Morven Museum and Garden received a half a million grant from the Semiquincentennial Grant Program funded by the Historic Preservation Fund administered by the National Park Service.
“We are delighted to receive the National Park Service (NPS) funding to help prepare Morven for the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence,” Morven’s Executive Director Jill M. Barry said in a press release.
“This builds on the recently awarded NPS Save America’s Treasures grant, allowing us to address maintenance issues and provide an exceptional visitor experience at the only extant New Jersey home of a signer open to the public.”
The grant of $500,000 will allow Morven to continue its mission of preserving and celebrating “our community’s authentic stories,” Morven officials said.
Awarded funds will be used to apply a historically accurate treatment of whitewash. Testing of treatment methods will begin immediately to determine the safest and best application to the entire building next summer, Morven officials said.
The funds will also support an upgrade to Morven’s elevator to ensure ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliance and to help Morgen officials begin addressing site lighting needs in advance of the anniversary year’s anticipated, increase in attendance as the national spotlight turns to important American Revolutionary sites like Morven, officials said.
Morven received the full amount of their funding request, which was among three New Jersey sites selected on a “highly competitive” market.
The NPS awarded $7 million in the inaugural round of funding for the Semiquincentennial Grant Program commemorating the 250th anniversary of the founding of the U.S., according to a press release through the NPS on Aug. 10.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) was awarded $500,000 for the other two New Jersey sites – Rehabilitation of the Indian King Tavern Building Envelope in Haddonfield, Camden County, and Preservation of the Wallace House and Old Dutch Parsonage in Somerville, Somerset County, according to the press release.
The program was created by Congress in 2020 and funded through the Historic Preservation Fund. This round of grants supports 17 cultural resource preservation projects across 12 states, according to the press release.
Morven Museum and Garden, 55 Stockton St., is in Princeton and is open Wednesday
through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
For more information visit http://www.morven.org