A group of community volunteers came together a few years ago to explore interest in restoring and renovating South Hero’s Old White Meeting House for year-round use. The Town applied for and received two planning grants. Subsequently, Preservation Trust of Vermont awarded the Town a $100,000 Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization grant, voters approved a one-time $150,000 contribution toward stabilizing the building, and Town has been awarded a $20,000 Vermont Historic Preservation Grant toward building stabilization.
Earlier in 2024, South Hero’s Historic District — with the Meeting House as a major contributing structure — was placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service. In June, 2024, the Town was awarded $500,000 from the Northern Borders Regional Commission (NBRC) to restore the Meeting House as a multi-purpose community facility. Senator Welch recommended a $400,000 Save America’s Treasures (SAT) grant, pending passage of the federal 2025/26 budget. Two of these grants, NBRC and SAT, require one-to-one matching. An anonymous foundation has pledged $100,000 over four years to encourage private gifts toward these matches to help ensure this project will not overburden tax payers. Town Highway Department employees, as part of their regular hours, will prepare the site for moving the building and digging a new foundation. Gifts from many individuals totalling over $100,000 is also part of the funding stack.
The Town has signed a contract with Vermont Heavy Timbers (VTHT) to perform the bulk of the work that will bring the first floor of the building into full time use. Miles Jeness, the principal of VTHT, was part of a team of Vermont timber framers who helped restore Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France.
The Vermont Housing and Conservation Board has awarded the Town $100,000 for historic restoration to cover the cost of restoring all the windows in the building, not just the first floor windows.
The State Building Communities grants for facilities, Regional Economic Development Grant Program, has awarded the Town $25,000. This grant requires a one to one match.
The grants and gifts fund all but $230,000 of the cost of the project. Additional grant funds, plus support from community members, is anticipated to fully fund this project by the end of 2026, when the work will be completed so that taxpayers will not be asked for any additional funds.
The Committee has also formed the non-profit South Hero Foundation Inc. to facilitate fundraising for the renovation and revitalization of the Meeting House. Gifts to further this work can be made online here, or by sending a check made out to the South Hero Foundation Inc., PO Box 441, South Hero, VT 05486.
The first planning grant paid for a community wide survey and an assessment of the structural integrity of the building. The assessment indicated that the building will need work on the foundation and restoration of the East wall, which was compromised when large bay doors were cut into it to accommodate fire and rescue vehicles. The community survey showed strong support for using the building for a wide range of activities.
The second planning grant covered the costs of preliminary plans for basic restoration, paving the way for a full renovation and restoration project that will start in December, 2025. See below for PDFs of the reports on the project.
The Historic Preservation Review Report from the consultant hired as part of the planning grant reviewed the condition of the building and recommended that planned restoration of the building is in line with best practices of historic preservation. This was part of the information presented to the National Park Service, as required by the Bruhn grant, to determine eligibility of the Meeting House for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. Read the report here.
As part of determining eligibility for listing on the National Register, a consultant prepared a report that recommended listing the area around the Meeting House as a historic district, which made the Meeting House eligible for grants through the National Park Service. It also provides a rich history of all the buildings included in the District, which is a well-preserved example of a small Vermont village. The report can be accessed here.
UPDATE on Congressionally Directed Spending grants
The Town received the following notice from Senator Welch’s office on Wednesday, March 19, 2025:
I regret to share with you that the Continuing Resolution passed by Congress on March 14, 2025, did not contain funding for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) requests. It is incredibly disappointing. I know how much hard work you and relevant staff put into these CDS submissions.
Our office is waiting for confirmation that the Senate Appropriations Committee will accept FY26 CDS nominations. In the meantime, we encourage you to re-apply for funding in the FY26 round of applications.
The Committee worked with Senator Welch’s office to resubmit the request, which was accepted pending passage of the FY2026 budget.
Meeting and Walk Through of Meeting House with various officials 11/18/2022
Meeting with Alex Tolstoi, historic preservation specialist
First Planning Grant Final Report – Includes Engineering Ventures assessment of the building and resuts of community survey.
Contract with Arnold & Scangas for architectural, engineering, environmental and historical reviews
2020 VCDP Planning Grant Information – Progress to date: Select Board to accept bid for engineering work summer 2021 in preparation for construction to begin in 2022.
Committee:
- David C. Carter, Chair
- Paula Bagger
- Beth Curtis
- Sandy Gregg
- Sarah Kjelleren
- Terry Robinson
- Carol Tremble
- Mary Harwood, Consultant
- Emily Kloft & Greta Brunswick, Northwest Regional Planning Commission
- Russ Stratton, Build Committee
- Carl Frenning, Build Committee
- Anne Zolotas, Select Board, Build Committee