PAWV
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    • About Preserve WV
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    • Advocacy >
      • Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits
    • Annual Awards
    • Blair Footsteps Interpretive Trail
    • Historic Masonry Workshop
    • Historic Wood Window Preservation Workshop
    • West Virginia Endangered Properties >
      • West Virginia Endangered Properties List >
        • Endangered Properties Blog
        • Saved Sites
        • Lost or Archived Sites
    • West Virginia Historic Preservation Conference
    • Webinars >
      • Webinar Archive
    • West Virginia Historic Theatre Trail >
      • Movie Theatres of West Virginia
    • WV New Deal Trail
  • Resources
    • Fund Your Preservation Project >
      • Historic Preservation Loan Fund
      • Saving Historic Places Grant
    • Consultants and Contractors
    • Preservation Techniques >
      • Historic Building Assessment
      • How to Recycle Asbestos
      • Mothballing Property
      • Window Rehabilitation
    • Frances Benjamin Johnston: A West Virginia Icon >
      • Selected Photos
      • Behind the Lens Activity
    • Historic Preservation Degrees
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    • Preservation Spotlights
    • Monthly E-newsletter
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    • About Us >
      • Our Team
      • Our Story
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    • #GivingTuesday
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Our Story

Preservation Alliance of West Virginia serves as the statewide grassroots organization dedicated to the support and promotion of historic preservation.

With a commitment to preserve our unique cultural heritage, PAWV and its members work to save our past for the future, supporting and promoting historic preservation through education & outreach, advocacy, preservation tools, and heritage tourism.
In September 1981, a group of dedicated volunteers established the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia (PAWV).  Founding members of PAWV included Dr. Barbara Howe, Ralph Pedersen, Eugene Harper, Jeanne Doughty, Dr. Emory Kemp, and Beverly Fluty.  These volunteers were determined to build interest in, knowledge about, and legislative support for historic preservation through grassroots advocacy, education, and outreach. Officially incorporated the following year, the organization quickly began making significant, positive contributions to the preservation of West Virginia’s vast, proud heritage.

With similar goals in mind as were in 1981, PAWV continues to build on the original insight of its founding members.  The organization continues to grow and focuses on how historic preservation can be a tool for economic and community development throughout our Mountain State.
Picture: Darden House - Elkins, WV

Timeline of Significant PAWV Milestones:

1984 – Published Preservation Sourcebook for West Virginians and created a traveling exhibit showcasing West Virginia success stories that traveled all over West Virginia.

1987 -  Played a role in restructuring the different state agencies that ultimately came to fall under the Division of Culture and History.

1991 and 1997 - Successfully lobbied for the passage of business and residential tax credits for preservation at the state level. The first West Virginia History Day was held in 1997, and also that year, PAWV published a booklet called Economic Benefits of Preservation. This was the first manifestation of what has become a staple of PAWV’s platform: the direct link between economic development, tourism, and preservation.

2003 - West Virginia Cultural Heritage Tourism program became a focal point for PAWV under the guidance of Program Coordinator Martha Ballman.

2005 –Hired its first full-time executive director and the organization began planning a series of home repair and preservation workshops.

2009 – Hired its first full-time statewide field services representative, revived the West Virginia Endangered Properties Program, and held the first annual historic preservation awards banquet.

​2013 – Began the Preserve WV AmeriCorps statewide service program with 11 AmeriCorps members at sites including Adaland Mansion, Wheeling National Heritage Area, Main Street Morgantown, Main Street Fairmont, and the Old Hemlock Foundation.

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Programs

  • June 2022 E-News
  • Saving Historic Places Grant
  • Preserve WV AmeriCorps
  • Advocacy
  • ​Preservation Awards
  • Endangered Properties List
  • Conferences
  • Historic Preservation Loan Fund
  • WV Historic Theatre Trail
  • WV Historic New Deal Trail


Contact Us

Preservation Alliance of West Virginia
​421 Davis Avenue, #4  |  Elkins, WV 26241
​Email: info@pawv.org
Phone: 304-345-6005
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Organizational Partners:
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© COPYRIGHT 2022 - PRESERVATION ALLIANCE OF WEST VIRGINIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • AmeriCorps
    • About Preserve WV
    • Current Preserve WV Members
    • Join Preserve WV AmeriCorps
    • Preserve WV Stories
    • Sponsor a Member
  • Programs
    • Advocacy >
      • Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits
    • Annual Awards
    • Blair Footsteps Interpretive Trail
    • Historic Masonry Workshop
    • Historic Wood Window Preservation Workshop
    • West Virginia Endangered Properties >
      • West Virginia Endangered Properties List >
        • Endangered Properties Blog
        • Saved Sites
        • Lost or Archived Sites
    • West Virginia Historic Preservation Conference
    • Webinars >
      • Webinar Archive
    • West Virginia Historic Theatre Trail >
      • Movie Theatres of West Virginia
    • WV New Deal Trail
  • Resources
    • Fund Your Preservation Project >
      • Historic Preservation Loan Fund
      • Saving Historic Places Grant
    • Consultants and Contractors
    • Preservation Techniques >
      • Historic Building Assessment
      • How to Recycle Asbestos
      • Mothballing Property
      • Window Rehabilitation
    • Frances Benjamin Johnston: A West Virginia Icon >
      • Selected Photos
      • Behind the Lens Activity
    • Historic Preservation Degrees
  • News
    • Preservation Spotlights
    • Monthly E-newsletter
  • Contact
    • About Us >
      • Our Team
      • Our Story
  • Give
    • Become a Member of PAWV
    • Give Online
    • Ways to Give to PAWV
    • #GivingTuesday
    • Volunteer