US: Grants Available to Preserve Tobacco Barns

Source from:  Star-Tribune  10/13/2014

Preservation Virginia and JTI Leaf Services of Danville will fund the Tobacco Barns Mini-Grants Project for a second year.

Applicants can obtain more information and application forms at the question and answer sessions to be held in Caswell, Halifax and Pittsylvania counties this month.

Funded by a grant from JTI Leaf Services, the Mini-Grants Project was formed in 2013 to provide small grants to help stabilize and repair tobacco barns in a three-county region: Caswell County in North Carolina and Halifax and Pittsylvania counties in Virginia.

The first year (2014) of the JTI Mini-Grants Project was well received and heavily supported in the region, said Sonja Ingram of Preservation Virginia.

Fifteen barns, five per county, were chosen for repairs.

The Mini-Grants Project is part of the Tobacco Barns Preservation Project started by Preservation Virginia in 2012 to raise awareness of the importance of tobacco heritage and to help repair tobacco barns in the region.

2015 Grant Cycle

For the 2015 grant cycle, in order to be eligible to receive a mini-grant, the barn must be a tobacco curing or pack barn, it must be located within the three-county region and it must be in need of repairs, but also in good enough condition that the repairs can be done in a quality manner within the cap per barn.

All of the barns submitted will be evaluated for their integrity, historic and architectural significance, public benefits, geographic distribution throughout the three-county area and the stewardship shown by the owners.

Those who submitted applications in 2014 must resubmit an updated 2015 application; however, images and/or historical information submitted previously do not have to be resubmitted.

Applications for the 2015 grant cycle can be obtained at the grant question and answer sessions which will be held in Caswell, Halifax and Pittsylvania County on the dates below.

Applications can also be obtained from Preservation Virginia's website http://preservationvirginia.org/programs/tobacco-barns-protection-project . Enditem