HMCA Receives Grant from the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia

The Halltown Memorial Chapel Association is excited to share that the Association has received a grant award from the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia (PAWV) to move forward the Halltown Colored Free School interior restoration. The Free School is one of eight historic properties in West Virginia to receive funding from the PAWV. More information on all grant awardees is available at www.pawv.org. The PAWV press release reads as follows with the reference to the Free School grant:

“The Preservation Alliance of West Virginia is thrilled to announce over $490,000 in grant funding to support eight historic preservation projects through its Frontier to Statehood Grant Program. The program is supported by the Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grant Program of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Developed in celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, the Frontier to Statehood Grant Program supports the rehabilitation and continued use, or adaptive reuse, of historic buildings that help tell the story of West Virginia and the nation. All eight projects date to 1871 or earlier, connecting the projects to the people, places, and events that shaped West Virginia during the state’s formative years. “This program is a powerful investment in the places that shaped our state and our nation,” said Danielle Parker, executive director of the Alliance. “By supporting the preservation and active use of these early buildings, we’re not only protecting history, we’re creating opportunities for communities across West Virginia to grow, connect, and tell their stories for generations to come”.
 Halltown Colored Free School
Funding will support completion of the interior renovation of the Halltown Colored Free School (Free School), which is under restoration by the Halltown Memorial Chapel Association. The brick one-room Free School is individually-listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Thomas Edwards built the school on the Old Charles Town-Harpers Ferry Turnpike in 1870 to educate his family, including 13 grandchildren and other African-American children, during a time of segregated education. After closing as a school in1929, it reverted to a private residence. The Free School’s future use will be as a repository for documentation of life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Jefferson County and as a reception area for small weddings held in the adjacent Halltown Memorial Chapel (c. 1901), which the Association has restored.