QUILCENE — The Quilcene Historical Museum received a grant from the Washington Trust for Historical Preservation to help with its restoration of the historic Hamilton-Worthington House, built originally in 1892.
This is the second time the museum has been awarded the annual Valerie Sivinski Grant from the Washington Trust.
This year, the museum received $1,500, which will go toward the cost of restoring the original tile around the fireplace in the Hamilton-Worthington House.
The fireplace restoration is a small piece of a larger effort to completely restore the building, which was given the Washington State and National Historic Trust historic designation in January 2014.
In the 1930s, the house’s third floor was demolished due to water damage, according to Jennifer Mortensen, the preservation services coordinator for the Washington Trust.
Since purchasing the house and the surrounding property at 151 E. Columbia St. in Quilcene for $300,000 in 2011, the museum has raised money from grants and the community to restore the house to its three-story glory and restore the classic mansard roof.
That was stage two of a five-stage restoration project and now, according to Mortensen, the museum is working to restore the interior since the roof was built in 2015.
“This is the second grant they’ve gotten and we love to help with this project,” Mortensen said.
“There’s a lot of local fundraising and community members involved. It’s that kind of grass-roots movement we look for.”
The Quilcene Historical Museum was one of 22 applicants for this year’s Sivinski Grant, according to Mortensen.
The museum was one of nine organizations from across the state that was awarded the grant, including the Steamer Virginia V Foundation out of Seattle.
That organization was awarded $500 for a new spring line and breast line for the Virginia V, the largest wooden, steam-driven vessel in the state and an annual attraction at Port Townsend’s Wooden Boat Festival.
“The grants aren’t big,” said Mortensen. “We wish they could be more and we’re hopeful that we can offer bigger grants in the coming years.”
In total, the Washington Trust for Historical Preservation gave $11,000 to the nine nonprofits awarded this year. According to Mortensen, that’s more than the $10,000 they usually budget annually.
“If there’s projects we really want to fund, we make it happen,” Mortensen said.
Since 1998, the Sivinski Grant has provided a total of $14,000 to 136 projects across the state, according to a news release from the Washington Trust for Historical Preservation.
The grants comes from the Valerie Sivinski fund, which is built up over the year but primarily gains from donations collected at a holiday benefit, also named for Sivinski.
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 55052, or at cmcfarland@peninsuladailynews.com.
