Mission Farm has kicked off its 2019 Rehabilitation Campaign with a $27,000 challenge grant from the Healthy Living Fund. The grant will cover half the costs of this year’s rehabilitation work for two of the historic structures at this National Historic Site in Killington. This is the second year the HLF has offered Mission Farm a matching grant.
“We are exceedingly grateful and give heartfelt thanks for the HLF’s continuing support of our rehabilitation campaign and for the foundation’s incredible generosity. This investment in our legacy and our future will inspire others to contribute,” said The Rev. Canon Lee Crawford, Vicar of Church of Our Saviour at Mission Farm.
Thanks to over 90 supporters of Mission Farm, last year’s rehabilitation campaign successfully raised a little over $80,000, including $30,000 from the HLF. The most critical work accomplished last year focused on putting the 1817 Vicarage back on a solid foundation and fixing drainage problems, so little is visible to passers-by.
This year’s rehabilitation project will be much more visible. It focuses on restoring the deteriorating exteriors of the Vicarage and Heminway Guest House. Both buildings will have their exterior wood siding, building trim and window trim repaired or replaced (as necessary) and painted. Two windows will be replaced in Heminway House, and a structural engineering study of its west wall will be performed to develop a plan for any needed remedial measures. The rehabilitation campaign goal is $55,000, of which $27,000 will be covered by the Healthy Living Fund challenge grant.
Mission Farm is nestled on over 170 acres in between the Ottauquechee River Valley and the tree-filled mountainside along the eastern flats of Route 4 in Killington. The property is home to the stone gothic revival style Church of Our Saviour, built in 1895 by Elizabeth Wood Clement on the site of her father’s homestead. She gifted the entire property to the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont. It is also home to Clement’s childhood home (the Josiah Wood House, c. 1817), Heminway Guest House (formerly a carriage house, c. 1840), gardens, fields and trails.
Today the congregation is doing more than just restoring its historic buildings. It is building new partnerships with the community by offering this bucolic setting as a place for unique social, educational, spiritual, artistic and land-based activities. The Heminway Guest house regularly hosts non-profit groups for spiritual and recreational retreats, and it offers emergency short-term housing for those in need. In collaboration with the Killington Pico Area Association and Killington Recreation Department, Mission Farm is home to the weekly Killington Farmers Market. The church still holds weekly Sunday Services at 9:30 a.m., and as it has for generations, a place for the greater Killington community to experience life milestones like Christenings, weddings, funerals and other blessings.
Those who value the beauty and memories of Mission Farm, now have an opportunity to help ensure the use of these buildings for future generations. The Healthy Living Fund will match donations to the 2019 Rehabilitation Fund dollar to dollar up to $27,000. For more information, contact Sue Durant, Senior Warden, at cosvt@vermontel.net or 802-422-9064.
