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Grants and Funding

CFHS has a long and successful record of responsibly administering state, federal and private foundation grants. Following is a list of grants received by CFHS: 

1981: $50,000 grant from the Maryland Historical Trust [HT-732-C-(11)] for the restoration of the Collier’s Log House

1983: $17,000 development grant-in-aid from the United States National Park Service to restore the Collier’s Log House.

2014 – $100,000 bond bill grant from the Maryland General Assembly to restore the Forgeman’s House

2015: $48,000 from the Maryland Historical Trust’s Maryland Heritage Areas Authority program to restore the circa 1817 Forgeman’s House

2015 – $6,000 Tourism Council of Frederick County Tourism Reinvestment in Promotion and Product Program (TRIPP) Grant to fund conservation of stoves and the ore cart

2016 – $14,000 Maryland Heritage Areas Authority grant to fund forensic research for the African American cemetery

2016: $67,000 from the African American Heritage Preservation Program, jointly sponsored by the Maryland Historical Trust and the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture, to construct a heritage-based interpretive trail for the Catoctin Furnace African American Cemetery.

2016 – $1,500 Society for Industrial Archaeology grant to conserve 2 stoves and an ore cart

2018 – $90,000 Maryland Heritage Areas Authority grant to rehabilitate the Museum of the Ironworker

2018 – $15,000 TRIPP grant from the Tourism Council of Frederick County to restore and renovate the Museum of the Ironworker including installation of an HVAC system

2018 – $1,200 Maryland Humanities mini-grant to support educational programming.

2018 – $24,440 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant to design and fabricate museum exhibits

2018 – $8,000 grant from Preservation Maryland to help replace the roof on the Museum with a historically accurate hand-crimped standing seam roof

2018 – $246.84 National Garden Clubs/Ames Tool grant for gardening tools and equipment

2018 – $15,000 grant from the US National Park Service Underground Network to Freedom to help fabricate two forensic facial reconstructions of enslaved African workers for the Museum of the Ironworker 

2019 – $500 Maryland Museums Association grant for conservation of a large iron door and frame found during trail construction

2019 – $43,600 Maryland Heritage Areas Authority grant to restore the main section of the Museum of the Ironworker

2019 – $15,000 Delaplaine Foundation grant for exhibits in the Museum of the Ironworker

2019 – $1,000 Monarch Alliance grant to fund planting of a monarch waystation pollinator garden behind the Collier’s Log House in Catoctin Furnace

2019 – $5,250 Tourism Council of Frederick County Tourism Reinvestment in Promotion and Product Program (TRIPP) Grant to purchase archaeologically inspired “Everyday Treasures:  Bringing History to Life at the Forgeman’s House” 

2019 – $2,499 Tourism Council of Frederick County Tourism Reinvestment in Promotion and Product Program (TRIPP) Grant to fund out of county and out of state special event advertising 

2019 – $2,500 HCWHA mini grant to purchase blacksmithing demonstration equipment

2020 – $38,540 Maryland Heritage Areas Authority (MHAA) grant to fund “Forged in Bone: Facial Reconstructions of Catoctin Furnace’s Enslaved Workers” and completion of two forensic facial reconstructions 

2020- $17,600 Maryland Heritage Areas Authority (MHAA) grant to fund rehabilitation of the Collier’s Log House

2020 – $50,000 Maryland Bond Bill to complete construction/restoration of the Museum of the Ironworker

2020 – $1,200 Maryland Humanities mini grant to fund “Stories of Slavery, Songs of Freedom: Exploring the Experience of Slavery in Maryland” with Jubilee Voices 

2020 – $3,500 Maryland State Arts Council Creativity grant to publish “Catoctin SlaveSpeak”

2020 – $3,864 Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area Mini Grant to fund the purchase of heritage clothing for living history programs

2020 -$5,150 Maryland Humanities CARES Act Emergency Relief Grant to alleviate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic 

2020 – $2,775 Tourism Council of Frederick County Tourism Reinvestment in Promotion and Product Program (TRIPP) Unanticipated Opportunity Development grant to fund “Forged in Iron and Bone: Unveiling Faces of the Enslaved” event, and exhibit for Frederick County Public Libraries 

2020 -$19,500 MHAA COVID -19 Emergency Operating Support Grant to fund programs to alleviate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

2020 – $29,410.70 National Endowment for the Humanities CARES grant to develop “Heritage Site Resilience: Using Digital Humanities at Catoctin Furnace, Maryland” 

2020 – $2,256.00 Friends of Cunningham Falls and Gambrill State Parks for African American Cemetery Interpretive Trail 

2020 – $500 Visit Frederick African American Cemetery Brochure development

2020 – $3,962.50 Tourism Council of Frederick County Tourism Reinvestment in Promotion and product Program (TRIPP) Grant to fund video production of Catoctin SlaveSpeak

2020 – $17,068.00 Ausherman Family Foundation capacity building grant – Forging our Future: Catoctin Furnace’s Pathway Forward

2020 – $25,000 Maryland DHCD Non profit Recovery Initiative Grant (NORI)

2020 – $812.50 Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area Mini grant – repurposed to COVID relief

2021 – $4,159 Tourism Council of Frederick County Tourism Reinvestment in Promotion and Product Program (TRIPP) Grant to fund out of county and out of state advertising of Catoctin Furnace 

2021 – $2,917 Tourism Council of Frederick County Tourism Reinvestment in Promotion and Product Program (TRIPP) Grant to fund development of a driving tour and brochure for “The Iron Road: Driving Tour of Historic Furnaces in Maryland and Pennsylvania” 

2021 – $50,000 MHAA “Dirty and Dangerous: The Heritage of an Iron Village” – Exhibit Design, production and installation 

2021 – $25,000 MHAA “Finish It! Museum of the Ironworker Restoration/Renovation Phase III” 

2021 – $50,000 Maryland Historical Trust Non-Capital Grant – Recovering Identity: Northern Frederick County Cultural Resource Survey 

2021 – $3,033.33 TRIPP advertising for January to June 2021 

2021 – $2,025.00 TRIPP grant for Museum of the Ironworker promotional brochure design, printing, and distribution 

2021 – $25,000 William G. Pomeroy Foundation for 12 waysides for the Iron Trail 

2021 – $25,000 Certified Local Government grant for Recovering Identity: Northern Frederick County Cultural Resource Survey 

2021 – $100,000 MHT Historic Preservation Capital Grant Program – Restoration of the F.W. Fraley Store 

2021 – $10,000 Maryland Humanities – Braided Lives: Troublin de Water, Catoctin Furnace’s Enslaved through Poetry, Song, & Narrative 

2021 – $1,900 Maryland State Arts Council Presenting and Touring grant to support performance of Slim Harrison at the Maryland Iron Festival 

2021 – $4,000 HCWHA Mini grant – Museum of the Ironworker exhibits below the floorboards and floor map 

2021 – $10,000 First Energy – support for 2021 Maryland Iron Festival 

2021 – $10,000 Visit Frederick – support for 2021 Maryland Iron Festival 

2021 – $20,000 “Thomas V. Mike Miller, Jr. History Fund” grant, Forging Our Future: Ensuring Catoctin Furnace’s Long-term Financial Health

2021 – $10,000 Maryland Humanities SHARP Recovery Grant

2021 – $10,000 Frederick County, Maryland Government Bounce Back Grant

2022 – $6,288 TRIPP advertising: Continuing to Entice them back: Ads during COVID and its aftermath

2022 – $2,500 TRIPP grant – Everyday Treasures Beneath the Floorboards: An Archaeology Exhibit at the Forgeman’s House

2022 – $40,000 Rural Maryland Council – Heritage at Work: Blacksmithing Returns to Catoctin Furnace 

2022 – $7,925 TRIPP grant – Critical water treatment and delivery equipment for the ca. 1820 Forgeman’s House B&B 

2022 – $98,000 – Recreational Trail Program (RTP) for The Iron Trail: Connecting the Catoctin Furnace Ruins to the Manor Area of Cunningham Falls State Park

2022 – $100,000 – MHAA Emergency Grant: Only the third owner – Saving a worker house in historic Catoctin Furnace 

2022 – $5,000 HCWHA Mini grant – Windows into the Past: A Clear Visualization of Two Lost Structures in Catoctin Furnace 

2022 – $8,000 Collections Assessment for Preservation (CAP) program grant – Foundation for Advancement in Conservation (FAIC) 

2022 – $25,000 – Delaplaine Foundation: Only the third owner – Saving a worker house in historic Catoctin Furnace 

2022 – $100,000 – Ausherman Family Foundation:  Only the third owner – Saving a worker house in historic Catoctin Furnace 

2022 – $50,000 – France-Merrick Foundation: Restoring the Miller House: A ca. 1820 Home for the Furnace Fellows 

2022 – $10,000 – Visit Frederick- support for 2022 Maryland Iron Festival

2022 – $1750 – PNC – Maryland Iron Festival sponsorship

2023 – $4,209 – Updating and Reprinting the Iron Road Brochure

2023 – $5,955 – Advertising 

2023 – $1,995 – The Maryland Iron Festival: A Marketing and Informational Commercial Highlighting 2022 and enticing visitors and sponsors for 2023 

2022 – $48,686.55 – Frederick County Non-Profit ANCHR

2023 – $100,000 – MHAA Restoring the Miller House: A ca. 1820 Home for the Furnace Fellows

2023 – $314,000 Semi-quincentennial Grant – Stabilizing the Ironmaster’s Mansion

2023 – $291,000 Semi-quincentennial Grant – Environmental Control Infrastructure: Museum of the Ironworker

2023 – $30,000 International Coalition of Sites of Conscience – Subaward from IMLS National Leadership Grant 

2023 – $5,000 HCWHA Mini grant – Virtual reconstruction of the Ironmaster’s Mansion 

2023 – $400,000 – Congressionally Directed Spending funding – Omnibus Spending Bill for Furnace Fellows Program  

2023 – $10,000 – Strengthening the Humanities Investment in Non-Profits for Equity (SHINE) – Maryland Humanities 

2023 – $15,000 – Visit Frederick- support for 2023 Maryland Iron Festival