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Laurel House

Pine Mountain Settlement School Awarded a Save America's Treasures Grant

The Pine Mountain Settlement School has been awarded a 2008 Save America's Treasures (SAT) grant by the National Park Service. The $138,575 competitive federal grant will be used on 10 projects to repair historic buildings on campus. The School has pledged to raise matching funds to complete the projects.

The SAT funds will help pay for the following work on campus buildings:
? Draper Building ? replace roof, work on drainage control and install new gutters, repair steel windows
? West Wind ? replace windows, remove vinyl siding and repair exterior siding
? Laurel House ? repair roof, repoint chimney, repair steel windows
? Big Log ? repoint two chimneys
? Chapel ? replace roof

Pine Mountain Settlement School, a National Historic Landmark, was one of 40 organizations and agencies in the country to receive a 2008 SAT grant. The SAT program is dedicated to preserving, conserving and rescuing the nation's most significant cultural and heritage resources. This year, 23 projects focusing on structures and sites will be administered by the National Park Service and the remaining seventeen projects will be allocated across the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

In 2008, the National Park Service received 221 grant applications from eligible federal agencies; state, local, and tribal governments; and nonprofit organizations. Two panels of federal experts representing preservation and conservation disciplines reviewed the applications and made final recommendations to the Secretary of Interior.

Pine Mountain Settlement School's campus is historically significant for several reasons: it may be the best example of a rural settlement institution of the early 20th century; its educational programs were, and continue to be, innovative; and the campus plan and many of its buildings were designed by one of the first women architects in the country.

Founded in 1913, at the height of the Progressive Movement, Pine Mountain Settlement School was started by Katherine Pettit and Ethel DeLong, who epitomized the Progressive generation's "new American woman," many of whom campaigned to reform society through changes in the political, social, economic and scientific fields.

As a rural settlement institution, Pine Mountain Settlement School was modeled after urban settlements, particularly Hull House in Chicago, started by social reformer Jane Addams. From the outset, Pine Mountain has had a dual mission: to be an educational institution and to serve the local community. School founders were respectful of the local culture and did not attempt to substitute an outside culture for the indigenous. Rather, they worked to strengthen people's faith in their own heritage, making use of the mountain environment and cultural traditions as the vehicle for learning.

Pine Mountain's current educational program emphasizes environmental education, conservation of the natural environment, and historic preservation skills workshops. A new sustainability initiative is helping the School to create a model for energy efficiency, renewable energy systems, and local agricultural endeavors that will be accessible to people of all income levels.

Additional information on the Save America's Treasures program can be found on the National Park Service web site: http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/treasures/.

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