SRS Heritage Center Coming to downtown Aiken!    
A donor has promised a building in downtown Aiken to be adapted for use as the SRS Heritage Center. The Foundation is moving rapidly to obtain funding required to adapt the building and equip it with exhibits as soon as it becomes available. The Foundation has joined the “Aiken Together" campaign to raise money for capital improvements at the facility once it becomes available. The campaign is designed to raise $2.9 million from individual and business donations pledged over a 5-year period and will be divided between the SRS Heritage Center and two other Aiken museums. No public money will be solicited. The Foundation obtained preliminary design of potential exhibits from Lord-Aeck-Sargent of Atlanta and last year and commissioned additional preliminary designs and cost estimates from The History Workshop of Charleston. An artist’s rendition of a proposed reactor control room is shown. The downtown Aiken location for the SRS Heritage Center does not preclude the option of locating another facility at the Savannah River Site. 

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.