DRAFT AGREEMENT FOR ELLENTON TRAIL RECEIVED

Recent DOE delivery of a draft Real Estate Agreement cleared a major hurdle toward providing escorted tours of the former site of the community of Ellenton.  Ellenton was one of several small rural communities displaced in the early 1950s to make room for the Savannah River Site.  The SRS Heritage Foundation has been planning for years to open the site to escorted walking tours.  Although several details remain to be resolved, receipt of the draft Real Estate agreement is one of the last milestones in the planning process.  The Ellenton Heritage Trail is approaching reality! 

Ellenton Heritage Trail Committee reviewing proposed trail plans

SRS CURATION FACILITY OPENS

A ribbon-cutting ceremony on July 31^st celebrated the opening of the SRS Curation Facility.  Dr. David Moody, DOE-SR Manger, hailed the opening as a milestone in the Cold War Historic Preservation Program at Savannah River.  Dwayne Wilson, SRNS CEO, asserted that the new facility meets the requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and commitments to the South Carolina State Historic Preservation Office and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.   

The new state-of-the-art facility is located in Building 315-M, which was built in 1982 and extensively modified to conform to modern curation standards.  The 27,000-square-foot Facility will preserve and protect artifacts dating from the Ice Age through the Cold War.  These artifacts will be available for scientific research and outreach to the public.      

The South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism recently notified the SRS Heritage Foundation that the Foundation has been awarded a grant of $4,583.33 to finance work on a business plan for the proposed Ellenton Heritage Trail. This grant is in addition to the $15,000 Aiken County Accommodation Tax Grant received several months ago which will be spent to complete design studies for the Trail. These two grants are allowing the Foundation to accelerate work on the Trail and move toward negotiating the lease agreement with the Department of Energy.

SRS Heritage Foundation Receives Grants

The SRS Heritage Foundation was notified in July 2011 it had received two Accommodation Tax Grants from Aiken County. The larger grant of $15,000 will be used to complete the design of exhibits for the proposed Ellenton Heritage Trail. This study will use historical material collected by the Savannah River Archaeological Research Project and the Foundation's Ellenton Trail Committee to develop themes, narratives, and signage for the trail, which will be educational and enjoyable for visitors.

The second grant of $5,000 will allow the Foundation to begin collecting video interviews of people associated with the early days of SRS. These videos of employees and people who lived near the Site in the early 1950s will be archived and used in a video that was requested by local teachers who worked with the Foundation on the video "Displaced".