Marissa Barrett, Author at Pennsylvania Historic Preservation

Author: Marissa Barrett

Marissa is a National Register Reviewer for the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office. She works with members of the public and consultants to list properties on the National Register of Historic Places. Prior to working for the Commonwealth, Marissa had worked in local government as a preservation planner in both Massachusetts and New Mexico. However, her love for her home state, she was born and raised in Schuylkill County, brought her back to Pennsylvania. Marissa is a graduate of Bloomsburg University and the University of New Mexico.

Frequently, PA SHPO staff receive inquiries regarding a homeowner’s historic property and their wish to list it in the National Register of Historic Places.

Many times, interesting family stories passed down from one generation to the next are tied to the property. As fascinating as most of the stories are, not all will hit the threshold of the National Park Service required criteria to qualify the property as significant at the local, state or national level.

However, before the level of review needed to make that call, there are numerous documents and items that PA SHPO staff need to verify the eligibility of a resource. Unfortunately, since there is a degree of deeper research required and the process may seem daunting, many homeowners stop after the first phone call or email.

Hopefully, this post about the Determination of Eligibility process and next week’s post about what we need to evaluate a historic resource will help make it all seem a little less scary.