Historic preservation not just nostalgia

It was a jubilant Larry Kelley who stood on the front steps of the historic Ashland School just over a week ago and proudly showed off a check from the Ashland Historical Society to use toward making over the landmark into space for community programs.

Kelley, who is the executive director of Tri-County Community Action Program, proclaimed at the ceremony, "This is a project we've been working on for seven years. We want to preserve the structure because of its obvious value as a heritage site and it is one where we believe we can combine the past and present to make a useful element in the community."

Tri-County CAP will be using Land and Community Heritage Investment Program — LCHIP — grant money for much of the project's cost. CAP was awarded $300,000 for the project and the Ashland Historical Society donated just under $29,000.

The Ashland School project is yet another example of using something old to create something new.

The supporters of projects like Ashland's recognize that the best way to honor heritage properties is by using them.

Similar endeavors around the area include the renovation and addition to Laconia's original high school into the home for the expanded Laconia District Court, the renovations to the Franklin Opera House so that the building once again has become a venue for stage shows and concerts in addition to housing municipal offices, and the restoration of the Plymouth's historic courthouse on the Town Common.

These and other similar projects are not only beneficial from a heritage standpoint, they are also beneficial in other ways. Historic preservation is an effective way for valuing and protecting our environmental resources, including those that have already been expended as well as those not yet used. Because it encourages us to reuse sound older buildings instead of abandoning or demolishing them, and to revitalize existing areas, preservation is "recycling" on a grand scale.

It is also promotes economic sustainability. Because advocating wise stewardship of existing resources and judicious development and use of new ones, historic preservation advances this goal. In addition, preservation supports economic sustainability by encouraging reinvestment in existing locales of economic activity.

Historic preservation protects and celebrates the social and cultural resources that define and unite our various communities. It helps ensure that pieces of our past will survive to enrich our communities and our lives for generations to come.

These reasons show historic preservation and adaptive reuse of our community landmarks goes far deeper than nostalgia.

The people of Ashland should certainly point with pride at the project which gives a new lease on life for one of its most venerable landmarks.