The Southern Field Office in West Virginia
Blair Mountain
Site of the largest armed uprising since the Civil War, Blair Mountain in Logan County, West Virginia, is currently threatened by surface mining. To learn more, please visit the Blair Mountain 11 Most Endangered page.
The Eastern Panhandle
Jefferson, Berkeley, and Morgan Counties comprise the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, a region rich in historical resources but threatened with the continued suburbanization of the Washington Metro region. The Southern Field Office has been engaged in ongoing efforts to help protect the assets of this special area.
Visit our Eastern Panhandle page to learn more about our work in this rapidly-changing region of West Virginia.
Building the Movement in West Virginia
Due in part to its mountainous terrain, challenging economy and far-flung historic resources, West Virginia has traditionally been a difficult area for preservation organizations to serve, despite extraordinary historic resources. The Southern Field Office devotes much of its resources for the state to supporting and strengthening local and state-wide efforts.
Preservation Alliance of West Virginia Receives Partners in the Field Grant
Through the Partners in the Field program, the National Trust for Historic Preservation awarded the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia $75,000 in February 2009 to provide on-the-ground assistance to sites and communities highlighted on the organization's annual Most Endangered properties list. This grant will dramatically increase PAWV's capacity to save historic places around the state.
Partners in the Field is a transformative funding program dedicated to expanding preservation field services nationwide, supported by a generous gift from Robert Wilson, a long-time friend of the National Trust. Mr. Wilson's challenge gift of $5 million requires a financial match, with the potential to generate a total of $10 million for preservation field services over a five-year period.
To learn more about the Partners in the Field grant program, visit http://www.preservationnation.org/resources/find-funding/grants/partners-in-the-field.html.
West Virginia Main Streets
The West Virginia Main Street program does some of the most vital preservation work in the state -- demonstrating to residents, tourists, investors and government agencies that economic development and historic preservation do go hand-in-hand. There are 12 nationally accredited Main Street communities and 13 On TRAC programs throughout the state. The On TRAC program, in its first year, was developed as an introduction to downtown revitalization and is the path for advancing to Main Street designation.
Although much of the National Trust's technical support for the West Virginia Main Street program is handled through the National Main Street Center, the Southern Field Office frequently participates in capacity-building and assessment work in Main Street communities, including Charleston's West Side, Ronceverte, and White Sulphur Springs.
