Shady Rest in Scotch Plains Awarded $75,000 in Preservation Funding

SCOTCH PLAINS, NJ -- The Shady Rest Golf and Country Club in Scotch Plains is among 30 African American historic sites receiving a combined total of $3 million in preservation funding from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Established in 1921, Shady Rest was the first Black-owned and operated country club in the nation. It hosted the first American-born professional golfer John Shippen Jr. (1879-1968), a Black man whose father was born into slavery. Black luminaries such as W.E.B. Du Bois and singer Ella Fitzgerald also frequented the club. Funding will support an inclusive master plan to guide preservation and interpretation activities on the property.

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With more than $140 million raised since its founding in 2017, the Action Fund is the largest resource dedicated to the preservation of African American historic places. It has supported 304 Black heritage sites with a total investment of $27M since 2018. This year's grant recipients support historic sites that represent Black American life through modern architecture, education, sports, and Black women's achievement.

"The National Grant Program represents the Action Fund's enduring commitment to telling the full American story - one that makes room for Black resilience, creativity, and achievement," said Brent Leggs, Executive Director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund. "History is crucial to our nation's understanding of where we've come from, who we are today, and how we envision our future. These grants will support critical preservation efforts to revitalize and sustain tangible links to our shared past that we hope will inspire future generations."

This work would not be possible without the Action Fund’s key philanthropic partners who share a commitment to social justice through preservation and education. The Mellon Foundation has been , and several of this year’s grantees will be receiving the financial resources they need to complete capital projects, build organizational capacity, and more as a result of the Mellon Foundation’s contribution of $1.5 million.

“Preserving African American culture is central to preserving and understanding American culture writ large,” said Elizabeth Alexander, President of the Mellon Foundation, a longstanding supporter of the Action Fund and the National Grant Program. "This new suite of Action Fund grants will provide crucial financial and strategic support to sites that further illuminate the Black voices and visions that make up our shared American past. We at Mellon are pleased to support this effort to ensure that all of us can continue to learn and experience these essential histories in our public spaces."

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In addition to the Mellon Foundation, the Action Fund also receives contributions from the Ford Foundation and the Robert D. L. Gardiner Foundation.

This year’s awardees include the second round of Conserving Black Modernism grants, a program designed to protect and promote the work of African American architects. These sites will receive $1.2 million in preservation funding through the Action Fund with support from the Getty Foundation.

With amounts ranging from $50K to $150K, this year’s Action Fund grants will support preservation efforts across four categories:

1. Building Capital: Supporting the restoration and rehabilitation of cultural assets important to Black history
2. Increasing Organizational Capacity: Providing leadership staff positions within nonprofits stewarding Black heritage sites
3. Project Planning and Development: Funding planning activities tied to the development of preservation plans, feasibility studies, historic site reports, National Register designations, and fundraising
4. Programming and Education: Advancing storytelling through public education, exhibits, and creative interpretation

The 2024 National Grant Program Grantees for National Grant Program Grantees :

1. California -- Los Angeles, CA: Alpha Gamma Omega House (Chapter, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority).
2. Georgia -- Thomasville, GA: Imperial Hotel / Jack Hadley Black History Memorabilia, Inc.
3. Georgia -- Midland, GA: Pierce Chapel African Cemetery / Hamilton Hood Foundation.
4. Idaho -- Boise, ID: Erma Hayman House.
5. Illinois -- Chicago, IL: Wabash Avenue YMCA .
6. Kansas -- Bogue, KS: Nicodemus Historical Society & Museum.
7. Kentucky -- Louisville, KY: Chickasaw Park / Louisville Olmsted Parks Conservancy, Inc.
8. Maryland -- Centreville, MD: Kennard High School at the Kennard African American Cultural Heritage Center & Museum.
9. Gaithersburg, MD: Gaithersburg Community Museum.
10. Minnesota -- Minneapolis, MN: Camp Katharine Parsons Nature House.
11. Mississippi -- Jackson, MS: Unita Blackwell Freedom House.
12. Mississippi -- Water Valley, MS: Alonzo Chatmon’s Juke Joint.
13. New Jersey -- Scotch Plains, NJ: Shady Rest Golf and Country Club.
14. New York -- Harlem, NY: New Amsterdam Musical Association Building.
15. New York -- Bronx, NY: Woodlawn Cemetery.
16. New York -- Brooklyn, NY: Lefferts Historic House.
17. Ohio -- Cincinnati, OH: Cincinnati Preservation Association’s “Greater Cincinnati Black and African American Historic Context Study.”
18. Pennsylvania -- Chadds Ford, Kennett Township, PA: Kennett Underground Railroad Center (KURC).
19. South Carolina -- Chester, SC: The Brainerd Institute.
20. Tennessee -- Nashville, TN: George W. Hubbard House of Meharry Medical College.
21. Texas -- Houston, TX: Simms/Gray-Lewis Cottage / Rutherford B.H. Yates Museum.
22. Virginia -- Richmond, VA: The Pine Grove Washington-Rosenwald School.

The 2024 National Grant Program Grantees for Conserving Black Modernism Program :

1. District of Columbia -- The Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard University, DC: Ira Aldridge Theater.
2. District of Columbia -- Masjid Mohammad, Nations Mosque.
3. Georgia -- Atlanta, GA: Claude B. Dansby, Benjamin G. Brawley, and John H. Wheeler Halls at Morehouse College.
4. Mississippi -- West Point, MS: Kenneth G. Neigh Dormitory Complex at the former Mary Holmes Community College.
5. New York -- Buffalo, NY: Robert T. Coles Home and Studio / Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House.
6. New York -- Buffalo, NY: John F. Kennedy Community Center.
7. Tennessee -- Memphis, TN: Universal Life Insurance Company Building.
8. Virginia -- Petersburg, VA: Azurest South, Amaza Lee Meredith Home and Studio.

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