COLRAIN — If all goes well, the town-owned Pitt House will soon belong to the Colrain Historical Society — leaving the society to raise money for an ADA-compliant wheelchair ramp and other improvements needed to re-open the 1840s home.
The Selectboard offered the Pitt House to the society this week, breaking a long impasse between the two boards over what to do with the building that was intended to serve as a town museum. Last year, a structural evaluation of the home indicated that between $84,000 to $120,000 of repairs would be needed for the building to be fully open as a museum. A second study found that renovations could be done in gradual stages, with limited occupancy in the house and in some of the buildings.
The Selectboard wanted a business plan from the Historical Society that would include how it was going to finance the needed improvements, and the society was concerned about fundraising for renovations on a building it didn’t own.
This summer, the Selectboard closed all the buildings on the Pitt House property, because they don’t have occupancy permits.
The Selectboard had considered selling the property and moving the historic objects within it to another site; however, the homestead was left to the town by the late Historical Society founder G. William Pitt, on the condition that it be used as a town history museum run by the society.
After hearing of the board’s decision, Historical Society President Belden Merims, said, “We feel what you’ve done is the best of the possible outcomes. So we’re grateful for this.”
The Historical Society will be voting on whether to accept the gift at its next meeting, but Merims was confident there would be “no likelihood” of objection.
The next step would be to get town approval for the property transfer at a town meeting — possibly at a special town meeting this fall. Then the town will need to go through probate court to get approval to break the trust established in Pitt’s will.
“Do you feel the Historical Society has enough money to own, maintain and operate that building,” asked Selectman Jack Cavolick.
“It will be a challenge to raise money, but we also hope to increase our membership,” Merims replied.
As a nonprofit group, the Historical Society wouldn’t have all the restrictions that are placed on town-owned property — such as paying prevailing wage for building work, Selectwoman Eileen Sauvageau pointed out.
In recent years, the Pitt House has not been open to the public, and the Historical Society has been holding history lectures and programs in the Stacy Barn, which was built in the 1990s.
Pitt, a theater buff, willed the property to the town for use as the headquarters of the Colrain Historical Society and as an historical museum. In 1976, town meeting voters unanimously accepted the property.