The National Trust for Historic Preservation has endorsed Bath High School Preservation and its effort to restore and preserve the former Bath High School building with a $2,000 challenge grant to be used for architectural planning, according to BHSP.

“Without organizations like Bath High School Preservation, communities and towns all across America would have a diminished sense of place,” said Stephanie Weeks, NTHP president. “The National Trust for Historic Preservation is honored to provide a grant to Bath High School Preservation, which will use the funds to help preserve an important piece of our shared heritage.”

Jimmy Edwards, BHSP president and spokesman for the organization, said the grant was awarded specifically to develop architectural plans for restoring the original portico to the school’s gymnasium and the south wing of the school. He said discussions are under way with the Friends of the Bath Library to convert the ground floor of the south wing into a new home for the library. He said moving the library into the school would triple the library’s existing space of 750 square feet.

Weeks said the grant was made possible, in part, by the Terence L. Mills Memorial Preservation Services Fund for North and South Carolina.

“We are deeply grateful for the National Trust’s endorsement and its grant,” Edwards said. “The Trust is the most important force for preservation in America; and we are delighted that its board agrees with us that restoring Bath High School is essential to preserving the historic, village-like charm of North Carolina’s oldest town.”

Bath High School graduated its last class in 1989. When some of its graduates and preservationists learned in 2005 that the Beaufort County Board of Education seeking bids to demolish the former school, they formed Bath High School Preservation.

The organization has since grown to 236 dues-paying members. Recently, it announced plans to begin a major restoration effort this summer and fall that will include replacing the school’s roof, restoring the gymnasium portico and repairing windows and entryways.