NORWICH – The Chenango County Historical Society received $4,200 in grant money last week thanks to The Community Foundation for South Central New York. The money will be utilized to refurbish the 1854 schoolhouse, once located at Ross Corners in Preston, that now rests behind the Chenango Museum.

The Community Foundation’s Executive Director Diane Brown, Program Officer Robert Jensen and Board Member Elysia Gudas visited the Chenango Museum for a tour of the facility and an informal presentation of the grant, which is one of only 15 awarded in the fall 2009 cycle.

“The majority of this money is going towards repairs to the floors, roof and walls of the schoolhouse,” said Diane Hamblin, curator for the museum. “We’re making a conscious effort to maintain the original feel of a nineteenth-century building.”

“We’re actually trying to find the same square-headed nails which would have been used over one hundred years ago, when the structure was built,” added Hamblin. “We also have a small sample of the original wallpaper, which we are trying to match.”