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$600,000 MassDevelopment Loan Supports Fruitlands Museum Infrastructure Upgrades
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November 6, 2006 Contact: Adam Bickelman, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2086 MassDevelopment today announced a $600,000 low-interest loan to Fruitlands Museum, Inc., of Harvard. Loan proceeds will support facility upgrades which provide Fruitlands with a modern physical plant that will sustain the Museum’s stewardship of its rich natural and cultural resources. "We think of the Fruitlands Museum as our neighbor in Devens," said Robert L. Culver, MassDevelopment president/CEO. "That makes us doubly proud to help this unique cultural resource with low-cost financing to support its facility upgrades. Fruitlands is important both because it preserves and showcases fascinating artifacts from New England’s history, but also because it is a driver of the local economy, investing in area businesses and creating jobs for local residents." Founded in 1914 by Clara Endicott Sears, a life-long collector of New England artifacts, Fruitlands Museum features items from the Harvard Shaker Community, local Native American tribes, Bronson Alcott’s experimental transcendentalist utopian commune of 1843 and many 19th century portrait and landscape paintings. The Museum is well known for its scenic 207-acre campus and views of the Nashoba Valley. It is a popular venue for events, meetings and other educational, recreational and social gatherings. "This financing package allowed us to complete substantial environmental improvements during the 'Year of the Museum', placing our physical plant on a firmer footing to better preserve and share our renowned collections and singular landscape with the many generations yet to come," said Fruitlands Executive Director Maud Ayson. MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development authority, works with businesses, financial institutions and local officials to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. Between FY 2004 and FY 2006, MassDevelopment financed or managed 589 projects statewide representing an investment of more than $4 billion in the Massachusetts economy. These projects are supporting the creation of 5,505 housing units and more than 23,000 jobs: 12,381 permanent and 10,679 construction-related. A National Historic Register District and one of the few early representations of the outdoor museum in America, Fruitlands is set on a spectacular open green corridor abutting the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge, Devens and the Nashoba River valley. Fruitlands’ landscape, collections and programs preserve and share the rich heritage of those who have inhabited the "Valley of the Nashaway" and whose identity and spirit were rooted in New England. The Fruitlands Farmhouse was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966.
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