The Town of Alexandria is being awarded a grant for $5,400 from the Tennessee Historical Commission State Historic Preservation Office to fund the restoration of the National Register listed Seay Chapel and East View Cemetery.
The grant is one of 32 matching grants being awarded totaling almost $750,000 from the Federal Historic Preservation Fund allocated to non-profits, municipalities, universities and civic organizations across the state to support the preservation of historic and archaeological resources.
Seay Chapel was one of the county’s earliest African American churches. Another church group now uses the building to worship. Eastview Cemetery is also among the oldest cemeteries in DeKalb County.
According to Alexandria Mayor Bennett Armstrong, plans are to use the grant funds to repair storm damage to the chapel and to rebuild stone gate columns at the entrance to the cemetery.
“We hope with this grant that we can repair the stone gate to the cemetery. There is one gate with two columns. As for the chapel, when you go all the way through to the back of the church and then turn right, that is where the damage is from a tornado (a few years ago) and that’s where the roof leaks which has caused damage to the ceiling, floor, and toilet area,” he said.
In order to get the grant, the town must come up with a 40% local funding match of about $3,600. A previous $250 donation to the town from the Sons of Confederate Veterans will be put toward the project.
Mayor Armstrong said plans for the restoration will be submitted to the Tennessee Historical Commission for approval and the bids will be sought to do the work.
“These grants are a critical part of the Tennessee Historical Commission’s mission and contribute to the study and protection of Tennessee’s treasured historic places,” said Patrick McIntyre, state historic preservation officer and executive director.
Awarded annually, 60 percent of the project funds are from the Federal Historic Preservation Fund and 40 percent of project funds come from the grantee. Grants are competitive and the Tennessee Historical Commission staff reviewed 51 applications with funding requests totaling approximately $900,000, significantly more than the amount of funding available. Many of the grants are recurring, leaving roughly $250,000 available to award each year.
Grant awards include a wide variety of historic and architectural projects. Examples are $40,000 to help restore the windows at the c. 1885 Moore County Courthouse in Lynchburg and a $12,000 grant to the City of Savannah that will be used to develop a mobile tour application for area historic sites. Other funds will assist in funding preservation planners in all nine of the state’s development districts, in building and archaeological surveys, and design guidelines for historic districts. Several other grants are for the rehabilitation of historic buildings, for posters highlighting the state’s archaeology, and training for historic zoning staff or commissioners.
One of the Commission’s grant priorities is for projects that are in Certified Local Governments, a program that allows the 41 enrolled communities to participate closely in the federal program of historic preservation. Ten Certified Local Government communities were awarded grants this year, including $24,000 awarded to the Metro Historical Commission in Nashville to help fund a cultural landscape plan for Fort Negley. Additional priorities include those that meet the goals and objectives of the Tennessee Historical Commission’s plan for historic preservation. Properties that use the restoration grants must be listed in the National Register.
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