Thanks to a grant from the Hellertown-Lower Saucon Chamber of Commerce, the holidays will be a little brighter for volunteers from the Hellertown Historical Society and the entire community.
The society recently announced in a news release that it is the recipient of a $2,000 Main Street grant that will be used to purchase new Christmas/holiday decorations for the Heller-Wagner Grist Mill, the adjacent Miller’s House and surrounding outbuildings along W. Walnut Street in Hellertown.
The historic grist mill complex–which includes an event space called the Tavern Room–is owned by the borough of Hellertown and leased to the HHS, whose volunteers maintain it.
The release noted that the HHS will contribute matching funds to satisfy a grant program requirement, and indicated that the decorations purchased “shall match as closely as possible to the type and style that would have been used during the 18th century in order to enhance the period architecture of our buildings.”
“Please make an effort to visit our site later this year to see the result of not only the generous support from our Chamber friends, but also the hard work of our volunteers’ efforts in obtaining and installing these decorations, all of which is done to preserve the historical value and accuracy of our site,” it said.
The grant funding was symbolically presented to Hellertown Historical Society volunteer Don Mills–who submitted the application for it–at an Aug. 23 Chamber event.
This fall, the society will be hosting a special event at the historic Pony Bridge located on Walnut Street in celebration of the bridge’s recent listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
The public ceremony will be held at noon on Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, and will recognize the efforts of the volunteers who helped nominate the bridge for the honor.
For more information about the HHS and its efforts to preserve local history, as well as volunteer opportunities, visit HellertownHistoricalSociety.org.
The oldest section of the historic Heller-Wagner Grist Mill in Hellertown dates from the mid 18th century. The stone structure located on W. Walnut Street is home to a second-floor museum and the first-floor Tavern Room; a private event and meeting space maintained by the Hellertown Historical Society, which leases the property from the borough. The society will be updating its holiday decorations thanks to $2,000 in matching grant funding it was recently awarded by the Hellertown-Lower Saucon Chamber of Commerce. (FILE PHOTO)