With coffee and donuts in hand, Penn State alums rolled up their sleeves this spring to give a makeover and paint touch up to Maxwell’s Quarters, an important building at Valley Forge National Historical Park in Pennsylvania.

Home to an extensive collection of Revolutionary War-related publications, Maxwell’s Quarters (the popular name of the Philander Chase Knox Estate) is one of several valuable facilities at Valley Forge National Historical Park that can not be fully maintained through federal funding. So it was a great candidate for a building makeover in a program launched by Penn State friend Ernest Eadeh and his daughter Heather, a 1995 Penn State alumna.

In the spring of 2002, the Eadehs worked with the park’s Historical Architect Tim Long to launch a program they called “Adopt a Building,” tapping volunteer power from the Chester County Chapter of the Penn State Alumni Association and the Wayne Rotary Club to help restore significant buildings at the Revolutionary War historical park. Members of the Montgomery County Chapter of the Alumni Association joined the work force this year.

“There is a lot of history around our country that is quickly deteriorating,” said Ernest Eadeh of the program. “If nothing is done to preserve it, it will soon vanish.”

During the past five years, the “Adopt a Building” program has rehabbed 15 historically significant buildings preserving a post office, spring houses, barns, stone walls, and parts of Knox’s and Maxwell’s Quarters and saving the deferred maintenance budget of the Valley Forge National Historical Park nearly $500,000.

“Volunteers help with much needed restoration, such as repainting which is an important line of defense against decay of wooden structures,” said Heather Eadeh. “Business people in the community donate all materials, specific services, and outside labor when needed.”

To learn more about the “Adopt a Building” program or to participate in future projects, contact Heather Eadeh ’95 at heathe0016@aol.com.