Department of Historic ResourcesAn official website of the Commonwealth of Virginia Here's how you knowAn official websiteHere's how you know
Please see the press release from Governor Younkin's Office regarding the VA250 Preservation Grant awards as well as the table below.
| Project Name | Applicant | Location | Project Description | Proposed Award Amount |
| Eastern Shore of VA Historical Society - Landmark Roofing Projects - Ker Place | Eastern Shore of VA Historical Society | Onancock | The project involves replacing the roof of a Federal-period building. | $112,500.00 |
| Calfee Training School Adaptive Reuse | Calfee Community & Cultural Center | Pulaski | The project involves rehabilitating a wing of historical African-American school as a community center. | $700,000.00 |
| City Point Historic Shiloh Lodge Museum | City of Hopewell | Hopewell | The project is aimed at improving accessibility through parking, wayfinding, and building improvements. | $371,577.69 |
| Monumental Church Interior Lighting Project | Historic Richmond Foundation | Richmond | This is a lighting project to improve functionality and fire-safety. | $40,000.00 |
| Revitalizing the Historic 1908 Courthouse | Historic 1908 Courthouse Foundation | Independence | This project includes a number of rehabilitation efforts aimed at access and safety in a building that is a multi-use community hub. | $155,325.00 |
| Trinity Church Site Restoration, Signage, and Accessibility Project | Trinity Episcopal Church | Staunton | The project involves accessibility improvements in the church building and yard, as well as making it more visually welcoming to visitors | $516,064.20 |
| Eastern Shore of Virginia Landmark Roofing Project - Hopkins and Bro. Store | Eastern Shore of VA Historical Society | Onancock | The project involves replacing a roof of a historical building that now includes a museum and restaurant, preparing the Eastern Shore for Sail250 visitors. | $54,000.00 |
| Protecting Bacon's Castle with a Fire Suppression System | Preservation Virginia | Surry | This project will provide a new fire suppression system to the oldest brick house in North America. | $597,032.00 |
| Accessibility at Patrick Henry's Scotchtown | Preservation Virginia | Beaverdam | The project involves accessibility improvements such as new pathways and ramps. | $146,096.86 |
| Cape Charles Rosenwald School Rehabilitation | Cape Charles Rosenwald School Restoration Initiative Inc (CCRSRI) | Cape Charles | This project will include completing construction and installing exhibits at a recently-stabilized historic African-American school. | $600,000.00 |
| Colonial Backcountry Muster Grounds Rehabilitation | Town of Abingdon | Abingdon | The project involves structural stabilization and repairs, exterior accessibility improvements, and fully repurposing a historic house as a destination for visitors and the community, improving the connection between the site and the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail. | $356,000.01 |
| Restoration Efforts and Great House Area Accessibility | Stratford Hall | Stratford | This project includes roof replacements to three historic buildings and making bathrooms and pathways ADA compliant. | $835,000.00 |
| Access Montgomery County 250: Reaching the Stories of Appalachian Virginia | Montgomery Museum of Art & History | Christiansburg | The project includes constructing a new elevator so that visitors can access exhibits and community space on the lower level of a converted bank building. | $206,714.00 |
| Improved Accessibility & Visitor Experience across the Gloucester Museum of History Campus | Gloucester County, Virginia | Gloucester | This project involves creating an accessible entry to an eighteenth-century tavern and rehabilitating historic interior features in an eighteenth-century courthouse, which together function as a history museum. | $90,000.00 |
| Lewis Store | Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, Inc. | Fredericksburg | The project involves rehabilitating the walls and roof of one of Virginia’s oldest surviving retail buildings. | $118,000.00 |
| The Mecca Theater Project | Save our Heritage | Chase City | This project will include stabilizing a historic theatre and creating accessible restrooms and a cafe so that it can open to visitors while rehabilitation continues. | $750,000.00 |
| Jamestown Rediscovery - Infrastructure and Site Improvements | Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation | Jamestown | This project aims at addressing access, safety, and the effects of flooding on visitor experience by installing new pathways and outdoor lighting | $389,825.00 |
| 1750 Isle of Wight County Courthouse Complex Repairs Project | 1750 Isle of Wight County Courthouse | Smithfield | This project involves exterior rehabilitations such as roof and masonry repairs to two eighteenth century buildings. | $60,000.00 |
| Highland Inn Rehabilitation Project | Blue Grass Resource Center | Monterey | Reconstruction of historic features, along with hazard remediation and general rehabilitation of the building undertaken in this project will allow the inn to open its lobby and restaurant and begin to take guests. | $1,750,000.00 |
| Historic Courthouse Restoration Project | Fluvanna County | Palmyra | This project involves exterior and interior repair and rehabilitation of historic features, as well as updates to the electrical system to allow the building to meet the needs of the 21st century community. | $785,504.50 |
| Pine Slash Revitalization | Historic Polegreen Church Foundation | Mechanicsville | This project includes an archeological study before structural stabilization and rehabilitation work, along with new signage to encourage greater visitation. | $210,500.00 |
| The Rex Theater Galax VA Accessibility Improvements | City of Galax, Virginia | Galax | This project will address accessibility issues by improving the entrances and bathrooms and installing an elevator. Additional infrastructure updates will allow for greater visitation. | $672,672.00 |
| Pamunkey Indian Tribe: Cultural Campus Revitalization | Pamunkey Indian Tribe | King William | The project will include stabilization, hazard remediation, and general repairs to a historic school building and pottery workshop. | $405,672.00 |
| Restoring the William King Museum of Art, a Virginia Historic Landmark Building | William King Museum of Art | Abingdon | This project will involve the rehabilitation of the exterior including repair of wood features and repointing brick, as well as improvements to windows. The work will allow a new wing of the museum to open. | $230,000.00 |
| Sully Historic Site Rehabilitation and Accessibility Project | Fairfax County Park Foundation Inc., | Chantilly | This project addresses both interpretation and access needs by repairing historic structures and interiors and providing additional services to visitors with mobility and visual impairments. | $250,000.00 |
| Francis Lightfoot Lee's Menokin Home Rehabilitation Project | Menokin Foundation | Warsaw | The project will continue the rehabilitation of a historic home, rebuilding a section of the exterior walls and allowing additional exhibit space to open to the public. | $1,250,000.00 |
| Accomack County 1783 Jailer's Residence/1824 Debtor's Prison Restoration | Accomack County | Accomac | This project includes repairs to historic interior and exterior features, such as plaster and masonry, and modernizing electrical and security systems which will all allow the building to begin to welcome the visiting public. | $350,000.00 |
| Fairfield Foundation VA250 Readiness at the Fairfield Archaeology Park and the Rosewell Ruins and Visitor Center | Fairfield Foundation | Gloucester | This project will improve the visitor experience by providing additional restrooms, creating new walkways and signage, and expanding the visitor center. | $600,000.00 |
| VMHC 250th Initiative: Convening the Commonwealth Through History & Civics | Virginia Historical Society/ Virginia Museum of History and Culture | Richmond | This project is intended to revamp learning spaces at the museum, turning the learning center into a new civics lab and modernizing systems in the auditorium to improve audience experience. | $2,250,000.00 |
| Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Arrivals & Interpretative Center Construction and Historic Preservation of the 18th-Century Capitol and 1715 Powder Magazine | Colonial Williamsburg Foundation | Williamsburg | This project includes work on the historic arms magazine and the reconstructed colonial capital. The magazine will be restored with materials supported by archeological and documentary evidence, while the capital will receive needed structural repairs. | $4,250,000.00 |
| Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library - VA250 Application | Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library Foundation | Staunton | This project is a part of the library’s efforts to expand its gallery space and update exhibitions. | $250,000.00 |
| Patrick Henry's Red Hill's Safety and Access Project | Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation | Brookneal | This project is intended to improve visitor access and improve the security of the site. Work will include an ADA compliant picnic area and improved pathways, as well as expanding the security system. | $150,000.00 |
| Frederick County Courthouse Infrastructure Improvements and Exhibit Update | Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation | Winchester | This project will involve window and masonry repairs and an update to the HVAC system. | $275,000.00 |
| Historic Wilson Warehouse Improvement Project | Buchanan Town Improvement Society | Buchanan | This project involves creating ADA compliant bathrooms for a local historic site and event venue. | $200,000.00 |
| Restoration of Historical Society Porch and Ramp Decks | Surry County Virginia Historical Society and Museums, Inc. | Surry | For this project, aged and damaged materials on the ramp and deck will be replaced. | $16,500.00 |
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The Virginia Department of Historic Resources received $20,000,000 in the 2024-2026 Virginia Biennial Budget to initiate a grant program to support improvements at significant historic sites and history museums in Virginia in anticipation of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution and the 1776 United States Declaration of Independence (also known as the nation’s semiquincentennial).
Eligibility is not limited to properties related to the American Revolution. Any historic site or museum that meets all the requirements is eligible to apply.
The preapplication is now closed and on September 16th, 2024 all preapplicants were informed about if they were invited to submit a Full Application.
The grant guidelines document is linked here. Please read through it thoroughly before filling out a preapplication.
The first step in the application process is the Virginia 250 Preservation Fund Preapplication. The form will help determine if the project meets minimum eligibility requirements as set out in the budget and grant guidelines. The Preapplication is now closed.
The full application will open to applicants notified that they have an eligible preapplication on September 16th, 2024. This application will be completed on DHR’s WebGrants page.
Virginia 250 Preservation Fund grants may be awarded to state or federally recognized Indian tribes, non-profit organizations registered as tax exempt under the Internal Revenue Code (must provide proof of valid, current tax-exempt status under § 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code), and Virginia localities (§ 1-221.).
All applicants must be the owner of the project property or be able to submit a signed letter of support from the property owner and a copy of the recorded deed.
A minimum one-third match (one-third match against the requested grant amount—if $750k is requested, grantee must match at $250k for a total grant project of $1 million) is a requirement of this grant program. Projects with a cash match will be prioritized, but in-kind match will also be accepted. In-kind match is not to include current staff time, costs associated with managing the grant or already completed work.
Grant funds are restricted to the following project types, all of which fall under the umbrella of capital improvements that support increased visitation due to the semiquincentennial:
Please see grant guidelines for additional information.
Ineligible use of funds includes but is not limited to:
"Out of the amounts in this item, $20,000,000 the first year from the general fund is provided to establish a competitive grant program to support improvements at significant historic sites and history museums in Virginia in anticipation of the country's Semiquincentennial. The department shall develop guidelines and establish procedures for awarding this funding, which shall include eligibility criteria for applicants, a minimum one-third match from grantees, and any other criteria the department determines reasonable to carry out the provisions of this paragraph. Of the amount authorized, the department is authorized to recover costs incurred in administering this program. Any balances for the purposes specified in this paragraph which are unexpended on June 30, 2025, shall not revert to the general fund but shall be carried forward and reappropriated."
Caitlin Sylvester, Grant Coordinator
Virginia Department of Historic Resources
2801 Kensington Avenue
Richmond, Virginia 23221
804-482-6461
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
