水果派AV

The Opendore, the former Sherwood home of women's rights activist Isabel Howland, has begun an $800,000 construction project to remodel a portion of the building and expand the Howland Stone Store Museum into the area. The renovations will allow for the museum to add upgrades such as security, climate control and public restrooms.

Patricia White, president of the Howland Stone Store Museum, said the property was abandoned in the 1970s and has not had much work done to it since. The project will provide much-needed remodeling that will rebuild a part of the building that has started to deteriorate and help prevent further damage to the site.

"The property was in bad condition when we acquired it and we spent five years evaluating the needs of the museum and deciding what would be the best thing for us to do," White said. "We came to the conclusion that we first needed to clean up the part that was falling down."

White said the Opendore Project received state grants for $600,000 to help pay for the cost of the renovations. Though the construction is costing a significant amount of money, she said the other options that were considered would have been even more financially straining.

"If we built a whole new building, it would have been close to $1 million," White said. "We didn't have the funding for that."

White said that most of the major work involved with the renovations began earlier this week and went on for a few days, but the project will continue over the next few months, she said. When all is said and done, the building will be unveiled as a bigger, better museum that paves the way for residents to enjoy the history of Cayuga County and of women's rights for years to come.

"This meets our needs of saving this historic building," said White. "It's important to save the things that are a part of what happened during these time periods."