Donations Sought For Four Mills Barn, Home of Wissahickon Trails

WHITEMARSH, PA — A local nature preservation organization is seeking monetary assistance to help restore a historic barn that currently serves as the group’s headquarters.

Wissahickon Trails, a local land steward and watershed group in Montgomery County that sits on the border of Ambler Borough and Whitemarsh Township, is looking for funding to help upgrade the Four Mills Barn, a structure more than a century old that is in need of repairs.

“The Four Mills Barn is a significant figure in our past, present, and with your help, our future,” a statement on the Wissahickon Trails website states. “Please consider a contribution to the barn renovation that will make a difference for generations to come.”

The group identified a price tag of $1.1. million in renovation costs as of a July 15 estimate, and it says it has already raised 55 percent of its overall fundraising goal. It thanked those individuals and businesses who have thus far invested to help with the group’s vision to “create a space for all members of our community to connect with nature.”

Wissahickon Trails calls the Four Mills Barn a “regional icon" that is visible to those driving down Morris Road where the structure is located. The barn sits in the Four Mills Nature Reserve, where the group is headquartered.

“The barn is hard to miss and it’s easy to imagine what life was like more than a hundred years ago,” the group says on its website. “The barn’s four walls have been the starting point for every land acquisition, every easement, and every mission-driven action since we moved in.”

The group hopes to start renovations this fall as long as the necessary funding comes through.

One business that has donated money thus far is BLBB Charitable, which makes donations to area nonprofits, according to Wissahickon Trails.

The group’s executive director, Nicole Tell, stated that she hopes her organization’s gift would motivate others to consider donating.

“BLBB Charitable is proud to support the preservation and renovation of the historic Four Mills Barn, which is a critical community resource for educating and engaging our diverse community to protect and enjoy the land and waterways of the Wissahickon Valley,” Tell said in a statement. “We hope this gift will encourage others to join us to create a space for visitors, program participants, students, and volunteers to learn, gather, and connect to nature.”

On its donation page, the Wissahickon Trails says the goal is to make the barn more “flood resilient” and to also create more accessible program space for the various events it hosts throughout the year.