The following is the text of a news release from the U.S. Maritime Administration (MarAd):
(WASHINGTON) (April 27) — The National Park Service, in partnership with the Maritime Administration, today announced the award of approximately $2.6 million in Maritime Heritage Program grants for projects that teach about and preserve sites and objects related to our nation’s maritime history.
“Our maritime heritage is woven into the nation’s history and identity,” said Director Jonathan B. Jarvis. “These grants will not only help preserve our maritime resources for future generations, but many of these projects will also directly connect communities to that heritage through educational outreach and involvement in preservation efforts.”
“Since our nation’s very beginning, seafarers have helped build, defend and provide for our way of life in the United States, and the National Maritime Heritage Grant Program preserves and promotes that proud maritime legacy,” said Maritime Administrator Paul Jaenichen. “The projects were so worthwhile in providing education and preservation of our maritime heritage assets that MarAd provided more than $800,000 over the original funding amount to support additional projects that were highly recommended by the federal review panel.”
National Maritime Heritage Grant awards are made possible through a partnership between the two federal agencies that share a commitment to maritime heritage preservation and education. Funding is provided by the Maritime Administration through the recycling of vessels from the MarAd’s National Defense Reserve Fleet. The grant program supports a broad range of maritime education and preservation projects, without expending tax dollars, while ensuring that the vessels are dismantled in an environmentally sound manner.
The Maritime Heritage grants are available to state, tribal, and local governments, as well as private nonprofit organizations for education and preservation projects. Education projects are funded in amounts between $25,000 and $50,000; preservation projects are funded in amounts between $50,000 and $200,000. Education grants can be used for programs such as school curriculum, interpretive programs and Web pages, and preservation grant projects can include the rehabilitation or restoration of ships and other maritime resources.
The projects receiving grants are:
Alaska — Sealaska Heritage Institute, The Traditional Tlingit and Haida Halibut Hook Project, $39,496
California — California State Parks Foundation, Pigeon Point Lighthouse Rehabilitation Project, $73,436
California — Maritime Museum Association of San Diego, replacement of the sailing ship Star of India’s weather decks, $192,794
California — San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, USS Pampanito World War II Submarine Preservation Project, $192,754
Connecticut — Mystic Seaport Museum, restoration of the 1908 steamboat Sabino, $199,806
Delaware — Delaware Division of Parks and Recreation, Indian River Life-Saving Station’s Guardians of the Sea, $25,119
Florida — UWF Historic Trust, Pensacola Maritime Heritage Trail, $25,960
Florida — Diving with a Purpose (DWP), maritime archaeology educational field program, $46,536
Georgia — University of Georgia Marine Extension Service, Georgia’s Rich Maritime Cultural Heritage: Generational Commercial Fishing Families, $41,837
Hawaii — Kanehunamoku Voyaging Academy, Papahana Hoolauna Public Outreach Project, $45,899
Maine — Penobscot Maritime Museum, National Fisherman: Documenting a Sea Change, $40,784
Maine — Wood Island Life Saving Station Association, Wood Island Life Saving Station, Kittery Point, Maine, rehabilitation, $200,000
Maryland — Living Classrooms Foundation, USS Constellation spar, fighting top and rigging rehabilitation, $89,596
Massachusetts — Lowell’s Boat Shop, Lowell’s Boat Shop Educational Outreach: Innovative Learning on the River, $35,330
Massachusetts — Maritime Gloucester, An Educational Platform for America’s Oldest Marine Railway, $50,000
Massachusetts — Old Dartmouth Historical Society-New Bedford Whaling Museum, conservation of the Purrington-Russell Panorama for exhibition and educational programming, $49,845
Massachusetts — USS Constitution Museum, USS Constitution: From Forest to Frigate, $50,000
New York — Intrepid Museum Foundation, USS Growler Submarine Preservation Project, $117,278
New York — Fireboat Firefighter Museum, Fireboat Firefighter Preservation Project, $80,875
New York — Long Island Traditions, Freeport Waters, $40,000
New York — National Lighthouse Museum, American Lighthouse History Multimedia Educational Experience, $42,150
North Carolina — Core Sound Waterfowl Museum, Port Light: Tracing Historical Connections/Outerbanks to Mainland-N.C., $46,036
North Carolina — Battleship North Carolina Commission, emergency hull restoration, $200,000
Oklahoma — Oklahoma Historical Society, discovery and excavation of the steamboat Heroine: Exhibit and Curriculum Unit, $25,000
Oregon — Columbia River Maritime Museum, cradles and cantilevered shelving for the museum’s boat collection, $33,549
Oregon — Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, Grand Ronde canoe culture, waterways, travel and trade, $36,876
Pennsylvania — Independence Seaport Museum, undertake critical projects for the continued preservation of USS Olympia, $169,850
South Carolina — USS Yorktown Foundation, Giving History Life: The USS Yorktown Interactive Engine Room Experience, $26,228
Texas — Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, audio tours to enhance visitor experience on board battleship Texas, $49,454
Vermont — Institute of Nautical Archaeology, Lake Champlain steamboat Winooski archaeological investigation, $26,953
Virginia — Mariners Museum, USS Monitor Artifact Conservation and Outreach Project, $99,900
Washington — Northwest Seaport, preservation of the National Historic Landmark 1889 tugboat Arthur Foss, $87,000
Washington — Center for Wooden Boats, free public rides on historic small craft, $28,000
Wisconsin — University of Wisconsin-Superior, processing and conservation of Fraser Shipyards collection of technical drawings, $49,984
Wisconsin — Wisconsin SHPO, Lock and Load: Great Lakes Canallers and the Grain Trade, $48,698
