Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

ISLE OF WIGHT

The National Park Service has awarded the Virginia Department of Historic Resources more than $4.7 million in funding to provide recovery assistance to historic properties and archaeological sites that were damaged by hurricanes Florence and/or Michael in 2018.

Isle of Wight County and the city of Franklin are among the localities eligible for funding. Eligible jurisdictions can apply to use the Virginia disaster relief assistance grants to fund repairs to historic resources that sustained documented damage during either or both hurricanes. Private owners, nonprofit organizations and public administrators of historic properties in these jurisdictions that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) listed in its major disaster declarations are also eligible to apply for grant funding.

To be eligible for funding, a property must be listed or eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Fundable projects in the affected localities that DHR will also consider include surveys of architectural and archaeological resources:

• To determine their potential for listing on the National Register of Historic Places
• To assess storm-inflicted damage to the resources, and
• To compile disaster management plans specifically tailored to historic resources.

All elements of work funded by the grant program must meet the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Archaeology and Historic Preservation and must result in plans that improve preparedness and substantially mitigate the threat of damage from future severe storm events.

The application forms and details about eligibility standards and additional regulations are posted on the DHR website at: dhr.virginia.gov/grants/disaster-assistance/. The deadline for applications is 5 p.m. on Friday, May 22.

DHR will select applications for formal consideration according to a pre-determined set of criteria provided in the application. As these are reimbursement grants, all grantees must document and provide proof of expenditures and submit the same to recover eligible expenses. For properties potentially eligible for listing on the National Register, such eligibility will be made by the NPS’s Keeper of the National Register prior to project funding.