GUILFORD PRESERVATION ALLIANCE invites you to the opening of its Information Plaza.
Monday, May 9, 2016 11:00 am
32 Church Street, Guilford, Connecticut
The Honorable Governor Dannel P. Malloy will officiate at the opening.
Reception to follow at the Nathanael B. Greene Community Center adjacent to the Information Plaza.
Town historian Joel Helander, Guilford Preservation Alliance President Shirley Girioni, and Guilford Keeping Society President Winnie Seibert in front of the Thomas Griswold House.
Letter to the GPA from Grace Zimmer, President of Hyland House:
We are very excited to share the news that the Guilford Preservation Alliance is awarding $7000 in grants to support the recent dendrochronologystudy done at the Hyland House and to fund studies at the Guilford Keeping Society’s Thomas Griswold House and at Guilford’s “Pest House.”
For those of us who cherish Guilford’s rich history, it was thrilling to learn that when Guilford’s school children celebrate Early Guilford Days at the Hyland House, they are experiencing hands-on history in a house built in 1713 out of trees that had been growing since 1492. Not many towns can boast such a deep history!
Now the scientists at the Oxford Dendrochronology Laboratory will be turning their attention to one of the first houses built by the Griswolds in this area and to what may be the last remaining “pest house” in the United States. You can read more about these two houses and the upcoming study here.
We are very grateful to the Guilford Preservation Alliance for their support.
Regards,
Grace Zimmer
Hyland House President
Coming to you, hot off the press, is the Fall 2015 Guilford Preservation Alliance Newsletter. It is available here on our website, and has also been mailed to our members. The newsletter replaces the annual appeal letter sent out in recent years. We hope you enjoy reading our news in this format, and we hope you will consider donating generously to the work we do by renewing your membership and possibly adding a designated gift as well.
Photo by Ellen Ebert
Where to go, what to see, where to shop, where to eat? Visitors and residents no longer need ask these questions about Guilford. The answers are keystrokes away (visitguilfordct.com) at the Visitor Information Kiosk and on their home computers and other devices, thanks to three years of work by the Guilford Preservation Alliance (GPA).
The kiosk, which goes live on Friday, Sept. 18, offers residents and tourists a new electronic resource to learn nearly everything they want to know about Guilford, from its historic museums, arts, and recreation to local shopping and dining. Using its events calendar, visitors can find out months in advance what there is to see and do in town and plan accordingly. [Read more…]
The Guilford Preservation Alliance (GPA) is proud to announce the recipients of the 2015 GPA awards given to individuals and groups that have demonstrated a commitment to preserve and protect the built and the natural heritage of Guilford.
This year, the GPA recognizes the work done on several buildings in town. Jonathan Wuerth, a general contractor and master builder, will receive an award for his work in restoring and and preserving many homes and barns along the shoreline and for his work in saving buildings slated for demolition. In addition, Eamon Roche and Sarah Blanton will receive an Award of Merit for restoration of their home on Broad St., and Terry Wall, for work on his North Guilford barn built around 1783.
GPA will also honor the work done by the Guilford Garden Club for the creation of a park surrounding the Rollin Woodruff homestead, and the 375th Anniversary Celebration Committee for providing events, activities, and programs that focused on the town’s heritage. One of the programs was the Civil War Reenactment, and GPA recognizes Edie Brown for her part in planning and carrying out this event, and Tracy Tomaselli, for her genealogical research on the soldiers who fought from Guilford in the Civil War. [Read more…]
The Visito
rs Information Kiosk is one step closer. A groundbreaking was held this week with plans for completion by early fall. L to R: Greg Makula, Hanler Construction; Shirley Girioni, President of GPA, Russ Campaigne, architect; and Joseph Mazza, First Selectman. Missing from the photo are: Boynton Schmit
t, benefactor; Frank DePino, MediaBoom, and Jim Portley, Guilford Public Works.
The Guilford Preservation Alliance received two new grants at the end of 2014. The first was a grant to survey historic buildings, a grant in the amount of $30,000 from the State Department of Economic and Community Development, State Historic Preservation Office to add an additional 200 historic structures to the 450 buildings in 1981 State of CTH Historic Resources Inventory for the Town of Guilford. This grant will provide funds for architectural historians to identify and inventory historic buildings, produce a survey, including photographs, and give a public presentation on the project. The inventory will be helpful in recognizing, protecting and preserving these valuable resources.
The architectural historians hired by GPA to do this survey are Kristen Nietering, a Guilford native, and Jordan Sorenson, of New London, CT. Both have a passion for local history, and knowledge and experience in writing Historic Resource inventories, as well as National and State Register nominations. Ms. Nietering has worked as Project Manager for Historic Barns of CT and is currently project manager for the Creative Places Project. Ms. Sorenson works at the CT Trust for Historic Preservation as membership and office manager, and has experience as a consultant doing historic building research and inventories, as well as National Register nominations.
Shirley Girioni, president of GPA said that “The completed inventory will further protect our architectural heritage by forming the basis for the delay of demolition ordinance created by the Town of Guilford.”
This project is expected to be completed near the end of May, 2015. The Historic Resources Inventory and Supplement can be viewed here on our website.
The second grant was a Connecticut Humanities grant for $15,000 to support the building of a visitor information center kiosk and the development of the computer programming. The kiosk and its interactive virtual information center is the next step in the Heritage Tourism Initiative. It will provide information to tourists and residents and encourage their exploration of the town’s historic, cultural, and natural resources. The center, a modular structure that will be located adjacent to the Green Community Center, is scheduled to be built this fall 2015, and plans are to have it installed and operational by the following spring.
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Fall 2014 Newsletter
Coming to you, hot off the press, is the Fall 2014 Guilford Preservation Alliance Newsletter. It is available here on our website, and has also been mailed to our members. The newsletter replaces the annual appeal letter sent out in recent years. We hope you enjoy reading our news in this format, and we hope you will consider donating generously to the work we do by renewing your membership and possibly adding a designated gift as well.
From left, Carl Balestracci, Jr., Ellen Ebert, Andrew Page, Shirley Girioni, and Katherine Frydenborg. Photo by Jack Kramer/The Courier
In the Fall of 2014 the Guilford Preservation Alliance plans to begin making historical plaques for businesses around the Green, each one giving a short history of the building. The first plaque was recently placed on the outside of Page Hardware & Appliance Co. Articles about this event have appeared in the Guilford Courier and the New Haven Register.
Ten new plaques will soon adorn commercial and civic buildings on the Green, as part of a joint project of the Guilford Preservation Alliance (GPA) and the Guilford Keeping Society to celebrate the town’s history. These first ten plaques are the pilot of a project to put plaques on many of the buildings around the Green and part of the continuing celebration of Guilford’s 375th anniversary. As plaques are designed, additional information and photos about each building will also be found on the GPA website, www.guilfordpreservation.org, under the heading “Historical Plaques.”
The first plaques are being funded by the Schmitt Fund of the GPA, a fund started by Dede Schmitt in memory of his late wife, Marjorie, a founding member and the first president of the GPA. The plaques are also a thank you to the many businesses and organizations who contribute to the wellbeing of the town.
For information about obtaining a plaque, contact Ellen Ebert at [email protected] or 203-453-6353.
Selectman Carl Balestracci, GPA Board President Shirley Girioni, Governor Dan Malloy, Representative Patricia Widlitz
On May 30th, State Representative Patricia M. Widlitz (D-Guilford, Branford), a member of the State Bond Commission, announced that the Guilford Preservation Alliance is in line to receive a state grant of $60,000 from the Bond Commission to assist in the building of the new Interactive Information Kiosk. Widlitz stated that, “I strongly believe in this project and have been supportive of the efforts of the GPA and its partners in their efforts to develop heritage tourism in Guilford.”
In addition to the Bond Commission grant, the GPA is funding the project with a generous individual donation from the Schmitt family and a grant from Connecticut Humanities. Part of the cost of the project will be to develop the interactive virtual information center. Media Boom, a local web developer, will be retained to create the website that will allow visitors and residents to access information about cultural events, historic sites, and natural resources.
The Interactive Information Kiosk is the next step in a five year strategic development plan of the Heritage Tourism Initiative, which began three years ago with the award-winning Historic Guilford Walking Tours. The goal of the Heritage Tourism Initiative is to increase economic growth and development through tourism that highlights Guilford’s unique historic, cultural, and natural resources as well as supporting local businesses such as restaurants and shops. The idea for the kiosk came out of focus groups and workshops with local non-profits and businesses held over the last few years. The proposed building will serve as an information center to visitors and locals about activities, events, and businesses. It is hoped that Guilford’s story will be shared with a wider audience.
Russell Campaigne, of local firm CK Architects, has designed the Kiosk which will be located on town owned land adjacent to the Greene Community Center. It will be a modular unit of a design that complements the style of the Community Center, and will have an interactive computer. The Kiosk will be staffed by volunteers five days a week from May to September. Construction is slated for Fall 2015, and the project has gained approval from the appropriate town boards and agencies.
For further information visit www.guilfordpreservation.org
