The Peru Gazette

The Town of Schuyler Falls is one of this year’s Preserve New York (PNY) grantees. Their grant of $10,000 will enable the town to work with Adirondack Architectural Heritage of Keeseville to complete a reconnaissance level survey of historic and cultural resources. Compiling this documentation and research into an accessible format will help guide the town in the future so that existing historic resources will not be lost, and lay the groundwork for a potential future historic district.

The Preservation League of NYS and their program partners at the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) are thrilled to help fund this important work.

“We are honored and pleased to receive a Preserve New York grant,” said Rick Potiker, Schuyler Falls Town Supervisor. “This cultural resource survey, in conjunction with our recently-completed town-wide comprehensive plan, will provide a guide for on-going stewardship of the historic assets in our town,” echoed Barb Benkwitt, Schuyler Falls Town Historian.

The Town of Schuyler Falls is comprised of three hamlets: Schuyler Falls, Morrisonville, and Woods Mills. Each of these three hamlets represents an intact example of early 19th and 20th century residential and commercial architecture in the North Country region. Many of these buildings clearly illustrate Schuyler Falls as an industrial and farming community that developed steadily over time, but the existing buildings have not previously been surveyed or studied. The Town recognizes that a complete understanding of extant historic resources in town is necessary for municipal planning efforts as well as for educating property owners about proper building maintenance and preservation. Additional cultural resources, such as historic cemeteries, may also be at risk due to lack of stewardship.

The 2019 PNY grant cycle was the most competitive in the program’s 26-year history. An independent jury met in June to review over 70 applications. After two days of deliberations, $262,498 was awarded to 31 projects across 25 counties.

Preserve New York is a regrant partnership between the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) and the Preservation League of NYS. PNY enables the Preservation League to support projects in all of New York’s 62 counties.

Since 1993, the Preserve New York grant program has been providing funds to municipalities and nonprofit organizations that need technical, professional assistance to guide a variety of preservation projects. The historic structure reports, building condition reports, cultural landscape reports, and cultural resource surveys that are funded through this program can have profound impacts on the sites they are studying.

With the announcement of the 2019 awards, support provided by PNY since its launch totals more than $2.8 million to 438 projects statewide.