Historic Havre de Grace Foundation meeting started at 7:05 PM on August 24, 2021.

Roll Call: Present were Ron Browning, Darlene Perry, Kathleen Keen, Judy Plitt, Kathleen Lee, Roger Lee, Chuck Hinkel, Joe Kiester, Jean Johnson, and the latest member of the Foundation: Lilma Huntley.

Ron Browning showed some of the latest documents and photos that have been donated to the Foundation for the archives. There was a copy of the Stokes Map, photos of the building, of the now Amtrak railroad, bridge back in the early 1900’s, photos of a accident, on the bridge that proceeded the Amtrak bridge with some destruction of that bridge, that occurred well over 120 years ago, photos of the 1948 Havre de Grace High School and various other historic Havre de Grace items. All these donated items will be stored properly in acid free archival storage folders and boxes.

The treasurers report was read. The Foundation now has 50 paid members. The Historic Havre de Grace Foundation budget balance is now $5,119.46.

The members discussed how historic houses are now being torn down, or being rebuilt, in the federally recognized Historic District of Havre de Grace. The new homes, that are being built do not resemble the old historic original homes or blend into the historic district. These new homes are of a modern design. Jean told the members that Shane Grime is aware of this and is working on a plan.

Darlene informed the members present that archival materials have been ordered and all the materials and items being donated to the Foundation will be properly stored and registered. Judy Plitt, Kathleen Keen, Roger Lee and Kathleen Lee will be taught, by Darlene, in the proper methods of doing this. They had all volunteered to help in this area. All of this archived material will be stored at 226 N. Union, for the time being per Ron.

Ron, and the group present, discussed the Moore Family Homestead proposed plans for a future museum. Jean Johnson, head of the Havre de Grace Historic Commission is starting the process of creating a museum at the homestead. A “’MOU” will be discussed with the city with clarity of what uses the house and property can have. The need for security needs to also be discussed. Right now there is no security system or decent locks on the main building. Barry Burns, who gifted the property to the city of Havre de Grace, had a vision for the building to include a Havre de Grace water persons typical family home in the main house. It would be set up for the time period from the 1880’s to the 1920’s. There has been furniture donated already and there is more furniture that is promised from various donors. The views of the family home/museum could be viewed through the various windows, from outside, and no one would enter the house or the house could be open and the public could enter the house and see the various room depending on Covid-19 status. The smaller house, on Lafayette Street, is being used by the Victory Garden staff right now. The city will be testing for lead paint, hazardous materials, and asbestos in both houses shortly. The city has given $20,000, in the city budget, for work to be done this fiscal year. Ron proposed that the various awards that the Havre de Grace Commission have received, over the years, could be displayed in the vestibule. The Moore Family Homestead grounds and the front porch area were used, last weekend, for the Waterfront Festival.

Ron attended the Havre de Grace Museum Consortium meeting in August and will attend in September.

The Foundation’s website, HDG History.org, has been moved to another carrier, Blue Host, per Tabitha. She is working to make the membership page secure. The Foundation is not yet linked to Paypal but Tabitha is working on it. Per Ron “it is a work in progress”. The Facebook group of the Foundation, started a few weeks ago by Kathleen Lee now has 146 members. Many of the people, in this new group, had no idea that the Foundation existed and seem eager to join. (* Please see Webmaster Note below)

Here are some of the events in Havre de Grace that are coming up per Ron:
There is a silent auction, at the visitors center, for Ernest Burke memorabilia, now.
September 11 will be the annual Shrimp Fest benefitting the Maritime Museum.
September 25-26 will be the Fall Festival at Steppingstone Farm Museum.
October 2 will be the Garden Fall Fest at the Maritime museum.
October 16 will be the Octoberfest in Havre de Grace.
October 23-24 will be the Annual Art Show located at both Tydings Park and Concord Point Park.
November 20 will be the annual Oyster Fest.
The next meeting of the Foundation will be held on September 28, 2021 at 226 N. Union at 6:30 PM. Meeting adjourned at 8:21.
Respectfully submitted by Kathleen Lee, Secretary
—
*Webmaster’s Note:
There are a few items which need clarification within this paragraph.
HDGHistory.org has always been hosted with BlueHost, first as part of my testing/construction server, and is about to get its own server.
The sites on the testing server have been secure under the account’s SSL and will continue to enjoy SSL protection on its own server.
The membership mechanism has always been secure because it is on the PayPal servers. The Foundation has been linked to PayPal for about a year now.
All Facebook presence for the Foundation has been suspended at the request of the chair.

As of January 31, 2021, Joe K. reports that the treasury contains $4,652.73. The tax papers for the foundation have been filed with HR Block. The paperwork for the tax report to the State of Maryland has been filed, due in April. The federal tax papers are due in May. Members who made donations to the foundation in 2020, should have received tax information in the mail during January from myself and Joe K.

Membership stands at 43 members with the latest members being Deborah Goldman, Dr. John W. Hawkins, Leon Kalas, Jane Currier, and Colonel Allan R. Burke.

I have been in recent contact with Joe Hopkins who has donated Hopkins Family memorabilia to the foundation – letters, deeds, photos and furniture including a grandfather/ case clock dating circa 1780. He and his wife hope to visit Havre de Grace from their new residence in Ohio in May.

FYI, The dates for the Community-wide Yard Sale have been picked for 2021. They are Saturdays, April 17 and September 11 from 8am to roughly 4pm. Raindates are the Sunday after. I have been working with Lauri Orzewicz and Bonnie Castillo at the HDG Visitor Center with the yard sales for many years now. Since sites are scattered around the HDG community, a comprehensive list is provided by the visitor center on its website and on flyer form near to the dates of the sales. . Flyers are available at 226 North Union Avenue and the visitor center- 450 Pennington Avenue on the dates of the yard sales. Also spaces are available to folks who wish a downtown location at 226 North Union Avenue for $10 with proceeds going to the foundation treasury. Please contact me if interested.

ADDITIONAL NOTES FROM Bambi Johnson, Executive Director, Havre De Grace Alliance
In Addition, As you know, the HDG Alliance applied for the Governor’s Maryland Strong Economic Recovery Initiative (MD-SERI) grant. This grant program, which is administered by the Maryland DHCD, is for the state’s 33 designated Main Street Maryland communities and Baltimore City’s 8 designated Main Street neighborhoods to support the economic recovery of local Main Street businesses. We were originally awarded $150,000.00. But wait!! On Monday, in addition to the Relief Act legislation that was signed, SB496 was also signed. This allocated an additional $2 million to the total amount of funding. As a result, all of the awards were recalculated and the Alliance’s award was increased to $210,474.00!

Once all the paperwork is signed and the money is in our account, we will begin distributing it to the Main Street businesses and non-profits. Each of them only needs to fill out a very simple form to receive funds. The funds will be disbursed evenly among those who submit.

We are so proud of this effort and a big “thank you” goes out to Julie for writing the final grant and to the executive committee for convening to lend us their wisdom and guidance! Also to Joe Smith, Rebecca Jessop, Lauri Orzewicz and Johnny Boker for your ongoing work to help us establish the gift card program.