A UVM-sponsored Special Recognition Event held at Rokeby Museum in Ferrisburgh, Vermont on April 27, 2016, had a wonderful turn-out of preservation supporters and UVM Historic Preservation students, alumni and faculty.
Rokeby Museum’s director, Jane Williamson, a 1993 graduate of the University of Vermont Historic Preservation Program, spoke to the UVM students about her work in obtaining National Historic Landmark designation status for Rokeby as one of the America’s best-documented historic sites associated with the Underground Railroad and the pre-Civil War Abolitionist movement. Jane then led a special tour of the historic site and Rokeby Museum’s new Education Center with its award-winning exhibit, “Free & Safe: The Underground Railroad in Vermont.”
The main public event held at the Rokeby Museum Education Center recognized the outstanding preservation accomplishments of Rokeby’s board of directors, past and present employees, supporters and volunteers. Professor Thomas Visser provided a presentation with images and recollections of many preservation research and technical assistance projects conducted by UVM Historic Preservation Program faculty and students at Rokeby Museum over the past thirty years.
The afternoon gathering closed with a commemorative group photograph taken on the 1814 front porch of Rokeby with a display of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s iconic “This Place Matters” orange banner in celebration of the upcoming national Preservation Month.
