St. Johns, Duval historic preservation projects among 46 that saw grants cut from state budget

Two historic churches in St. Augustine, Hasting Main Street and a Boy Scout troop in Atlantic Beach were left stunned after they raised funds to receive state matching grants for historic preservation — only to see the grant program go unfunded in the Legislature for the first time in more than 40 years. 

Overall, 46 historic preservation projects across the state did not receive their expected funding through the state of Florida State Department’s Special Category Historic Preservation Grants.

The affected preservation initiatives were vetted by the state’s Division of Historic Resources and received qualifying scores.

In St. Johns County, Ancient City Baptist Church and Trinity Parish Episcopal Church each raised and requested matches of $500,000 to repair damage after hurricanes. Ancient City Baptist ranked 2nd in the Division of Historic Resources’ recommended funding list, and Trinity Parish Episcopal Church ranked 4th.

Ancient City Baptist was built in the late 1800s, says Ancient City Baptist board of trustees member Hugh Peters.

“When the historical grant program was introduced to us, we rallied the troops with architects and historical preservation engineers and developed a renovation plan that is needed to, frankly, keep our church from falling down,” Peters tells Jacksonville Today. 

Trinity Episcopal Church was going to use the funding to repair a roof that was damaged during multiple hurricanes.

“This is the oldest Protestant church in the state of Florida built in 1821, and we’re trying to keep the historic building on the plaza in St. Augustine in good shape,” says Trinity Episcopal Rector Matt Marino.

“They’re both churches that are historically important in the community, and they had hurricane damage repeatedly and even last fall,” says Leslee Keys, a St. Johns-based historic preservation consultant.

The Legislature had funded the grants for decades “to preserve significant historic and archaeological resources, to assist major archaeological excavations or research projects, and assist in the development and fabrication of major museum exhibits that will promote knowledge and appreciation of the history of Florida.”

“They are economic development projects. They employ people in the community, and that public money is usually matched many times over by private funds, so it’s keeping jobs in the community. And they’ve been used in every one of the 67 counties in the state of Florida,” says Keys.

Besides the churches in St. Augustine, the Hastings Main Street organization had requested $1 million to relocate two Flagler-era railroad buildings that are currently located at the St. Augustine Airport, according to Keys.

In Duval County, the only qualifying project was the renovation of the historic pre-war Boy Scout Lodge (Troop 37 Hut) in Atlantic Beach. Scouts hosted meetings there for 87 years and have launched a fundraiser to restore the old building. 

Along with many other grant applicants, Daniele Giovannucci, a volunteer leader for the troop, was surprised by the program’s defunding this legislative session.

“It’s a huge disappointment because this is the kind of thing, children’s values, raising kids who are self-reliant, community-oriented, and who are leaders and problem solvers. That’s what scouting essentially is, so how can you not support that if you’re an elected official?” Giovannucci tells Jacksonville Today. 

The other historic preservation projects that lost out on the funding are in 25 other counties across the state, from Miami-Dade to Leon.

Giovannucci says many of the organizations spent money in order to apply with the required detailed plans.

“We’re having to reassess, spend money again to redo the plans, because architects are not cheap, especially because we were asked to use architects with historical experience renovating or restoring historic buildings,” says Giovannucci. 


The applicants say they found out the program was cut through a July 1 email from Historic Preservation Grants Supervisor Erik K. Case.

This email said, “Funding for the Division of Historical Resources Special Category grants program was not included and subsequently all the applications in that program submitted last year will not receive funding”. The applicants were urged to apply for next year’s cycle, which is anticipated to run from April 1 to June 1, 2026.

The total to fund all of the 46 programs would have been about $17.2 million.

The Legislature, did, however, allocate about $1.4 million for four historic preservation projects, including one in Duval County, that were not among the 46 who applied through the special category grant program:

• Crystal Memorial Gardens Cemetery Revitalization (Crystal River): $81,000
• Historic Pensacola $125,000
• Historic Port Theatre (Port St. Joe) $750,000
• The Jacksonville History Center $450,00

According to Department of State spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger, the four projects were funded “as line-item initiative projects.”