Maryland Releases Cemetery Report, Announces $5M in Preservation Grants | The Locally Times
The Maryland Historical Trust released its statewide cemetery inventory on March 19 and awarded $5 million through its African American Heritage Preservation Program.
The report’s completion was first noted in the agency’s Winter 2025 newsletter. The report was developed by a workgroup tasked with inventorying burial sites, but public announcements do not specify the group's composition or full mandate. While the report has been released, public postings do not yet detail its specific findings, recommendations, or data. A meeting of the MHT Board of Trustees was scheduled for the same day, but records do not contain an agenda or minutes for that meeting. ## New Preservation Funding Announced Concurrent with the report's release, a March 19 press release from the MHT detailed the award of $5 million in grants through the FY2026 African American Heritage Preservation Program. A list of the specific grant awardees was posted on the agency’s website. In addition to the awarded funds, the agency opened a new application round for its FY26 Historic Preservation Capital Grant program, which supports construction-related projects at historical properties. The timing suggests these grant programs provide a pathway for organizations to fund preservation projects that may be prioritized by the new cemetery inventory. ## Outreach and Staffing Expansions The Maryland Historical Trust also announced several public engagement and professional development initiatives. The agency will hold an Architectural Fieldwork Symposium on March 26, 2026, and has released new K-12 lesson plans in archaeology and a blog post on the Historic Preservation Fund. These announcements coincide with a new job posting for an Assistant State Underwater Archaeologist, advertised on March 19. The collection of announcements points to a coordinated state effort to identify historical assets and provide resources for their preservation and study.