Chesapeake Gateways Partner Profile: Preservation Maryland

Preservation Maryland is the oldest and largest philanthropic preservation organization in Maryland. For more than 90 years, Preservation Maryland has worked “creatively to preserve place, affect policy change, and grow the historic preservation workforce so that Maryland’s history can be enjoyed for untold generations to come.” Preservation Maryland and the National Park Service's Chesapeake Gateways have established a cooperative partnership to advance key historic conservation projects in Chesapeake Gateways communities. Chesapeake Gateways and Preservation Maryland’s first project is the Burtis House, the last historic waterman’s home on the Annapolis waterfront. The Burtis House was identified by the community as a priority for preservation, resiliency, and adaptive reuse within the larger Annapolis City Dock Action Plan.

The Burtis House in Annapolis, Maryland.

Preservation Maryland

The first phase of the Burtis House project is stabilization. NPS historic structures resiliency planning, which includes engineering, designing, permitting, and implementation of lifting the Burtis House in place up out of the regular flood waters, will safeguard the building from coastal flooding and 'mothball' the structure and spaces of the Burtis House. Also included in phase one is a public education component, which highlights the history of the site and the Chesapeake region’s maritime heritage and other relevant themes. Archeologists will conduct investigations and propose additional phases of investigation and data recovery, should further investigation be warranted.

Once the in-progress transfer of ownership from the State to the City of Annapolis is complete, other signature historic conservation, resiliency, and adaptive reuse projects may be identified in the years ahead. Chesapeake Gateways, Preservation Maryland, and other Chesapeake Gateways Communities Initiative constituencies are committed to moving forward to preserve the legacy and history of Maryland’s Annapolis City Dock. The Burtis House project is a key component of the larger revitalization and resiliency plans for City Dock and a testament to the importance of collaboration between local, state, and federal entities.