The Town of Dighton, in partnership with the Historical Commission, is pleased to announce that the town was recently awarded $12,500 from the Massachusetts Historical Commission’s Fiscal Year 2021 Survey and Planning Grant Program.
Funding from this program supports historic preservation planning activities in communities throughout the state. Eligible applicants included local historical commissions, local historic district commissions, planning offices and other public and non-profit historic preservation organizations.
Grant funding allows for organizations to complete cultural resource inventories, nominate significant properties to the National Register of Historic Places, complete community-wide preservation plans and undertake other types of studies, including reports, publications and projects that relate to the identification and protection of significant historic resources.
The town plans to use the funds to support the Dighton Community-Wide Survey Update project which is a database of the town’s historic and cultural resources.
Dighton’s current survey is dated and incomplete as much of its data was compiled from inventory forms completed in the 1970-1980s with some area inventories completed in the early 2000s.
The Community-Wide Survey update will be the building block for more preservation work in Dighton, identifying areas for local historic districts or nominating properties for the National Register of Historical Places.
The town intends to hire a preservation consultant to update the Community-Wide survey, and identify Dighton’s historical and cultural resources with the goal of assessing and documenting approximately 100 significant sites. The town aims to continue to identify unlisted historic resources and create a useable database of all historical sites in town.
The total cost of the project is estimated to be $25,000 and it will be partially funded through the 50/50% reimbursement grant from the Massachusetts Historical Commission. The Dighton Historical Commission submitted an application to the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) for the initial funding. At the CPC March meeting, the committee voted to support the funding for the Community-Wide Survey Update project and to put the request for funding on the Annual Town Meeting Warrant.
“The Dighton Historical Commission is thrilled to have received this grant and is eager to begin work with a preservation consultant,” Patricia Gailes, Chairman of the Historical Commission, said. “Dighton is a town with a rich history and this grant funding is an important step in preserving the town’s heritage and historical landscape for future generations.
Beginning in April, the Massachusetts Historical Commission will work with the town towards the completion of the Dighton Community-Wide Survey project.
Once the project is completed, the town will be reimbursed $12,500 through the FY2021 Survey and Planning Grant.
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