Historic Preservation Week Proclamation Acceptance Speech by Ralph Rogers at the John C. Hart Library for the Town Board Meeting, May 2, 2000

Thank you Supervisor Cooper and members of the Town Board for recognizing the importance of Historic Preservation Week with a proclamation.

The Yorktown Historical Society is pleased to cosponsor Historic Preservation Week with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. "Taking America's Past into the Future" is the theme of Preservation Week 2000, which is May 14-20.

With our motto, Preserve the Past - Enlighten the Future we have taken Yorktown's past and brought it into the future with our popular web site at www.yorktownhistory.org on the Internet. With over 6,000 visitors to our web site, we are hearing positive feedback to continue our mission of fostering public awareness and pride in preserving Yorktown's historical, agricultural and cultural heritage.

We are proud of our 191 members who make up our all-volunteer organization and encourage the preservation of our history.

We plan to offer

• our local schools a curriculum on Historic Preservation
• our historic homeowners and religious landmark owners a preservation primer from the Preservation League of New York State, and
• our civic leaders A Guide to the New York State Historic Preservation Act, which is now celebrating its 20th anniversary

As part of the week long celebration we will hold a tour of a local landmark - the Amawalk Friends Meeting House - on Saturday, May 20th located at 2467 Quaker Church Road from 1 to 4 p.m.

We will also participate in Community Day with an exhibit on the same day at Downing Park.

After Historic Preservation Week, the Yorktown Historical Society will hold its Annual Meeting on Wednesday, May 24th at Peter Pratt's Inn beginning at 8 p.m. Noted author Gray Williams will present a narrated slide program of buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Westchester.

We will continue to work with organizations, which are willing to further the historic interests of our Town in the overall effort to have "Progress with Preservation."

We invite you to our programs and to visit our web site at www.yorktownhistory.org, and we thank you, again for recognizing Historic Preservation Week.