GOSHEN —The Town of Goshen has received a $95,385 grant award from the New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP) to support renovation of the Town’s historic Grange building.
The 42 projects receiving matching grants from LCHIP are spread all across the state. Sixteen natural resource conservation projects will be supported by $2 million while 26 historic resource projects will receive $1.9 million, all in matching grants.
Historic resource projects will help with rehabilitation of structures ranging in date from 1721 (Ladd-Gilman House, Exeter) to 1916 (Whitcomb Hall, Swanzey). The natural resource projects will ensure permanent protection of more than 13,000 acres in parcels ranging from 10 acres in Durham to more than 6,000 acres in Gorham.
Grant recipients are required to provide at least one matching dollar from another source for every dollar received from the state through LCHIP. This year, they will provide more than $3.70 for each state dollar. The smallest grant is $7,500 for a planning study to help the Great North Woods Committee for the Arts explore what is needed to convert the former Shrine of Our Lady of Grace into a cultural and arts center. The largest grant of $350,000 will help the Southeast Land Trust of New Hampshire create the Birch Ridge Community Forest in New Durham.
Goshen’s grant will support the return of the Grange Building to everyday use. The Grange building was originally a one-story structure, built in 1853 near Rands Pond in Goshen and used as a chapel. It was moved to Route 10 in the center of Goshen in 1878 to serve as a Methodist meeting house.
In 1892 the building was purchased by Sunapee Mountain Grange 144. The Grange organization was very active and grew to need more room, so in 1908 the building was jacked up and a new first floor added, leading to the counter-intuitive situation of a building with its first floor much newer than its second floor.
The Grange declined in membership, leading the remaining members to donate the building to the Town of Goshen in 2002. A very hard-working and skilled group of volunteers, The Friends of the Grange, maintained the building for the next 15 years. With this grant the Town intends to finally return the beautiful building to everyday use, with space for small meetings and office space for the School District and Town Police.
Sandy Sonnichsen, who applied for this grant as a volunteer for the Town of Goshen, said ,“we are stunned and delighted to receive this award. It will be wonderful to see the building, which has stood empty for so long, returned to a central role in the life of our town.”
She notes that the Town also received an $8,000 Moose License Plate grant in 2017 to repair the roof of the building, and another Moose Plate grant of $10,000, awarded this fall, to repair the foundation. The town will soon be soliciting bids for the foundation work, hoping to complete those repairs by early summer, while also soliciting bids for the building renovation.
The 18-member LCHIP Board of Directors selects the grant recipients as the culmination of a rigorous application and review process. LCHIP’s Board Chair, Amanda Merrill of Durham, observes, “The LCHIP Board and staff have the responsibility and privilege of helping to protect natural, cultural and historic resources across New Hampshire. It is a pleasure to work with dedicated colleagues from local government, citizens groups and non-profits to preserve the places that make our state special.”
About New Hampshire’s Land and Community Heritage Investment Program
The New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage Investment Program is an independent state authority that provides matching grants to New Hampshire communities and non-profits to protect and preserve the state’s most important natural, cultural and historic resources.
Its legislatively mandated mission is to ensure the perpetual contribution of these resources to the economy, environment, and quality of life in New Hampshire. Prior to this year’s grant awards listed here, since its inception in 2000, the program has provided 425 grants which have helped to conserve more than 280,000 acres of land for food production, water quality, ecological values, timber management and recreation including hunting and fishing and supported 257 projects to rehabilitate historic structures and sites.
Grants have been awarded in all parts of the state and in 157 of New Hampshire’s 234 communities. Forty-three million dollars of state money have led to a total project value of more than $299 million. LCHIP grants are supported by fees on four documents recorded at the Registry of Deeds in every county of the state. For more information visit lchip.org or call (603) 224-4113.
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