Historic North Leverett Sawmill seeks $391K for vital repairs

LEVERETT — Various structural repairs to the North Leverett Sawmill, work that needs to be done to ensure the witness property to the American Revolution remains standing, could depend on action by annual Town Meeting next month.

The Friends of the North Leverett Sawmill is seeking $391,372 from the Community Preservation Act account to do the stabilizing work at the site at the corner of North Leverett and Cave Hill roads.

The work proposed entails reinforcing, replacing and adding support masonry, beams, piers and posts on which the sawmill sits, and improving the framing, sub-floor joists and metal support members and beams on the stone foundations, which hold up the lower and upper floors.

The Community Preservation Committee recently endorsed the spending so that it can be presented to voters May 2.

Susan Lynton, treasurer for the Friends group, said the CPA money is necessary before embarking on other work at the building that would allow for future adaptive reuse.

“It is very critical,” Lynton said.

Inside the 81-foot by 29-foot, post-and-beam building, on fieldstone foundations, the main saw remained functioning until the late 1990s. Besides dating back to before the American Revolution, the sawmill sawed the long wooden keels used as minesweepers during World War II.

The sawmill’s future, once the historic rehabilitation is complete, will enable education, community events and a gathering space. It is large enough for theater and musical productions, as well as possibly having movable walls for art and permanent collections.

Structures North of Great Barrington, the consultants hired using a portion of a $683,500 grant from the Historic Preservation Fund administered by the National Park Service, determined the building, without these improvements, could be susceptible to collapse should it be hit by a straight-line wind.

“We didn’t know it was so structurally unsound,” Lynton said

Construction estimates were then prepared by AM Fogarty & Associates of Hingham, which uses structural specifications compliant with historic preservation standards. Managing the construction process is Clark Green + Bek, of Great Barrington and Foresight Engineering of Pittsfield.

The Friends group will enter into a contract with the town, should the money be appropriated.

“While it seems a lot of money, we have other grants that are specific for other things,” Lynton said.

In addition to community donors and support from local banks, and the National Park Service money, the Friends received a $196,000 capital grant from the Mass Cultural Council to support adding a new well, septic, and bathrooms, and is seeking $448,560 for dam repairs from the MassReady Act. Portions of the National Park Service grant can be used for new floors and windows, but not the stabilization.

Lynton said the hope is residents will see the value in the project.

“It’s on the town seal, it’s our town icon,” Lynton said.

The sawmill is also next to a mill pond that is a source of water for firefighters, who recently used that to battle a nearby house fire.

Over the past few years, the Heritage Park & Nature Trails have been built adjacent to the sawmill and feature learning boards along the walks, with a half-mile loop trail funded by $82,082 from the town’s Community Preservation Act account. That is a history of the mills that once dotted the landscape.

Built just before the Revoluionary War, Joseph Slarrow, who first owned the building, was a lieutenant in the Continental Army and later captain during that war.

It was sold in 1779 to Major Richard Montague, who fought in the French and Indian Wars and later served under George Washington.