Recently, staff from Gray & Pape enjoyed attending the Virginia Solar Summit at the beautiful Altria Theatre in Richmond, Virginia. This amazing networking event included two days of informative presentations and many opportunities to meet others in the solar industry.

In October Chris Polglase and Al Dobbins attended a celebration in Richmond, Virginia announcing the selection of the A/E firm, SmithGroupJJR, for the Lumpkin’s Jail Project. Gray & Pape is honored to be apart of the Project Team commemorating the story of the Lumpkin’s Jail Site.

Photographed is Mayor Dwight C. Jones stressing the importance of confronting and honoring the past. A total of $19 million in state and local funds has been allocated to the Lumpkin’s Jail Project.

For the first time since 1891, Indiana has a statewide inventory of prehistoric mounds and earthworks. Indiana’s Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology worked with multiple partners to secure a grant from the National Park Service. Working under this Preserve America Grant archaeologists from the University of Notre Dame, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, Ball State University, and Gray & Pape conducted statewide research and contributed data to the inventory and report.

In addition to creating a statewide inventory of prehistoric mounds and earthworks, the project also produced a narrative report of the findings and an educational public website. Midwest Regional Manager Beth McCord served as principal investigator for the project.

As part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the National Historic Preservation Act, Preservation50 created a video series, the Making Archaeology Public Project. MAPP will showcase 50 projects, one in each state, which meet the requirements of the NHPA and provide a better understanding about our past.

The project chosen for West Virginia was Willow Island. In 2011 Gray & Pape conducted a deep archaeological excavation through almost 30 feet of stratified cultural deposits. While this excavation is the subject of the video, Gray & Pape also provided close coordination between the agency and project team on Section 106 issues throughout the project. Other services  included agency consultation, archaeological and history/architecture resource identification and assessment, geomorphological testing, indirect affects assessment, and preparation of treatment documents and draft MOA. As part of the implementation of the treatment plan, firm histories completed HAER recordation of the historic lock and dam facility.

View the video to see the excavation as well as learn about the surprising information archaeologists discovered.  Willow Island MAPP Video

While conducting a field survey in early March, one of our field crews stumbled across this abandoned mini golf course in Pennsylvania.

The first American course opened in 1916 in North Carolina. But the oldest mini golf course is actually located at Scotland’s famed St. Andrews. Formed in 1867, the Ladies’ Putting Club of St. Andrews was a members-only green for women golfers.

Whether you call the game putt-putt, mini-golf, and goofy golf, these course have been the site of family fun and first dates for decades.

March 1 marked the annual celebration of Ohio’s Statehood. History and preservation proponents from communities across Ohio celebrated in Columbus at the annual event. Firm President W. Kevin Pape and Marion Werkheiser of Cultural Heritage Partners joined Ohio SHPO and Ohio History Connection staff to celebrate Ohio’s contribution to Preservation50, the 50^th anniversary of the National Historic Preservation Act.

Kevin and Marion also joined staff from the National Park Service for a tour and conversations to support Ohio’s future World Heritage Sites at Hopewell Culture National Historic Park, the Newark Earthworks, and Fort Ancient Archaeological Park.

Principal investigator Brian Mabelitini has been voted to the Board of Directors of the Kentucky Organization of Professional Archaeologists. KyOPA is a group of archaeologists with professional training and an interest in historic preservation throughout the state of Kentucky.  Congratulations Brian!

Gray & Pape is a proud member of LEAP (Leaders in Energy and Preservation). LEAP is a coalition of energy companies and historic preservation groups supporting efficient energy exploration and advancing heritage management. Together we are devising voluntary practices and technological innovations that help energy companies manage risk and protect significant heritage resources such as archaeological sites, historic properties, and sites of cultural importance to indigenous people.

 Our President, W. Kevin Pape, is Chair of LEAP’s Adoption, Implementation, & Assessment (AIA) Working Group. The AIA Working Group includes a community of individual management and operational professionals. This group works together year-round to explore the roles that management decision-making, training, action-modeling, adoption protocols, voluntary compliance, assessment, and monitoring play in achieving internal buy-in from energy companies and associations, preservationists, and public representatives, as they take action and turn the promise of voluntary best practices into reality on-the-ground in communities.

Firm President Kevin Pape was in Washington, DC to support World Heritage designation for three sites in Ohio: Dayton Aviation Sites, Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, and Serpent Mound. Along with other members of the World Heritage Ohio team, he attended the benefit gala to celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of the founding of the United States National Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites. US/ICOMOS is part of a worldwide network of people, institutions, government agencies, and private corporations supporting preservation of our global cultural heritage.