STRAFFORD — Justin Morrill Homestead will be closed this summer as the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation undertakes a much-needed water management and drainage project in Strafford.

The roughly $500,000 project has been in the works for awhile, and in 2021, the division was awarded a Save America’s Treasures Grant through the National Parks Service to put toward it, said State Historic Preservation Officer Laura Trieschmann.

“It is a monumental project for us at this site,” she said.

Morrill represented Vermont in both the U.S. House of Representatives and then the U.S. Senate for more than 40 years. His home became a state historic site in 1969.

Over the years, water running down the hillside property has damaged Morrill’s historic Gothic Revival Mansion, which he built in 1851, and has weakened the stone foundation.

Water continues to seep into the house, leading to repeated repairs to the stone foundation, plaster and woodwork.

“Now we realize repairing repeatedly is not helping,” Trieschmann said.

In some ways, the approach Morrill took to designing the property in the mid-1800s has contributed to the issues it is experiencing today. A pond he built toward the top of the hill in order to be able to harvest ice in the winter has led to water runoff. He also created an extensive system of underground culverts to move water to the gardens and agricultural lands, and to feed the property’s animals.

“There’s a lot of underground cavities where water can come down freely rather than through the soils,” Trieschmann said. “We don’t have it all mapped.”

Part of the project calls for mapping the culverts and later sharing the findings with the public once the grounds reopen.

“It’s a plan to keep all of that intact,” Trieschmann said.

Funding and plans for the work were still being finalized when flooding at the site from rainstorms in July 2023 underscored the need for the work. That summer, an unnamed tributary of the Ompompanoosuc River caused extensive underground flooding, which was initially thought to be mostly contained to the basement of the site’s education center.

Flood waters destroyed and damaged materials belonging to the Friends of the Morrill Homestead — a nonprofit organization that hosts programs at the state-owned site — and the Strafford Historical Society, which stored archival material in the basement.

State officials further studied the site and realized the damage was more widespread.

“The flooding actually exacerbated the work that was needed and really highlighted the drainage failures at the site,” Trieschmann said.

The site remained closed for the majority of the 2023 season — opening briefly for a handful of days in late September and early October so that staff and volunteers could work on the gardens. It reopened in 2024 after repairs were made. Plans for the water management and drainage project resumed and should be completed by the end of the 2025, allowing the homestead to reopen next year.

This year’s closure puts the Friends of Morrill Homestead in a bind: The nonprofit organization will not be able to host its annual slate of roughly 20 programs, including summer camps, story times and its annual 19th Century Apple & Cheese Harvest Festival.

“We do regret not being able to serve the families and the children,” said Kumari Patricia, director of the Friends of The Morrill Homestead.

The board is hoping to offer other programs to the community. The includes a June day trip bus tour to historic sites in Vermont that were of importance to Morrill, including Hildene, the home of President Abraham Lincoln’s son, Robert Todd Lincoln.

The annual Minis for Morrill auction — which features small works of art made by Upper Valley artists — will take place from July 4 to 11. Bidding will take place online and the paintings will be displayed at a cafe that is scheduled to open in the coming months in Strafford Village.

The board also is working on putting together a speaker series. More information will be posted to morrillhomestead.org closer to the events.

“We’re not engaged in making money. Every season our hope is can we break even?” Patricia said. She is the nonprofit’s only employee and works part-time. “That is what we’re up against this season.”

Board members are in the process of applying for grants and exploring other funding options to cover their expenses, which include internet and phone services, Patricia said.

“We understand,” she said, of the work that needs to take place.

One area of concern has been the homestead’s gardens, which volunteer gardeners tend to and visitors routinely compliment. Charlotte Faccio, a member of the Friends of Morrill Homestead’s board of directors who focuses on the gardens, said the board is working with the state to save the plants they can.

“We’re going to special attention to any of the shrubbery and plantings that are originals or stem from originals that Morrill may have planted,” Faccio said.

Though the apple orchard will remain untouched. The kitchen garden behind the house will be affected. Plants there include salvia, mint, black and red currants, and red raspberries. There are also cone flowers, hollyhocks and lupines.

The board is trying to view the project as a way to rethink the way the kitchen garden is laid out and which plants are included.

“Because of the heavy rains we have, we have to make the gardens more water-retentive and sustainable,” Faccio said.

Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.