by : Kate Borchard Schoen, WeGOJA Foundation
May 17, 2024
The Learning Lab series provides practical tips, advice, and guidance on specific historic preservation topics that are relevant to African American preservation projects. We hope these posts help community members and leaders better navigate the complexities of historic preservation work successfully.
| Why does this matter and how is it relevant to African American preservation? |
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| Sacred spaces and churches are cornerstones in the fabric of African American culture and history. These sites often simultaneously hold space for trauma, grief, joy, celebration, and resistance. They also have historically served as community centers for organizing, activism, education, and mutual care. Sacred places are an integral part of our cultural landscape, yet many sites have fallen into disrepair as buildings age and congregations change. These spaces are excellent candidates for historic preservation and rehabilitation. |
10 Tips for Preserving a Historic Sacred Space
- Define what sacred space means to you and your community – is it a church building? A location where a sacred activity took place (eg: Witness trees, brush arbor churches, baptism springs etc)? A location that is hallowed ground due to the events that took place there (site of a traumatic event, site of resistance or celebration?) A cemetery?
- Find out who owns the space and its associated property. Is it owned by a religious group (eg: local Baptist association, Methodist association, etc.)? Is it owned in trust by the trustees of the church? Is it owned by a private citizen?
- Contact the religious association, the trustees, or the property owner. Find out what their commitment to and understanding of preservation might be. Do they know the church needs to be preserved? Do they support the preservation of the church? Can they contribute financially or otherwise to its preservation? Find out actually how much they are committed to preserving this space and try to find out if they will pose obstacles or roadblocks to preservation.
- Find out some preliminary basic information on the building or space: What is the state of the building or space? Is it safe to be in? Is it still standing or does it no longer exist (called “no longer extant” in preservation speak)? How old is the original structure? What updates have been made to the original structure? How much of the original building remains? Is the original building gone and has been replaced by a later building, and if so, what is the age of that building?
Bonus! Think through if your sacred space contains other buildings – many churches have associated cemeteries. Is the cemetery going to be included in preservation plans or will that be addressed later, if addressed at all? Cemeteries require a specific and careful type of preservation, so many church preservation projects do not initially include cemeteries as part of the preservation project, although they may address the cemetery through research or interpretation later on.
- You are probably going to need an expert to identify the state of disrepair, if it is structurally sound, and what the extent of preservation might need to be. This would be a physical preservation expert – possibly an architect, an engineer, or other professional. Find professionals in our Experts Database.
- Explore grant funding specifically for sacred spaces. One such grant is the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s National Fund for Sacred Spaces. Find other grants in our Grant Match database.
- Find out if the property owner would be willing to participate in a Revolving Fund. Revolving Funds are one way that physical buildings like these get preserved – it involves the current owners selling the building for a smaller amount to a sponsoring organization (one such organization is Preservation South Carolina). The sponsoring organization will take over ownership and find funding to rehabilitate and preserve the building (usually is a multi-year process) and when preservation is complete, will sell the building back to the community or agreed upon owner at a lower rate.
- Find out if your building or space would meet the qualifications for being listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This designation is a complex process, usually taking at least a year and usually more to complete, and might require you to hire or seek out a professional who knows how to write successful National Register nominations. But once listed, your site becomes eligible for some additional funding and protection. Note – you will need the property owner’s permission to do this.
- Work within your community to identify your stakeholders and work collaboratively to outline how the community wishes to see the building or space used after it is preserved. Many funders and experts will want to know if it is an active congregation – will the congregation return to worshiping in the space after preservation work is completed? Is it an inactive congregation, whose participants have spread out to other churches, and are no longer really connected? If that is the case, are there memories, stories, and legacies from this space that can still be saved? Will the building be used as a community center or even a museum/historic site? Define what your community wants the future of this space to be early on in your project and be able to describe the importance and impact of that use in your community to funders.
- Start researching and planning now for how you will maintain the preservation of your historic sacred place beyond just the initial preservation project. Many people don’t realize that preservation is an ongoing maintenance process that requires capacity building and possibly capital support. Some larger churches are able to create non-profits and fundraise both within the church congregation and externally to grant funders to create a preservation endowment. While this is not feasible for every church, especially smaller rural churches without bigger active congregations, it is worthwhile to consider and plan for the ongoing maintenance of your space from the beginning.