The Jamestown Historical Society is very pleased to receive a $50,000 grant from the Champlin Foundation. We received another $10,000 grant from Preserve Rhode Island/1772 Fund earlier this year and generous donations from members and friends of the JHS. The funds will be used to help with the restoration of the 1786 Quaker Meetinghouse which the JHS owns and maintains. We are also very pleased to announce that our general contractor for the project is the award winning firm Kirby-Perkins. They have extensive experience in historical preservation.
The building has already been lifted and moved so that we could install a new foundation. We determined that there is a great deal of damage to the structural elements underneath the building from water and insects because the building was so close to the ground. In addition to the new deeper foundation, we will install a new drainage system, face the foundation with old stone, and landscape the site to look much as it might have when it was built. The JHS will also restore the original windows, shutters, doors, and interior plaster and paint the trim inside and out. We plan to open the building regularly in season to the public when the work is complete.
The total cost of this project is expected to be more than $350,000. We plan to raise additional funds for an endowment to be used for future maintenance. We will be mounting a fundraising campaign shortly to ensure that this oldest public building in Jamestown is preserved for the future.
