Historical Society Announces 26th Annual Historic Preservation Merit Awards

The Historical Society of Rockland County (HSRC) is pleased to announce the 26th Annual Rockland County Executive’s Historic Preservation Merit Awards. These awards are presented in recognition of outstanding historic preservation efforts in Rockland County.

The awards will be presented at a Country Supper on the grounds of the Historical Society’s historic Jacob Blauvelt Homestead in New City on Sunday, May 15, 2016, during Rockland County Preservation Week. (May is National Historic Preservation Month.

The keynote address at this year’s award ceremony will be given by Liz McEnaney, Executive Director of the SS Columbia Project and Adjunct Professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

The winners of the 26th Annual Rockland County Executive’s Historic Preservation Merit Awards (2016) are:

• Corinne McGeorge - The Margaret B. and John R. Zehner Award for contributions to the county’s history and for underscoring the value of historic preservation to the community.
• Friends of Harmony Hall - Preservation Leadership Award for individuals, groups, and government agencies that display outstanding leadership or continuing contribution to the preservation of historic resources in Rockland County.
• The John Green Preservation Coalition - Preservation Leadership Award for individuals, groups, and government agencies that display outstanding leadership or continuing contribution to the preservation of historic resources in Rockland County.
• Richard Sena - Adaptive Use Award for 151 Broadway, Haverstraw.
• Tappan Library - Adaptive Use Award for the Borcher Stable/Tappan Library, Main Street, Tappan.

With Special Commendations going to:

• Paige Danzig, Taylor Wald, Devon Keeley, and Danielle Manos for the Antrim Playhouse History Project.
• John Gromada for efforts to save the John Green House before the John Green Preservation Coalition was established.
• James and Luke Rielly for sympathetic renovations to The Manse, Palisades.
• Glenn Sungela for improvements to Historical Markers in Rockland County.

History of the Rockland County Executive’s Historic Preservation Merit Awards Program

Since 1991, the Awards Committee, created by and coordinated by the HSRC, has presented more than 75 awards to public agencies, private individuals, community-based and religious organizations in recognition of their preservation efforts in the County. The Committee also supports continued, critical action to help save Rockland County’s environmentally sensitive areas and endangered architecture. Instituted to preserve the rich historical heritage of the County, the annual program celebrates each May with a declaration of "Rockland County Preservation Week" by the County Executive, a festive dinner and awards ceremony.With a rapidly growing population of newcomers to the area, one challenge has been to help the public understand the value of preservation as well as being involved in their community.

Addressing this challenge, the Preservation Awards program has:

• Awarded preservation efforts of individuals and groups.
• Increased awareness of our historic resources.
• Helped local communities to recapture history and pride of place.
• Advocated for the purchase of endangered sites for the public good.
• Attempted to unite all five townships in the support of historic preservation.

Some of the awards made by the Committee underline the positive effects of preservation on the community. In one instance, the excellent restoration of a restaurant building focused the integrity of the eighteenth-century Tappan Historic District. In Sloatsburg, a nineteenth-century village struggling to retain its working-class history, another commercial restoration anchored the block and is inspiring other renovations.

The awards, made by the Committee for preservation efforts on homes, businesses and structures both modest and grand, help to get out the word that it is in everyone’s interest to restore and retain the richness of the past. The process is self-fulfilling, and it helps to unify and inspire a community.

Beginning in 2015, the ceremony also includes the “Shine a Light on Historic Sites” feature. The committee has included this effort to draw attention to “At Risk” places in our county that need preservation attention, support and advocacy from the community.

Tickets to the Country Supper can be purchased online by clicking on the Brown Paper Tickets logo below:

For more information on the award process or to find out how to attend the Country Supper, visit http://www.rocklandhistory.org/event.cfm?page=492 or contact the Historical Society of Rockland County at (845) 634-9629 or info@rocklandhistory.org.

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The Historical Society of Rockland County is a nonprofit educational institution and principal repository for original documents and artifacts relating to Rockland County. Its mission is to acquire, preserve, and exhibit objects, buildings, and sites that reflect the history of Rockland County and the Lower Hudson Valley and to research, document, promote, and publicize the county’s rich historical heritage for the people of Rockland. The HSRC’s headquarters at 20 Zukor Road, New City, NY, consist of a four-acre site featuring the 7,200 square foot History Center; the historic Jacob Blauvelt House; and the post-and-beam Historic Barn and Carriage House.

The HSRC is open Wednesdays–Fridays, 10 am–5 pm, and on Sundays, 12–4 pm (during exhibitions, events and programs). Library research and tours of the Jacob Blauvelt House are available by appointment by contacting (845) 634-9629. For additional information about HSRC, visit our website at www.RocklandHistory.org.