The many hours of meetings and volunteer labor to recapture the historical Jacob Sloat House in Sloatsburg are paying off.

The Friends of Harmony Hall, the non-profit group that works in partnership with the Town of Ramapo to restore the old Sloat place, has been awarded a 2016 Preservation Merit Award Winner for its Preservation Leadership — a major award now in its 26th year and given out by the Historical Society of Rockland County in partnership with the Rockland County Executive.

The Friends of Harmony Hall will be feted at the annual Country Supper Sunday, May 15, to honor the 26th Annual Rockland County Executive’s Historic Preservation Merit Award Winners. The dinner takes place at The Historical Society of Rockland County’s Jacob Blauvelt House on Zukor Road, New City.

The Friends of Harmony Hall has been awarded a 2016 Preservation Merit Award Winner for its Preservation Leadership.

Sloat descendent Peter Bush said the award marks some 10 years of Friends of Harmony Hall work.

“I submitted a nomination for the Harmony Hall-Jacob Sloat House preservation/restoration project,” said Bush, delighted to hear back good news about the award. Bush added that he wanted to “extend my personal gratitude and thanks to the Rockland County Historical Society and to all those who sincerely continue to believe in the reuse/revitalization potential of Harmony Hall-Jacob Sloat House.”

Bush also noted that the 2016 Preservation Leadership Award not only encourages the Friends group but rewards the “continuous advocacy by dedicated volunteers” who have faced many challenges in helping to keep the Harmony Hall hearth burning at the local level.

The Friends of Harmony Hall and Black Rock Galleries, online auction house and antiques dealer, recently announced a partnership that will provide the auction house showroom space at Harmony Hall in Sloatsburg, NY. Photo by Geoff Welch.

Harmony Hall just partnered with Black Rock Galleries, a large online auction house and antique dealer, that gives over Harmony Hall’s interior space as a weekend “preview” showroom for select Black Rock online auctions. The partnership has helped Harmony Hall repair interior rooms, with some additional exterior space upgrades planned for the property.

Harmony Hall was built by Jacob Sloat in 1848, with members of the Sloat family living in the avant-guard Greek Revival house on the hill until 1908, when it passed out of the family. The Friends of Harmony Hall efforts seeks to restore the house to as it was when the Sloat family lived in it from 1848-1908, and establish the property as an historical and environmental education for the Ramapo Highlands region.

The Friends of Harmony Hall also host a number of popular events throughout the year, including the annual Highlands Bluegrass Festival.

Thanks to the generous contributions of members, friends and the town, the original wide pine plank floors of Harmony Hall double parlor, formal dining room, former library, large entry hall, and grand staircase hallway have been expertly restored.

The restoration effort has included uncovering hidden fireplaces, windows and staircases at the that were miraculously entombed by former owners behind plasterboard walls during the century that the house served as an inn, restaurant and an adult care facility.

The Friends worked with the Town of Ramapo to rip up decades of modern flooring to uncover the original, wide oak floorboards that once dominated the mansion’s interiors.

The effort has also seen the return of Henry Ransom Sloat’s Parlor Room chandelier.

Through the efforts of the Friends of Harmony Hall, the Jacob Sloat House is today listed on the New York State and National Registers of Historic Places.