Colebrookdale Railroad awarded $176,470 grant
The National Endowment for the Humanities awarded a $176,470 grant to the Colebrookdale Railroad tourist attraction to create a multimedia educational program on the history of the railroad.
Colebrookdale Railroad provides a 9-mile ride through scenic cliffs and valleys from Boyertown to Pottstown.
The tourist attraction closed in March following the outbreak of the coronavirus. A reopening date has not yet been determined.
The grants were available to help educational and cultural programs recover during the pandemic.
Nathaniel Guest, executive director of the Colebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust, said the train will reopen but not immediately when Berks and Montgomery counties move to the green phase Friday.
“We are being cautious,” Guest said. “We will not only survive, we will thrive.”
The grant will fund salaries and supplies to create a virtual and onsite Rails of Revolution program to educate children in grades three to eight.
“We are humbled and honored to receive NEH funding to support our humanities work and keep our education and humanities staff employed during this difficult time,” Guest said.
Guest said the railroad is partnering with Cornell University to translate the project into multiple languages.
“We are humbled and honored to receive NEH funding to support our humanities work and keep our education and humanities staff employed during this difficult time.”
He said the grant also will support the expansion of summer restoration internship positions.
The grant was one of 317 awarded amounting to $40 million.
The National Endowment for the Humanities received 2,300 applications for grants amounting to $370 million.
“Over the past few months, we have witnessed tremendous financial distress at cultural organizations across the country, which have been compelled to furlough staff, cancel programs and reduce operations to make up for revenue shortfalls caused by the pandemic,” said Jon Parrish Peede, NEH chairman.
Peede said the grants will help preserve thousands of jobs at museums, archives, historic sites, and colleges and universities that are vital to our nation’s cultural life and economy.