Poore Family Foundation for North Country Conservancy

Description

The Poore Family Foundation for North Country Conservancy (The Foundation) is a Federal and State sanctioned 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that owns and operates the Poore Family Homestead Historic Farm Museum 100 acre settlement Museum in Stewartstown, NH. The Poore Farm Museum is a historic homestead / settlement portraying one family's life from the 1830's to the 1980s. The house, barns and outbuildings are all in original condition and reflect their use and era. The feeling one gets when you enter the homestead is to walk back in time, to one that existed prior to rural electrification of the northern-most regions of NH. The Museum is the last remaining 100-acre historic farm settlement of it's kind in the North Country and the only Museum in this region that has added greatly to area tourism. The Farm is considered by many to be one of the, if not the most important historic landmark in the North Country. The Poore Family Foundation has enjoyed significant growth in recent years and can take pride in its many years of service to the community. We just completed a multiple phase Arts Initiative that has increased our capacity to host outdoor traditional performing Arts events and meet the future demand of the communities in the region. Also, as part of our management plan, the Foundation has embarked on an ambitious effort to establish a 70-acre environmental studies site, that includes a Nature Center, to enhance science curriculum in local schools and provide educational and recreational opportunities for the public. This year we begin construction of an FHWA funded Visitors Center that will enhance our capacity to serve the community and provide modern facilities for the touring public. Our Board of Directors and our volunteer base has increased in numbers and are effectively working together to manage these additional services and keep pace with the organization's growing responsibilities. The yearly support from the Tillotson North Country Foundation, the NH State Council on the Arts, as well as the NHECF, the NH Charitable Foundation and from many other charitable organizations and volunteers, is a significant acknowledgment of The Poore Foundation's successful track record of providing intelligent programs while improving the region's vitality and infrastructure. The Museum attracts an average of 1000+ visitors per year, 2009 marks our 15th year of operation as an historical and cultural destination. Tourism, particularly cultural tourism, is a growing industry in the North Country, an industry that will fuel a portion of our local economy. The activities at the Museum will elevate the capacity of the Poore Foundation to meet this growing need. We are making traditional Arts programming and cultural activities more accessible with an annual concert series and the newly constructed out-door stage and amphitheater venue that will accommodate much larger audiences. Last year we introduced our first theatrical production. (The autumn performance of Shakespeareâ s Hamlet presented by Momentum Theatre Troupe was a huge success that gained the attention of local schools which offered literature students course credit for attending.) We have also improved access to hiking and environmental study through a blend of education and sound stewardship of our 70-acre Bishop Brook Gorge Environmental Study Area. http://www.poorefamily.homestead.com