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PROJECT PROFILE:
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Jamaica Town Hall, Jamaica
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Local volunteers spent many hundreds of hours painting
following restoration of the historic Jamaica Town Hall.
Preservation Trust of Vermont photo
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It won funding from public agencies and nonprofits—notably the Vermont Arts Council, the Preservation Trust of Vermont, the Stratton Foundation, and VHCB—but the restoration of the 1851 Jamaica Town Hall was truly fueled by local energy, local vision, and local leadership. The project began in 2000, when local electrician Chris Clark and his fiancée, Laura Molinelli, decided the hall, which had long been used for town meeting, but little else, deserved a new life. The roof was leaking, and the structure was starting to deteriorate.
Thanks to the project’s funders, the pre-Civil War hall now has a new slate roof, and a new furnace has freed up the backstage area. Volunteers repainted the exterior country red with white trim, replicating original colors after decades of plain white, which had obscured the structure’s striking architectural details. Volunteers also restored the stairs leading up to the cupola, rehung the old bell, re-clapboarded the back side, tore down a suspended ceiling, and built, plumbed, and wired a new, handicapped-accessible bathroom.
The hall was once the local opera house, and organizers hope it can soon be something similar again. “We hope to revive drama in Jamaica, so this is part of the general revival of the town,” said Joe Grannis, a local resident who contributed many hours of his time to the project.
- adapted by Ethan Parke from an article written by Doug Wilhelm
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