Opera North Receives $50,000 Grant
from Timken Foundation

Opera North has received a $50,000 grant from Timken Foundation for stabilizing and repairing the historic Charles Beaman farmhouse at Blow-Me-Down Farm, parts of which date to the late 1700s. The funds will advance the project to preserve and renovate Blow-Me-Down Farm for future use as a base for Opera North’s activities.

The project is the result of a partnership agreement signed in 2016 by Opera North and the National Park Service at Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site which owns the farm. Recognized as the place that launched the Cornish Colony, the 42-acre Blow-Me-Down Farm estate in Cornish, overlooking the Connecticut River and Mt. Ascutney, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“The Timken Foundation grant brings Opera North significantly closer to the estimated cost of renovations at the farmhouse,” commented Evans Haile, Opera North Executive Director. “The funds allow us to begin work as soon as possible on stabilizing the building for the winter.”

The preservation and rehabilitation of the historic Beaman farmhouse is being directed by architect R. Andrew Garthwaite, AIA. Phase One of realizing the ON the Farm vision launched earlier this year with a $350,000 commitment from the Northern Border Regional Commission, a Federal-state development partnership in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York. Opera North has also received one of 20 Opera America Innovation grants to work towards the vision of ON the Farm.