Extreme Weather is Impacting Cities like Philly. This Preservation Organization Has a Plan to Stop That.

Philadelphia is no stranger to extreme weather—from tornadoes in the summer that uproot trees to bomb cyclones in the winter that strand commuters on treacherous snowy roads. Of course, Philadelphia isn’t alone in this predicament. Up and down the East Coast, storm surges, rising sea levels, high winds, excessive heat and freezing temperatures are impacting communities. Which is why Historic New England, a historic preservation organization, decided to create a climate action plan that would not only protect the historic properties and sites it manages but the surrounding communities as well.

Through their work, Historic New England also wants to expand the dialogue around climate change. “About 70% of the American public believes in climate change and thinks we should do something about it, but only about 30% of those people talk about it with family and friends,” says Joie Grandbois, Director of Sustainability at Historic New England. “We can’t change or prepare for what we don’t talk about.”

Much can be learned from Historic New England’s climate action plan. We talked with Grandbois and her associate, Benjamin Haavik, to better understand the steps the organization is taking to prepare for extreme weather events, protect the future of their sites and communities, and get people talking about climate change.

When Climate Change Impacts History

One of the most comprehensive independent preservation organizations in the United States, Historic New England manages 42 pieces of real estate (historic homes, museums, landscapes, farms) and cares for close to 1,400 acres of land. It also preserves more than 125,000 decorative objects and 1.5 million archival documents—the largest collection in New England.

Ben Haavik, Vice President, Property Care and Climate Action, has been at Historic New England since 2004, and during his tenure, he has seen how climate change impacts these properties. “We were watching weather events change in intensity,” he says, “even just how winter would play out. March used to be frozen ground, and now it’s muddy ground. That changes how you think about taking care of your properties.”

Haavik says the organization was always responsive to weather, and in 2017, they thought they were being forward-thinking by analyzing the carrying capacity of their properties’ gutters, concerned about how increasing storm intensity would impact them in 10 years. “The study revealed that a tremendous number of gutters were way undersized for the rains we were receiving,” he says. “This wasn’t forward thinking; this was we need to be responsive now to protect the properties.”

Climate change intersects with historic preservation in both obvious and subtle ways—as it does with everyday individuals and their homes. Stronger storms bring pooling water, exterior damage and rot, and downed trees. Shifting climates bring in invasive plants and pests that once couldn’t survive the winter. Rising sea levels create new flood zones.

So, Historic New England participated in a program sponsored by the Boston Green Ribbon Commission to develop a climate action plan. “We had all of the disparate elements of what we were thinking about. We didn’t have a way to coalesce it all,” Haavik says.

The team got to work, and in 2023, the board approved an overarching strategic plan. “We were acknowledging that we were trying to make our properties more resilient in the face of climate change and weather events,” he says. “We also realized that we have an impact through running these museums—we have vehicles, we’re mowing 1,400 acres—we are making a lot of emissions, so we are contributing to the root causes of climate change.”

Achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 is just one of the four climate action goals. It also includes focusing on integrating climate action into the day-to-day operations, managing properties to meet their high preservation standards, and also adapting standards to ensure resilience in the face of weather extremes and sea level rise, and advancing climate justice for all.

Putting the Plan in Action

Developing the plan was one thing, but putting it to work was another. “We have 42 pieces of real estate, and each one is in a different place, and each one is experiencing different impacts,” Grandbois explains. “We have this overarching guidance to guide us with our planning. It becomes, how is this site going to meet that goal?”

They started by developing individual plans for each site—the first being Casey Farm in Rhode Island, one of Historic New England’s most complicated sites—a large landscape of 300 acres with a river on one side and the ocean on the other. A working organic farm, it hosts a farmers market and a CSA program, plus a house museum that receives tours. Of all of the sites, it receives the most visitors—40,000 a year. Working with the consultant GreenerU, they established baselines for the farm’s energy and water use, calculated waste, and reviewed practices and programming with an eye towards sustainability and carbon neutrality. And, the farm staff will run more than a dozen climate-related programs throughout the year for the public.

The second site was the complete opposite: Pierce House. On less than a quarter-acre in an urban area, it has about 6,000 visitors a year, mostly from schools. The third site is focused more on resilience. Sayward-Wheeler House in York, Maine, is located on the York River and heavily impacted by rising water.

At the same time, these site-specific plans often impact how the organization is run as a whole. “With Casey, one of the things we realized was that we needed a sustainable purchasing plan,” Grandbois says. “We need to be able to give guidance to employees when they’re making purchasing decisions to empower them to make the most sustainable one.”

Balancing History with Modern Solutions

One of the particular challenges for a historic preservation society is the balance of respecting the home’s historic integrity while upgrading it to face the challenges of climate change.

This often falls to Haavik’s team, which is responsible for the overall physical care of the buildings and the landscapes. “You have to look out for the best interest of the building—in terms of climate change, properties are getting hammered.”

The HVAC system can be one of the biggest challenges, as any owner of an older home knows. “The most invasive thing you can do to a building is add duct work for a forced-air system, or even if you go to the mini-split with the cassette on the wall, then that’s a big intrusion,” he says. “Duct work, you may be able to hide in the attic, but the cassette on the wall is very visible. But it may cause less damage overall to the building because you are focusing the impact on that one spot instead of cutting walls and floors.” The solution is often in not disrupting the experience for the visitor—say putting a mini-split cassette on the wall above the door so it’s the last thing they see when they enter a room.

Still, what worked in the past is sometimes better than modern solutions, Haavik says. Take, for example, exterior home paint. Contemporary practice is to use acrylic paints, which, unfortunately, are a major contributor to microplastic pollution. A more sustainable option is linseed oil paint, which was used in the past and is longer-lasting on a wood exterior.

At the same time, older homes were often built with the front door facing south, with two trees in the yard out front. In the winter, this placement allowed as much light to come in to warm the house; in the summer, when the sun is higher, the roof and the trees provided shade. Some houses included water features that were fed by rainwater, and others had rain gardens with plants that could withstand or mitigate a water deluge.

“There are a lot of practices that we, the general public, are starting to recognize that if we bring them back into use, they have great benefits,” Grandbois says.

Haavik agrees. “What we do keep finding is what is old is new again,” he says. “There is a long tradition of people using wind turbines on their properties in New England and throughout the world, starting in the late 19th century.”

A wind turbine powered the Eustis Estate in Milton, Mass., for example, starting in 1902. “Sometimes it feels like this technology is new, but it’s really not,” Haavik says. “To think that we can generate our own energy at a site because it is historically appropriate is a fun thing.”

Engaging the Community

How does Historic New England’s climate action plan benefit the region as a whole? Community is always at the forefront of the organization’s climate goals.

The organization works closely with neighbors and municipalities if the site updates they make could impact the community. For example, at the Sayward-Wheeler House, sea level rise is contributing to flooding of the lower lawn more frequently. “This is a clear and present danger,” Haavik says. “But you can’t stop the water without thinking about what is happening next door to you and what’s happening five doors down. We’re working with a consultant and with the local government, and we are going to set up meetings with neighbors to talk about what we are planning to figure out what potential solutions are.”

Perhaps their most far-reaching program is their Historic New England Summit on November 13 and 14. In its fourth year, the Summit brings together not just historic institutions, but cultural institutions, different disciplines, municipalities and individuals for two days at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, CT., to discuss how to create more vibrant and resilient communities.

Climate action is a key part of the Summit’s agenda, as is civic action, culture building and preservation as transformation. The program includes keynote presentations by regional and national leaders, panel discussions and networking opportunities.

“Regardless of what’s on the menu, I always look forward to the conversations I’m going to have, the people I’m going to connect with,” Grandbois says. “It’s wonderful to meet people in other fields working on the same issues and to be able to talk about how we can tackle these things together? We can do so much more when we can connect across those disciplines. And when you are looking at big issues like climate change, you need to have all of those voices in the conversation.”

To learn more about Historic New England and its climate action plan, click here. To learn more about 2025 Historic New England Summit and purchase tickets, click here.

This is a paid partnership between Historic New England and Philadelphia Magazine