by Trish Rudder
Zachary Salman has designed an interactive map of historical landmarks in Berkeley Springs that starts to uncover the layers of architectural styles along downtown streets. Salman is interested in historic preservation and is a member of the Town of Bath Historical Landmarks Commission. He is a Berkeley Springs resident and graduated from Shepherd University with a B.A. in history, concentrating in historic preservation and public history. Salman is on his way to earning an M.S. in historic preservation from the University of Vermont beginning this month.
Last year around May 2021, he designed the interactive map of the town’s historical landmarks.
To learn about the architecture history of Berkeley Springs, the map user can click on the orange dots for existing buildings and the gray blobs that are the footprints of buildings that no longer exist.
The Kennedy Building, home of The Morgan Messenger office, is one of the structures listed on the interactive map of Berkeley Springs developed by Zack Salman.
The user can view photos of the buildings or the footprint by clicking on any dot. The map was created using Google.com.
The map can be viewed on Salman’s website at http://www.zacharysalman.com/historicpreservation.
Salman said last week he has been talking with Town Recorder Susan Webster about ways to expand and promote the map. He said a brochure to help promote use of the map could be explored.
Resurvey & expansion are necessary
While working with Grove & Dall’Olio, an architectural firm in Winchester, Va., he and Lisa Dall’Olio produced a 2021 Resurvey and Expansion document of the Town of Bath Historic District. The original survey is 14 years old, “but has numerous errors and inaccuracies and has become generally outdated,” the document read.
The resurvey and expansion would make corrections to the original survey and would propose expansion of the boundaries of the historic district to the municipal boundaries.
The survey found that 32 properties were not previously surveyed. Most of the 32 are within the historic district but nine are outside the district.
“Based on these properties, we recommend expanding the boundaries of the Town of Bath Historic District southward to encompass the properties in the Ravenwood neighborhood surrounding Rockwell Circle and slightly eastward to include Ewing Street and Lee Circle. These areas of town were developed at times and in styles that are relevant to the historic district’s period of significance, thus they offer contributing structures consistent with the description of the historic district,” the survey read.
Salman said the next step would be getting the Town of Bath to approve the resurvey and expansion.
There is motivation to visit Berkeley Springs as a spa resort but it also has historical preservation value, Salman said.
“Shepherdstown is the crown jewel in historical preservation.” “I want Berkeley Springs to rise to that occasion,” he said.
