RADFORD — Glencoe Mansion is getting quite a gift this year in celebration of its 150-year anniversary.
In response to a preservation grant application, the Radford Heritage Foundation, which operates Glencoe, and the City of Radford will receive $225,000 in federal funding from the National Park Service’s Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grants Program.
Virginia’s Department of Historic Resources recommended funding for three projects, including Glencoe Mansion as well as the Rex Theater in Galax and the Sidna Allen House in Carroll County. According to the Historic Resources Department, 31 preapplications were received and eventually narrowed to 16 full applications. All three historic landmark finalists will receive $225,000 as part of the special funding for southwest Virginia.
The project for Glencoe will address prevention of water infiltration, the repair of damages to exterior trim and interior plasterwork.
“These much-needed repairs will place the building in good standing for the future and will lay the groundwork for the installation of period details such as wallcoverings and appropriate finishes,” said Museum Director Scott Gardner.
The plan for the museum will also reconfigure the existing rear entry to the building into the universal entrance for all visitors to the museum. The improvements to this section will indicate to visitors that the museum is able to handle the physical needs of a wider group of individuals. It will also allow for the redevelopment of the restrooms at the site to make them fit current accessibility standards.
Glencoe Mansion was the home of Gen. Gabriel C. Wharton and his wife Nannie Radford Wharton and a century of descendants. Wharton descendant Sue Heth Bell has just donated an incredible collection of 1,233 historic family documents to Virginia Tech’s Special Collections. The documents include the letters featured in the 2022 publication “The Whartons’ War: The Civil War Correspondence of General Gabriel C. Wharton and Anne Radford Wharton, 1863-1865”, which is available for purchase in the gift shop.
