Preservation Maryland Provides Grant to Support Historic Ellicott City Church

Since the 1960s, Ellicott City has preserved an impressive portion of the town’s eighteenth and nineteenth-century architecture, ensuring the survival of the municipality’s rich past and creating a sustainable community for the future. The roof replacement at Mt. Zion, funded by this $5,000 grant, will ensure that the church continues to stand and members of the congregation and community can use the building for worship and education events. With few documented African-American sites represented within the Ellicott City Historic District, the churches are a pivotal link to that story and their preservation is an important aspect of preservation in the twenty-first century.

Preservation Maryland, the statewide advocate for historic preservation, presented Reverend Karen Jones and the Mt. Zion Congregation with a check at the event on Thursday. Pastor Jones described the funding as a “blessing” and Preservation Maryland Executive Director Nicholas Redding noted, “This is exactly the type of project our funding is designed to support. This is a project with broad based community support that will help to preserve an important part of Maryland’s history.”

The grant funding comes from Preservation Maryland’s Heritage Fund, in partnership with the Maryland Historical Trust. The purpose of the fund is to provide grants to non-profit organizations and government bodies to preserve the history of their communities. Funds are available for brick-and-mortar projects, research, planning and educational events. Since its start in 1997, the Fund has provided nearly $1 million in grants across the state.

Since 1931, Preservation Maryland has worked to protect the places, stories and communities in Maryland that matter. As a privately funded non-profit organization, it works with partners across the state to accomplish this mission and protect the Best of Maryland.

For more information: www.preservationmaryland.org