GUILFORD – Guilford Historical Society announced in 2010 that the hamlet of Rockwell Mills became the first historic deemed district for the Town of Guilford. The entire project took over three years to complete with researching deeds and the history of the mill and the area in general. Tom Gray, Guilford Town Historian, took on a great deal of the research and with the help of a $2,000 grant from the Preserve New York Grant Program part of the Preservation League of New York State, Jessie Ravage was hired as a consultant to complete the nomination documentation.
This designation recognizes the importance of these properties to the history of our country and provides them with a measure of protection. In addition, owners of income producing property may qualify for federal income tax benefits. Properties owned by municipalities and not-for-profit organizations are eligible to apply for state historic matching grants.
As the saying goes, anything worthwhile is worth waiting for, so now GHS is proud to announce that as a result of your historian’s efforts in obtaining a grant from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation, GHS is celebrating a “marker of designation” at the GHS annual dinner.
Tom Gray applied to the William G. Pomeroy Foundation that strongly believes that historic markers play an important role in local historic preservation by serving a dual purpose. The markers educate the public and foster historic tourism, which in turn can provide much needed economic benefits to the towns and villages where the markers are placed.
As of April 2014 the Pomeroy Foundation has funded almost 145 Historic Markers in 30 New York counties, and now there will be one in the township of Guilford that will show off our interest in preserving our local history.