Bellefonte Historical and Cultural Association
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania
Minutes of Past Meetings

 

BHCA Home | Meetings Page

October 24, 7 PM
Bellefonte Art Museum

Present: Romayne Naylor, Vice-President , Jim Dunne, Secretary, Joann & Dick Knupp, Gay Dunne, Jeanne Newlin, Sally Houser, True Fisher, Colina Seeley, Gary & Susan Hoover, Joseph Griffin, Melady Kehm. Philip Ruth, Julia Kasdorf, Mary Vollero, Nancy Miller, Teresa Stouffer, Patrick North.

A quorum was in attendance as defined by the BHCA bylaws.

Minutes - Minutes of 9/12/14 were approved (Sally, Joseph).

Treasurer’s Report (Dave Eggler) -  Click here to view the report. Treasurer report approved (Gary, True).

Committee Reports:

Summer Sounds (Nancy): Still need committee members.

Sunday Afternoons at the Library: November 9, 2:30 PM, Revamped Duo: Mark & Sally Minnich, violins

Gallery at the Gamble Mill: OFF THE WALL - 3 Dimensional Art, through Jan. 10, 2015.

Bellefonte Victorian Christmas December 12-14 (Sally): New website, same address, easier to navigate (click here for the website). The Gala will be held Friday, Dec. 5 at Celebration Hall. There are five homes on the home tour. The Dickens Troupe (10 members) will return for Fri. - Sunday. There is a corporate sponsor - North Shore Railroad.

Poetry (Julia, Colina, Teresa): November 21, Julia Kasdorf : Poems from the fracking fields (7:30PM at Bellefonte Art Museum). The committee is working on new dates for next season.. The last Friday of the month will not be available.

Old House Fair - See Melady’s attached report. Tentative date: October 23 & 24, 2015. Preservation PA may help with a high tech pre-workshop conference on Friday afternoon.

Historic Preservation Committee. Garman Piano (Sally): A Lexington Boston player piano 1900-05. Company will give a restoration cost estimate. It was recommended that all artifacts removed from the Garman be photographed.  Sally mentioned that HBI has facade grant money.

Talleyrand Park & Edible Landscape Garden Committees (True). The mudsill project in the Park has been completed. The Talleyrand Park Committee of the Bellefonte Historical & Cultural Association has been selected to receive a 2014 Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation from the Board of Governors of the Centre County Historical Society to be presented Sunday, November 9, 3PM, at the PennState/Centre County Visitor Center. We were nominated by Kitty Wunderly. Jim will write Kitty a thank you letter. Congratulations to True and the Talleyrand Park Committee.

Board of Directors Meeting Report - The report led to a discussion of BHCA membership. Colina emphasized the need for new and younger members. Suggestions: meetings in public places rather than private residences; social events; an outreach group; get the meeting dates into various calendars. An outreach committee was formed with Susan Hoover and Patrick North as co-chairs.

Slate of Candidates from the nominating committee President - Romayne Naylor; Vice-President - Keith Koch; Secretary - Jim Dunne; Treasurer - Dave Eggler

Elections: The Bylaws designate a meeting in October as the annual meeting at which time all officers are elected; Board of Directors elections will be held next year. Elections were held. There were no nominations for the floor. The nominations and election were unanimous. Appreciation was expressed for our recent presidents Keith Koch, JoAnn Knupp and Romayne Naylor.

New Business:

Chamber Visitors Guide ad - Jim showed the ad that will appear in the Bellefonte Intervalley Area Chamber 2015 Visitors & Information Guide.

Silk Mill Section 106 review - BHCA is a consulting party to the review. The Historical Preservation Committee (Jeanne Newlin, chair, Joanne Tosti-Vasey, JoAnn Knup, Sally Houser, Gay Dunne, Romayne Naylor, Philip Ruth, Dave Kurtz, Nancy Perkins, Jim Dunne) was assigned the task. The date of the review has not been set. It was recommended that the committee consult with Erin Hammerstedt of Preservation PA.

Coordinated arts email. We had a brief discussion of a coordinated email announcing various Bellefonte arts events. Constant Contact or similar service is one possible approach.

Train Station repairs (Gary) - The Borough will fix drainage problems and repoint the bricks.

Curtin Village (Julia) - Julia brought to our attention the deteriorating condition of Curtin Village, the last coal-fired furnace in the U.S. It may be closed by the State. The Centre County Historical Society has worked on it and we should check with Jackie Melander. Several ideas were presented: an Eagle Scout project; a high school preservation group; social media groups set up by the kids; Michelle Saylor at the HS might be a resource.

Next BHCA Meeting: Thursday, November 20 at the Bellefonte Arts Museum (to be confirmed)

Jim Dunne

Secretary