Advancing its ongoing commitment to ensuring a stable and healthy cultural industry, the New Jersey Cultural Trust Board approved a total of $798,395 in grants supporting capital projects at 21 nonprofit cultural organizations during an open public meeting held virtually Dec. 15. The nearly $800,000 in awards represents the largest total dollar amount the board has approved in grant awards in a single fiscal year since 2011.
With the FY2024 grant awards, the Cultural Trust has now awarded over $10.4 million in funding for historic preservation and financial stabilization projects across New Jersey to date.
“These grants are investments in the sustainability and longevity of sites significant to our state’s rich and diverse history,” Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way, who oversees the Cultural Trust in her capacity as secretary of state, said. “New Jersey’s historic places are essential to our state’s identity and culture, and the Cultural Trust’s Capital Historic Preservation program helps safeguard them for future generations.”
The Capital Historic Preservation program supports historic preservation projects at sites listed on the New Jersey and/or National Register of Historic Places, including stabilization, repair, restoration, adaptive reuse and accessibility improvements. All project proposals must be in conformance with the secretary of the interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.
The maximum award amount for FY2024 grants was $40,000 — a 60% increase over the maximum award amount in FY2018, when the Capital Historic Preservation grant program was most recently offered. At the Cultural Trust Board meeting authorizing the FY2024 grant round, board members specifically approved this increase in response to inflation and the rising costs of materials and labor.
“The projects that come before the Cultural Trust are critical to the operations and missions of these historic sites and cultural organizations, and they’re only getting more expensive,” Cultural Trust Board Chair Bette Daniele said. “It’s important to the board that the Capital Historic Preservation program takes into account the on-the-ground realities facing the nonprofit organizations stewarding New Jersey’s historic places.”
The FY2024 awardees include arts and history organizations from 12 counties, with projects ranging from accessibility improvements and HVAC system upgrades to the stabilization and restoration of historically significant features including plasterwork and stained glass windows.
The FY2024 Capital Historic Preservation grant awards, as recommended by the New Jersey Historic Trust, are as follows:
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FY2024 Capital Historic Preservation Awardees
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| Organization | Project Name | Town/City | County | Award Amount |
| Camden County Historical Society | Pomona Hall | Camden | Camden |
$40,000 |
| Home Port Alliance for the USS New Jersey Inc. | USS New Jersey (BB-62) | Camden | Camden |
$40,000 |
| Historic Cold Spring Village | Historic Cold Spring Village Historic District | Lower Township | Cape May |
$40,000 |
| Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts & Humanities (Cape May MAC) | Emlen Physick Estate | Cape May | Cape May |
$40,000 |
| Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum | Hangar No. 1 | Rio Grande | Cape May |
$40,000 |
| Millville Army Airfield Museum | Base Headquarters, Millville Army Airfield Historic District | Millville | Cumberland |
$30,000 |
| Montclair Historical Society | Nathaniel Crane House and Clark House | Montclair | Essex |
$40,000 |
| Gloucester County Historical Society | Hunter-Lawrence-Jessup House | Woodbury | Gloucester |
$39,997 |
| Save Ellis Island, Inc. | Statue of Liberty National Monument, Ellis Island and Liberty Island | Jersey City | Hudson |
$40,000 |
| The 1759 Vought House, Inc. | Christoffel Vought Homestead | Clinton Township | Hunterdon |
$33,000 |
| Delaware River Mill Society | Prallsville Mills | Stockton Borough | Hunterdon |
$40,000 |
| Hunterdon Land Trust | Case-Dvoor Farmstead | Flemington | Hunterdon |
$39,200 |
| Historic Morven Inc. | Morven | Princeton | Mercer |
$40,000 |
| Old Barracks Museum | Old Barracks | Trenton | Mercer |
$40,000 |
| Friends of Millstone Township Historic Registered Properties | Clarksburg Methodist Episcopal Church | Millstone Township | Monmouth |
$40,000 |
| InfoAge Science History Center | Camp Evans National Historic Landmark | Wall | Monmouth |
$40,000 |
| South Street Theatre/the Community Theatre (Mayo Performing Arts Center) | Community Theatre, Morristown Historic District | Morristown | Morris |
$40,000 |
| American Labor Museum/Botto House National Landmark | Botto House | Haledon | Passaic |
$39,975 |
| Liberty Hall Museum | Liberty Hall Museum | Union | Union |
$40,000 |
| Merchants and Drovers Tavern Museum Association | Merchants and Drovers Tavern | Rahway | Union |
$40,000 |
| Reeves-Reed Arboretum | Wisner House | Summit | Union |
$16,223 |
