The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation has awarded a grant of $125,525 to the Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society to go toward the historic Sands-Willets House in Port Washington, the society reported Wednesday.
The six-figure grant will be used for a front porch restoration that will provide accessibility to the home in a historically correct renovation.
Among the things, the funds will pay for are the addition of a modern access ramp to allow entry to all, including those with wheelchairs and strollers. Historic house tours, exhibitions, lectures, and other activities will soon be able to be enjoyed by everyone, according to Chris Bain, president of the Historical Society.
“This long-overdue project, made possible by the support of the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, will enable everyone in the surrounding communities and beyond to freely visit our historic house and, once there, get a deeper understanding of our fascinating local history,” Bain said in a statement.
The Sands-Willets House, whose western side was built in 1735 by John Sands III, had a front porch added in the 1850s when its new owner, Edmund Willets, enlarged the home in Greek-Revival style. A member of the Willets family would sell the house to the society in 1967, and the society has taken care of it since then, using it as a museum, education center, and exhibition center.
According to the society, the house has been undergoing updates since the purchase, with restorations including its colonial kitchen and 19th-century ceilings, plus the additions of an electrical system overhaul, an air conditioning system, a heating system, and repainting of the outside.
The house’s prominence was later recognized when it was placed on both the New York State and National Registers of Historic Places, and it is currently featured as a historical site on the New York State Revolutionary War Heritage Trail.
