Proceeds from all HBF events benefit Historic Beaufort Foundation.
“Old Fields, New Plough: The Preservation of Northern Beaufort County’s Rural Heritage” will be the topic of February’s Dinner and a Lecture at the Verdier House, February 27th at 5:30 p.m. It will be brought to us by former HBF executive director Evan Thompson who takes a new look at Beaufort’s rural heritage through an architectural historian’s eyes. Evan Thompson is now executive director of the Preservation Society of Charleston.
Thompson will make us aware of a topic of his research while he was here: the rural resources characteristically associated with an agricultural economy, including truck farms, tenant farmer cottages, country stores and barns. While many of the structures were included in the Beaufort County Above-Ground Survey of Historic Resources made in 1998, there has been no coordinated effort to restore them or make the preservation community aware of them.
Since assuming the leadership of the country’s oldest preservation group in Charleston, Thompson has led the charge to regulate the intrusion of the cruise line industry into Charleston’s historic district. In 2011, he was the inaugural recipient of the American Express Aspire Award from the National Trust in Historic Preservation for emerging leaders in preservation.
Thompson led HBF for six years, during 2004 to 2010. During that time he directed major initiatives to restore the Verdier House, the Smalls-Nash Cottage, the McGrath -Scheper House, the Sons of Beaufort Lodge and the Thomas Young House. Under his direction HBF was awarded a prestigious “Save America’s Treasures Grant” to restore the Beaufort Arsenal which stabilized the damage from the 1886 earthquake and retrofitted it as an environmentally-friendly building.
A wine and hors d’oeuvre reception begins at 5:30; the program is 6 p.m. – 7 p.m. Admission for members is $15/$25 per member/couple. Non-member admission is$20/$30 per person/couple. RESERVATIONS ARE NECESSARY SINCE THERE IS LIMITED SEATING: call 379-3331. Reservations for Saltus’ three-course dinner for $19 may be made by calling Saltus at 379-3474.
Located 20 miles south of Savannah, GA, Ossabaw is one of the pest preserved of Georgia's magnificent barrier islands. With a total area of 26,000 acres, its many natural zones progressing from the ocean include beaches, dunes, meadows, ponds, maritime forest and freshwater and saltwater marshes. The island was inhabited by Native Americans from as as early as 2200 B.C. to the 18th Century and offers numerous archaeological sites as well as slave cabins, a late 19th Century prefab house and a grand 1920s mansion in the midst of undisturbed wildlife. Owned by the State of Georgia and managed through a public-private partnership with the Ossabaw Island Foundation, Ossabaw Island has been designated as a Heritage Preserve by the state, with its use restricted to natural, scientific and cultural study, research and education.
Price is $250 per HBF member or $275 per non-HBF member. Call 843-379-3331 to make your reservation!
Join HBF for our annual meeting on Monday, March 19 from 5:30 to 7:30 at the Old Bay Marketplace. Call 379-3331 to make your reservation. Price per person is to be determined.
Historic Beaufort Foundation is pleased to announce that in June of 2012, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and HBF will host Preservation Leadership Training (PLT) in Beaufort. Preservation Leadership Training emphasizes the most up-to-date, effective preservation techniques, including training in current preservation practices, issues and action strategies. The weeklong program will include classroom lectures, tours, team projects, role playing and participatory learning experiences. The city itself will serve as a living laboratory for preservation issues. In addition to classroom sessions, participants will study issues related directly to Beaufort. Proposals developed from these studies will outline optimal uses for the subject buildings and contribute to the vitality of Beaufort and the community as a whole.
Preservation Leadership Training (PLT) is conducted only once a year. Among past cities to host PLT are Portland, ME, Birmingham, AL, Mount Vernon, VA, and Astoria, OR. The PLT program is specifically designed for community leaders who are in positions to influence preservation activities in their states, regions, towns, and neighborhoods. Participants typically include staff and volunteer leaders of private, nonprofit preservation organizations, staff of state and local government agencies, members or staff of commissions, from across the country. National, state and local experts in preservation and organizational development comprise the workshop faculty, and will give the 50 select preservation professionals a balanced national perspective and a network of statewide and local resources for the future.
Please be sure to visit HBF’s website (www.historicbeaufort.org) regularly for updates and for ways to be involved in PLT.