Courtesy Bud Gurney
Volunteers gather to an old-fashion barn-raising event at historic Waters Farm.
One of the critical roles that the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor Commission performs throughout the valley is that of a facilitator of preservation projects. The national significance of the BlackstoneValley is its authentic and heavy concentration of the mill village landscape: the mill surrounded by company owned mill housing settled along the banks of the primary water source with a church and company store, and even a baseball field - all major ingredients of the mill village landscape. Maintaining the authenticity of this landscape requires strong partnerships with private as well as non-profit organizations, local, state and federal agencies.
The Heritage Corridor Commission cannot own nor purchase any land or buildings with the corridor to due to its congressional authorization. Our role is one of facilitator and catalyst to promote good preservation practices and strong partnerships to preserve this historic landscape. While the Corridor Commission works with specific historic sites and communities, we also focus our activities and energies to promote the nationally significant landscape throughout the bi-state region of the Blackstone.
