The Stafford Department of Planning and Zoning will sponsor a workshop on Tuesday, March 18, for individuals who would like to learn how to nominate properties for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. The event will be held from 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at Gari Melchers Home and Studio at Belmont, located at 224 Washington Street in Falmouth.  

Kelly Spradley-Kurowski and Jean McRaw with the Department Virginia Department of Historic Resources will offer guidelines about writing a Narrative Statement of Significance. The statement is the first step in the formal process to propose buildings, sites and other properties for inclusion on the National Register. Individuals, property owners, public agencies, local historical societies and preservation groups, and college professors and their students may submit nominations.

“The County held a workshop last May that provided basic information about the National Register and how to research historic properties,” said Wendy Wheatcraft, Stafford’s Historic Preservation Planner. “This year’s workshop will be more in-depth and will focus on providing the specific steps to draft a National Register nomination. There’s a certain honor to having a listing on the register, and inclusion can help save historic buildings and sites because people typically hold these properties in high regard. They think twice about altering or demolishing them.”

Geographical areas, sites, buildings, structures and objects that are at least 50 years old may be nominated for the register. According to the “National Register Brochure,” one of the following four criteria must be met in order for a property to be considered for addition to the register:

Be associated with events that have made significant contributions to the broad patterns of history; or Be associated with the lives of persons significant in our past; or Embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction; or Have yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history.

The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the country’s historic properties that have been judged worthy of preservation. The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 instituted the program to help coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate and protect historic and archaeological resources. The program is administered by the National Park Service.

The event is free and open to the public. To reach the Gari Melchers Home and Studio at Belmont, take Exit 133A – Falmouth from I-95 onto U.S. Route 17. Proceed for approximately 1.25 miles and turn right onto Washington Street, and then right into the Belmont parking lot.

Please contact Wendy Wheatcraft at (540) 658-4628 or by e-mail at wwheatcraft@co.stafford.va.us to reserve a seat and to ensure that adequate materials are available.  

 

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