Organized and led by Margaret Back of the Newport Restoration Foundation
Margaret Back is a Preservation Projects Manager at the Newport Restoration Foundation. At NRF, Margaret leads projects connecting climate change and built heritage resiliency. Her current projects include an energy efficiency study for 19th-century Newport buildings, and she is project lead for the Keeping History Above Water conference series. She previously worked as a Preservation Manager for the South Region of Historic New England, where she oversaw preservation projects and facility maintenance for properties in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. She holds an M.S. in Historic Preservation from the University of Pennsylvania.
Keeping History Above Water: Community Resiliency & Action
Saturday May 3, 3pm-4pm
Meet at Storer Park and end at 53 Bridge Street
Newport, “City by the Sea,” is characterized by its surviving colonial architecture and long-held relationship with the water. Much of the City’s historic downtown, wharves, and colonial-era neighborhoods are experiencing the worsening impacts of high tide and increased storm flooding caused by climate change. While Newport has long weathered storms, the prolonged, damaging effects of rising tides on 18th and 19th-century foundations, framing, and utilities are spurring historic property owners to find solutions. As a community-wide challenge, this tour will focus on the approaches to protect vulnerable historic properties from rising tides and highlight the opportunities and challenges facing Newport to unify resiliency and preservation initiatives citywide.