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Press Conference and Hard Hat Tour
September 25, 2023 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Please join us as we celebrate the continuation of the construction at the David Greenleaf House! The Norwich Historical Society and the Society of the Founders of Norwich, have a goal to create a campus where the c. 1675 Leffingwell House Museum will be the museum space and the Greenleaf House will be the handicapped accessible multipurpose event space for rotating exhibitions, workshops, events, and more. The NHS acts on behalf of the SFN to write grants, secure funds, and collaborate with the SFN to undertake the rehabilitation of the building. To date, we’ve amassed over $800,000 in grant funding for rehabilitation of the property. Planning for this project has been in the works since 1999 thanks to many dedicated individuals and organizations and now Federal, State and Municipal funding have made the project a reality. $500,000 dollars in American Rescue Plan Act funds and $306,053.00 from the Good to Great grant funded through the State Historic Preservation Office, will create a public event space for residents and visitors. The public is welcome to attend.
Parking information: Please use the driveway at the Leffingwell House Museum to access the site. Parking is available at the Leffingwell House Museum or behind 2 Town Street.
Timeline:
12:00pm – 12:30pm Remarks
12:30pm – 1:00pm Tour of the lower basement level
About the David Greenleaf House: The house was originally built around 1763 by goldsmith David Greenleaf; the house passed to numerous other families before being purchased by the Society of the Founders of Norwich in 1999. The house was slated to be restored and remodeled, however, substantive work on the house and property was never finished. The David Greenleaf House is currently a vacant and blighted building due to decades of not being used. In 2018, The Society of the Founders of Norwich (SFN), owners and operators of the Leffingwell House Museum formed a partnership with the Norwich Historical Society (NHS) with the goal of rehabilitating the c. 1763 David Greenleaf House into a multipurpose handicapped accessible space to the Leffingwell House Museum located immediately next door. The Leffingwell House Museum would serve as the “museum” space containing exhibition space, period rooms, and collections storage with the Greenleaf House serving as the “multipurpose” space to be used for special events, rotating exhibitions, presentations, and administrative functions.