Computer survey wins history award

May 13, 1997

By ELLEN LYON

Staff Writer

The Washington County Commissioners Tuesday presented the county's 1996 Historic Preservation Award to the ad hoc committee of the Washington County Historical Society for its work to computerize an historic sites survey.

Information on more than 3,000 properties was entered into the computer, committee Chairwoman Pat Schooley said in a release.

Other committee members include Jane Hershey, Yvonne Hope, Paula Worthington, Dorothy McEvoy and Norma Heaton.

The project was begun four years ago after the problem of enforcing a modern building code on 18th century buildings was pointed out, Schooley said.

The Maryland Historical Trust held special workshops for building inspectors to show them how to make exceptions to the building code for properties with historic value, she said.

The ad hoc committee matched properties on the county historic site survey with 81 tax maps and 19 historic site survey maps to get owners' names and addresses for each of the properties, Schooley said.

The County Commissioners gave the committee permission to enter historic site survey property numbers on the county's tax rolls so that vital information will be preserved as ownership of the properties changes, she said.

The last step involves getting historic site information on the state tax rolls so that it can be printed on tax bills, Schooley said.

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