BUCKLAND — The Historical Commission is seeking $12,500 from voters at the May 3 Annual Town Meeting to match a grant from the Massachusetts Historical Commission for a project surveying historical sites in town.

If voters approve the grant match, the town will receive $12,500 from the Massachusetts Historical Commission to support hiring an architectural and historic planning consultant who can help Buckland update its existing historical site records and get more town sites on the state’s historic registry.

“Since the commission’s inception, we’ve accumulated 215 historic sites, including houses, barns, bridges, churches and other historic sites, but they’re not all included on the historic site registry,” said Buckland Historical Commission Chair David Parrella. “A lot of the work was done by volunteers on pens and paper, and it was recorded and digitized the best they could, but a lot of the work was not up to the standards of the Department of the Interior.”

The Buckland Historical Commission was formed in the 1970s and has identified hundreds of sites of historic and cultural significance in town since then. However, many of the old handwritten records do not meet current requirements for the historic site registry. With help from the Massachusetts Historical Commission’s Survey and Planning Grant Program, the town should be able to update the reports to meet current standards for the Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System (MACRIS) database, which feeds into the National Register of Historic Places.

Parrella said this work would look at the architectural style of the building or site, who was the architect and when it was built. If there were additions or renovations, the surveying work would consider the sequence of construction, as well as review historical records indicating each site’s significance and any other observations.

With hundreds of sites, and only limited funding and time to complete the work, Buckland won’t be able to complete enough reports to get all its historic sites on the state database. The Buckland Historical Commission will work with the consultant and seek public input to determine which sites to prioritize.

Parrella said he would like to see the Mary Lyon Church included in the work as it is still in good condition on Upper Street and has ties to Mary Lyon, the founder of Mount Holyoke College and a pioneer in women’s education.

“It’s sitting up here in lovely condition and I’d like to get more attention on it,” he said.

Parrella added that the work can only look at historic sites; “pre-historic” sites from before the town was settled will not be included. Historical sites with Indigenous significance have a separate registry with different guidelines for inclusion, he noted.

The town Historical Commission hopes to be awarded additional grants in the future to continue the work and look at even more sites.

Reach Madison Schofield at 413-930-4579 or mschofield@recorder.com.