The Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area (AFNHA) has awarded $201,972 in grants to 15 area organizations through its Appalachian Forest Grants program.
This year’s grants support preservation, interpretation and tourism development projects by government and nonprofit partners in the region. The grant program emphasized projects related to collections management, America250 stories and Indigenous Appalachians. These initiatives are expected to generate an additional $265,000 in matching and leveraged funds in local communities.
Awarded projects include:
- Arthurdale Heritage – Homestead Barn Rehabilitation
- Evergreen Heritage Center – Forest Evolution Trail Workshops and Tours
- Experience Learning – The Power of Place, Forest Heritage and Mountain Stewardship
- Friends of Blackwater – Early Mining Voices
- Future Generations University – Anderson House Preservation Plan
- Greenbrier River Trail Foundation – Greenbrier River Trail: Origin Stories Shared and Archived
- Hardy County Convention & Visitors Bureau – Higgins House Museum & Hardy County Travel Information Center
- High Rocks Educational Corporation – Richwood Building Repairs
- Historic Beverly Preservation – Building Beverly, Building the Nation
- Passages of the Western Potomac Heritage Area – Augmented Reality: Allegany County Virtual History Tour
- Town of Bath – Rebuild and Enhancement of the Town of Bath Municipal Website
- West Virginia University Research Corporation – Scholarship for International Festival of Flutes
- Wills Creek Museum – Creating Home: The Indigenous Peoples of Allegany County
- Woodlands Community Lenders – Lost Towns Network
- Yew Mountain Center – Indigenous Voices on the Mountain Medicine Trail
The awards, ranging from $3,000 to $20,000, will fund projects in Allegany, Greenbrier, Hardy, Morgan, Nicholas, Pendleton, Pocahontas, Preston, Randolph and Tucker counties. These grants were made possible by funding from the National Park Service’s Heritage Partnership Program. AFNHA is a member of the National Heritage Area System.
