Goshen historic preservation process goes before council

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Goshen historic preservation process goes before council

by Sebastian Montes | Staff Writer

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The nearly six-year project to designate four buildings in Goshen for historic preservation has come one step closer to fruition after a County Council public hearing Tuesday night.

If approved, the ‘‘Damascus-Goshen Amendment” to the county’s historic master plan would add 23 properties and a district would be added to the 394 individual sites and 20 districts already catalogued.

Tuesday’s public hearing, which occurred after The Gazette’s press time, clears the way for transmittal to a County Council subcommittee on June 23. From there it goes to the full council for final approval, said Clare Kelly, a historic planner with the county Planning Board.

Historic designation makes homeowners subject to more stringent regulations in making modifications and opens the opportunity for tax incentives in making repairs.

The four Goshen structures — The Black and White Inn, the Wightman House, the Sarah Posey House and the Benson House — have ties to Prathertown, a ‘‘kinship community” that dates back to a group of freed slaves who bought 7 acres of land along Wightman Road in 1883. Descendants of the Prather family still live there.

The Goshen Historical Preservation Society has lobbied for the historic designation, and wants to convert the Black and White Inn into a museum of the upcounty’s African American history.

‘‘Prathertown is one of the oldest African-American communities left,” said Joanne Atay, co-chairwoman of the society. ‘‘There just aren’t that many communities left. It has a rich history. It’s hard for communities like that to survive, in light of development.”