Preservation Mathews will take the lead on a historical and archaeological survey of Gwynn’s Island. Once completed, the survey is expected to lead to the island’s being designated as a National Historic District.

Lori Jackson Black, president of Preservation Mathews, said receipt of the National Park Service grant to the organization “is exciting because we know we can finish the project and that people on Gwynn’s Island will benefit,” said Black.

This will be Preservation Mathews’s most significant project to date. The organization, established in 2017, saved the old Callis house on Main Street from demolition, taking out a private loan to have the structure moved to its new site adjacent to The Brambles, where it was turned into the Callis House Inn by its new owner, Ian Morse Enterprises.

Around the same time, the Mathews Historical Society was sponsoring a grant-funded preliminary survey of Gwynn’s Island that determined the island was a viable candidate for recognition ...