Press Releases

Town of Rockingham, V.T. – Following advocacy by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Representative Becca Balint (VT-At Large), the Town of Rockingham has been awarded $749,983 from the National Park Service to preserve the historic Rockingham Meeting House, a Vermont and New England landmark and rare eighteenth-century meeting house built in 1787. Last year, Sanders also secured $360,000 for the preservation of the Rockingham Meeting House in FY2023 Congressionally Directed Spending funds.

“It’s critical we preserve, restore, and expand accessibility of our historic landmarks so every Vermonter and people visiting New England can enjoy historic places like the Old Rockingham Meeting House for generations to come. The Meeting House is one of the oldest structures in Vermont and an early site of Town Meeting Day – it’s a symbol of our democratic process. The impacts of climate change have taken a toll on the Old Rockingham Meeting House, which is why this funding is so urgent,” said the Vermont Congressional Delegation.   

This funding from the National Park Service will restore interior plaster and exterior wood deterioration, and exterior siding and trim. The meeting house was a gathering place for church services and Town Meeting Day. It fell into disuse until the town restored it in 1906. Since 1911, the Old Rockingham Meeting House Association has been dedicated to the preservation of the building and its history. Contemporary restoration efforts began in 2022. 

The Rockingham Meeting House is owned by the Town of Rockingham and is nationally significant as a rare and unaltered eighteenth-century New England meeting house of the Second Period type. The Meeting House is on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of only 18 Historic National Landmarks in Vermont.  

The NPS’ Semiquincentennial Grant announcement includes the Old Rockingham Meeting House and 18 additional preservation projects to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. 

The Vermont Congressional Delegation urged the National Park Service to support the restoration of the Rockingham Meeting House in February.  

View a digital version of this release.  

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