Bridge to History Campaign

Preservation is the hardest work of our Historical Society.  Each property holds unique historical value, with varying maintenance needs, upkeep costs, preservation considerations, and use goals. 

Jennie Munger Gregory Museum at Grandview is a testament to the ingenuity of Ashtabula County.  This lakefront historical home in Geneva on the Lake was the first frame structure on Ashtabula County’s lakeshore and eventual home of Jenny Munger Gregory.  After the death of her husband, Mrs. Gregory entered the hospitality business, operating a boarding house at Grandview for forty years.  The property now serves as a house museum and research library for Ashtabula County history and genealogy.  Once famous for its parties and sprawling acreage, the Museum loses multiple feet of lakeshore to Lake Erie each year.

Blakeslee Log Cabin was built in 1810 and served as a homesite for multiple Ashtabula County families until it was purchased by ACHS and is one of the few remaining early log cabin structures built in the Western Reserve of Connecticut.  Now serving as a museum, education center, and event space, the Log Cabin requires restoration and repair to several property structures, such as the Spring House, the Ravine Boardwalk, and the Outhouse.

Joshua Reed Giddings Law Office is a National Historic Landmark and served as the law office for Joshua Giddings, Congressman in the United States House of Representatives from 1838 to 1859.  Giddings was famously censured from the House for defending enslaved mutineers and was forced to resign in 1842, only to be immediately re-elected by his constituents.  As the Giddings Law Office celebrates its 200^th anniversary in 2023, the Museum carries considerable preservation expenses, and will require historically accurate restoration for its shutters and other exterior surfaces in the coming years.