Winslow's Word: February 2025
We are launching into the new year with several exciting new grants that are going to fuel our preservation work in the months ahead. With a $25,000 grant from the Donnelley Foundation, we will be taking a fresh look at the interpretive plan for the Nathaniel Russell House, deepening our commitment to sharing compelling stories about the enslaved people that lived and worked on the site and connecting them to the broader context of urban slavery in Charleston in the 19thcentury. The recent archaeology and research that we have been conducting in the Kitchen House provides an incredible opportunity to expand that focus. HCF is thrilled to have received a $1.25 million grant from the prestigious Mellon Foundation to support the continued restoration of the Pine Tree Hotel and the adjacent Skeeta Beach Lounge at Mosquito Beach on James Island. We will be working with the newly formed Historical Mosquito Beach Foundation to complete these projects which will help to secure this off the beaten path historic district as a destination for people to immerse themselves in authentic Gullah-Geechee culture and foodways. HCF is honored to work alongside the community on this project.
Next, as part of our Saving Grace initiative, we have written and secured critical grants in support of the congregation at New Tabernacle Fourth Baptist Church in the Mazyck-Wraggborough neighborhood downtown. The church received a $50,000 grant from the SC Department of Archives & History to assist with a detailed structural analysis of the impressive timber framing supporting the roof structure. Next, the church also was awarded a very competitive grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation from its Preserving Black Churches program. Thirty projects around the country received funding out of 622 applications, so we are extremely grateful and excited to create a comprehensive preservation plan for this incredibly important 19th century Gothic Revival church!
Lastly, we have received another $1.25 million grant from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to expand our impactful Common Cause Loan Fund program. This funding allows us to tackle larger and more complicated projects, as well as reach out to other neighborhoods off the peninsula, such as Liberty Hill in North Charleston. All these grants collectively serve as a significant affirmation of the work that HCF is engaged in and show that funders are paying close attention to our work! Thank you to each of these partners, and please stay tuned to learn more as these projects progress.
I hope to see many of you at the rich diversity of programming that we are offering starting in just under two weeks with the launch of Charleston by Design and the entire Charleston Festival. We have curated these programs for local residents to take advantage of so that you can be reminded of why the Lowcountry is such a special place to live!
