May is Preservation Month

Many good causes have a day, a week, or even a month, to raise awareness and celebrate accomplishments. Those who love old buildings, neighborhoods, and downtowns, and work to save the places that matter to them have Preservation Month in May. What a fitting time, with new growth and life all around us during spring, to celebrate the new life and rejuvenation that historic preservation projects can bring to communities. (May is also Mental Health Month....maybe you sometimes need to be a little crazy to try and save historic places.) Preservation is about the past, but first and foremost it is about the present and future, providing folks today with creative and unique places to live, work, worship, and relax, and giving future generations those same opportunities.

The theme for Preservation Month this year is Celebrating America’s Treasures. Here in South Carolina, the State Historic Preservation Office created a poster that features some of South Carolina’s very own treasures that have been recognized as National Historic Landmarks. The poster can be viewed online at http://shpo.sc.gov/. (For more information about NHLs see http://www.nps.gov/history/nhl/.)

So during this most beautiful of months, remember Preservation Month. Take a moment to look around your community to see its historic treasures…both the diamonds in the rough that may need some repairs, and those that are sparkling and well-cared for. Thank those owners and leaders who are dedicated to the good stewardship of these treasures. We are all the richer for their presence…the buildings and the people who care for them.