Bellefonte Historical and Cultural Association
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania
Minutes of Past Meetings
January 9, 2015, 7 PM
Bellefonte Art Museum
Present: Romayne Naylor, President, Jim Dunne, Secretary, Dave Eggler,
Treasurer, Gay Dunne, Joanne Tosti-Vasey; Jeanne Newlin, Colina Seeley,
Joseph Griffin, Julia Kasdorf, Philip Ruth, Patrick North, Sally Houser,
Dave Kurtz, True Fisher. A quorum was in attendance as defined by the BHCA
bylaws.
Minutes - Minutes of 11/20/14 were approved (Gay, Joseph).
Treasurer’s Report (Dave Eggler) click here to read the report - The printed report is not representative of final Victorian Christmas Arts & Crafts show figures because of expenses not yet paid. Treasurer’s report approved (Joanne, Gay).
Committee Reports:
Summer Sounds: No report.
Sunday Afternoons at the Library: Next Concert - Carolyn Gardner, flute - Feb. 8
Gallery at the Gamble Mill: Closed till further notice. Mill in process of transfer of ownership. Awaiting liquor license before reopening, hopefully in early Feb. Gallery will continue.
Bellefonte Victorian Christmas (Sally): Successful. House tour had less houses to view, which is more manageable for people on tour. She suggested 4 houses, one historic site and one church as an ideal number, all in walking distance, if possible. The Dickens dinner was well attended, but mostly by out of town people and only 12 from Bellefonte. The Arts & Crafts show was successful. Two venues rather than three was well received from the vendors. There were two Conestoga busses from Lancaster which helped with foot traffic.
Poetry (Julia): The next gathering will be Jan 23 for an open mike. Feb 20 will be a repeat of the Bellefonte Moth. The committee would like suggestions for a theme; Bellefonte connected “Close Calls” is one.
Old House Fair (October 23 & 24, 2015) (Joseph): Erin will be at the next committee meeting. Preservation PA will possibly have a pre-conference meeting on Friday evening. The committee needs to establish a budget. Jan. 15 (extended to Feb.1) is the deadline to submit 10 choices from a list of 50 topics (list attached) for next October.
Historic Preservation Committee: (Jeanne). Sue Hannegan’s 1995 Bellefonte Historical Resource Survey of 52 historically important houses in Bellefonte have been scanned. How to make the material available was discussed. Dave can put them on the www.bellefontearts.org website. The Borough might be able to put them in the HARB portion of the Borough website. Rob Gannon provided many of the photographs. Perhaps the original photographs could be located or new photographs taken. Many of the prominent houses like the Reynolds Mansion are not included.
Silk Mill Section 106 review (Philip): The Silk Mill cannot be saved without rebuilding the wall along the stream, some of which is the foundation of the Mill. With the fill needed there would be little head room inside the Mill; there would be easy access to the roof, a hazard for adolescents and teens. The mitigation covered only the Silk Mill. Mitigation recommendations cover the silk industry with 3-4 wayside interpretive panels, possibly along the walkway. One or two panels could
discuss the other buildings. The panels need to be vandal and fade proof. Buddy Halderman would like to see similar panels throughout the Historic District.
New Business: Dave is preparing the PCA grant application. He needs board members professional affiliations.
Next BHCA Meeting: 7 PM, Friday, February 27, at the Bellefonte Art Museum.
Jim Dunne
Secretary
Minutes - Minutes of 11/20/14 were approved (Gay, Joseph).
Treasurer’s Report (Dave Eggler) click here to read the report - The printed report is not representative of final Victorian Christmas Arts & Crafts show figures because of expenses not yet paid. Treasurer’s report approved (Joanne, Gay).
Committee Reports:
Summer Sounds: No report.
Sunday Afternoons at the Library: Next Concert - Carolyn Gardner, flute - Feb. 8
Gallery at the Gamble Mill: Closed till further notice. Mill in process of transfer of ownership. Awaiting liquor license before reopening, hopefully in early Feb. Gallery will continue.
Bellefonte Victorian Christmas (Sally): Successful. House tour had less houses to view, which is more manageable for people on tour. She suggested 4 houses, one historic site and one church as an ideal number, all in walking distance, if possible. The Dickens dinner was well attended, but mostly by out of town people and only 12 from Bellefonte. The Arts & Crafts show was successful. Two venues rather than three was well received from the vendors. There were two Conestoga busses from Lancaster which helped with foot traffic.
Poetry (Julia): The next gathering will be Jan 23 for an open mike. Feb 20 will be a repeat of the Bellefonte Moth. The committee would like suggestions for a theme; Bellefonte connected “Close Calls” is one.
Old House Fair (October 23 & 24, 2015) (Joseph): Erin will be at the next committee meeting. Preservation PA will possibly have a pre-conference meeting on Friday evening. The committee needs to establish a budget. Jan. 15 (extended to Feb.1) is the deadline to submit 10 choices from a list of 50 topics (list attached) for next October.
Historic Preservation Committee: (Jeanne). Sue Hannegan’s 1995 Bellefonte Historical Resource Survey of 52 historically important houses in Bellefonte have been scanned. How to make the material available was discussed. Dave can put them on the www.bellefontearts.org website. The Borough might be able to put them in the HARB portion of the Borough website. Rob Gannon provided many of the photographs. Perhaps the original photographs could be located or new photographs taken. Many of the prominent houses like the Reynolds Mansion are not included.
Silk Mill Section 106 review (Philip): The Silk Mill cannot be saved without rebuilding the wall along the stream, some of which is the foundation of the Mill. With the fill needed there would be little head room inside the Mill; there would be easy access to the roof, a hazard for adolescents and teens. The mitigation covered only the Silk Mill. Mitigation recommendations cover the silk industry with 3-4 wayside interpretive panels, possibly along the walkway. One or two panels could
discuss the other buildings. The panels need to be vandal and fade proof. Buddy Halderman would like to see similar panels throughout the Historic District.
New Business: Dave is preparing the PCA grant application. He needs board members professional affiliations.
Next BHCA Meeting: 7 PM, Friday, February 27, at the Bellefonte Art Museum.
Jim Dunne
Secretary