ROCKINGHAM-A crew from Hartgen Archeological Associates spent a week at the Rockingham Meeting House earlier this month, completing a survey of the property using ground radar and digging test pits.
The project takes place in anticipation of work to stabilize the building, which dates to 1787 and was named a National Historic Landmark in 2000.
According to the town's website, the Meeting House is "the largest intact 18th [century] public building remaining in Vermont still in its original form and in active use."
It is one of only two New England Meeting Houses with the architectural characteristics of its era still standing without major alterations.
Last restored in 1906 and 1907 after a half century of neglect, the building is still regularly used for concerts, lectures, weddings, memorial services, and the occasional local board meeting.
The survey is a requirement of the National Park Service (NPS) in preparation for future work being done at the meeting house that would entail ground disturbance. The NPS is one of the major grant providers for the restoration project.
Rockingham Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) Coordinator Walter Wallace said that to assure the meeting house's future, the group has been working for the last few years applying for restoration and preservation grants.
In addition, the town has a Rockingham Meeting House capital reserve fund to help the preservation efforts.
Survey results
The investigation looked for areas of archeological significance within areas west, north, and east of the Meeting House. A grid of around 60 shovel tests, each approximately 20 in. × 20 in., and about the same depth, spaced on a 5-meter grid, was conducted in those areas, while avoiding steep slopes, wet areas, or disturbed soils.
In addition, four larger test pits, about 6.5 ft. square, were also dug.
Findings will be documented and mapped. A full report will be presented to the town in four to six weeks, Wallace said.
But the archaeologists reported during the digging that the site is "culturally clean." No indigenous artifacts were found. Of the very few other items of interest, most were what might be expected - a few nails, part of a horseshoe, pieces of clay pipes.
A bit odder was a buried, dead 220-volt electric utility line found near the building - odd because the Meeting House has no electricity and no wiring. A search in newspaper archives reveals a discussion of installing such lighting in 1962 and a report in 1973, during the energy crisis, that the use of such lights "had been reduced by one half to conserve energy."
In addition, a layer of ash could be explained by fires set to clear the land, which at the time included burning tree roots out as well.
Local historians have hoped that the radar would also locate the foundation of an earlier meeting house built on the same site. A foundation in that area was not located, but surveyors discovered some indication that it might actually be closer to one of the corners of the current meeting house. The final report may address that finding.
Next steps
Wallace said that once the NPS gets the report from the archeologists and the town gets final written approval to proceed, the restoration projects will be put out to bid, including a new foundation and drainage under the building and restoration of its windows.
The slate roof, which was replaced in 2008, needs "to be tightened up," Wallace said. "Slate roofs last a long time, but they need regular maintenance."
It is also a challenge to find contractors that have the expertise to work on such a historic building, Wallace said.
"We'll have to schedule site visits for the contractors interested in the work, then get their proposals," he added. "That will take us through the winter."
Once the contracts are in place, Wallace said that he hopes that work on the foundation will begin in spring of 2026.
Most of the projects should take three to four months, and the roof work will be completed by the fall of that year.
Funding amidst federal chaos
The town has been working for the last several years to secure funding for the various phases of the restoration work, estimated at $3 million.
The town has been awarded two major NPS Historic Preservation Fund grants for the restoration work.
Together with a matching sum from the town, a Save America's Treasures grant will provide $720,000 for the foundation, drainage, and window work.
A Semiquincentennial Grant, named for the nation's 250th anniversary, will be used for the restoration and conservation of the building's interior woodwork and plaster, its exterior woodwork, and its timber frame.
In addition to the National Park Service grants, the town has received funding from the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation. The town also has money earmarked for Meeting House maintenance in the municipal coffers, and the project has received donations from local citizens and businesses.
But Wallace said that, though the NPS grants have already been awarded to the town, the money "can't be drawn down on until we have the contracts in hand."
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has already rescinded some federal grants that also had been previously awarded.
"I've been told that there have been numerous projects that have been shut down," Wallace said. "Things are changing literally daily."
He said that he recently checked on the funding on a Wednesday, only to find out the next day that extra layer of documentation had been added to access the same grant money.
"Wednesday it was one way, Thursday it was different," he said.
He also said that the NPS, already short staffed, had only one staff archaeologist at its Washington, D.C., office who was reviewing and approving projects, including the meeting house grants.
Wallace said that the archaeologist was one of the thousands of staff fired by the Trump administration with only a week's notice. He was able to approve the Meeting House funding before he left his position.
But with federal staff being fired and then some rehired, and federal grant projects being frozen and then some being reinstated, Wallace said it is difficult to know how funding will proceed.
The staffing issue alone is likely to affect at least dozens of historic preservation projects in Vermont, Wallace said. "This is affecting 22 NPS Certified Local Government (CLG) towns in Vermont. They are all affected."
If there will "no longer be historical preservation at the federal level," Wallace said, towns will have to decide just how they are going to proceed. Historical preservation funding is 60% federal and 40% local, and cutting federal funding "impacts all the state historical sites."
At this point, Wallace said, there is no CLG funding budgeted for fiscal year 2026, and some funding for 2025 is being withheld.
He said by July 1 of this year, the town will have a good idea of the future of federal support for historical preservation.
This News item by Robert F. Smith was written for The Commons.