artwork’s original vibrant colors that had been obscured by decades of accumulated charcoal dust, grime, and coats of varnish. In 2022, final infill and careful repainting thoroughly restored the artist’s original vision.

Black’s artistic time portal depicts his threedimensional representation of the Biblical Tent of the Tabernacle. One can now experience walking through the marble columns from the outer courtyard complex and into the inner space, the Holy of Holies, containing the Ten Commandments. Welcoming all peoples within the Tent of the Lost Mural is the central message of the educational programming now actively being shared with school and community groups by the Lost Mural Project. - Aaron Goldberg, Co-Founder & President, Lost Mural Project