Restored Conservancy Hall Original Windows Return to Conservancy Hall

NEWS RELEASE
Alden Witham, Sharon Springs, NY
December 18, 2025
 
 
The Glen Conservancy Ltd., a 501(c)3 organization in the Hamlet of Glen, Montgomery County, includes Conservancy Hall as its principal architectural component. Conservancy Hall is a major contributing element in the Glen Historic District (National Register of Historic Places, 2001). It is a gable roofed, clapboarded timber frame meeting house constructed in 1831 for a faction which split off from the local Dutch Reformed Church congregation. The Federal period structure, a rarity of its type in the Mohawk Valley, retains its original double hung windows with 30-30 light sash and Gothic-patterned muntins in segmentally arched transoms. Used as a subsidiary adjunct to the neighboring Reformed Church through most of the twentieth century. Conservancy Hall retains its original wide plank floors and grain-painted horizontal plank wainscoting.  
Conservancy Hall currently serves the Glen community and the diverse upstate Mohawk Valley region as a venue for concerts, workshops, and organizational meetings, including an annual harvest festival, the annual Memorial Day parade and the Town of Glen bicentennial celebration in 2023.  
On April 8, 2025, The Preservation League shared the exciting news that the Glen Conservancy was one of six organizations receiving funding from its Preservation Opportunity Fund. The Glen Conservancy was awarded $15,000 toward the restoration of their historic windows. That grant, matched by a community donor, greatly assisted in the Conservancy’s efforts to preserve and continue to stabilize this valuable historic structure. 
Alden Witham, Master Craftsman of Contractors' Millwork, Inc., in Sharon Springs, NY, removed the eight iconic circa 1831 double-hung windows and devoted the spring and summer of 2025 to their restoration. Virtually all of the glass and muntins in Conservancy Hall were original but deteriorated. Six of the windows are approximately 11' x 4.5', two are approximately 9' x 3', 30 over 30 light sash, each surmounted by demilune sash with Gothic-patterned muntins, 1830s period. Alden’s work included full restoration, painting and now re-installation of the windows. 
Alden has operated Contractors' Millworks in Sharon Springs, NY, for several decades, using authentic 19th century machinery, which he began collecting in the 1970s. Much of his work has been on early churches in the Mohawk Valley, and he restored the windows in The Old Stone Fort in Schoharie, NY. (2009 article in The Daily Gazette). Numerous YouTube videos show Alden Whitham's superb workmanship, quality and meticulous adherence to preservation standards. All of his work fully complies with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and guidelines, using like materials and like techniques.  
The POF [Preservation Opportunity Fund] grant will enable Conservancy Hall to enter its next 190 years with stabilized window sash. The Glen Conservancy is extraordinarily grateful to all those whose generous donations have enabled these projects: the Tianaderrah Foundation, the Fort Royal Foundation, Stewarts Shops, FAGE USA Dairy Industry, and Colorize Cares, Niskayuna, the nonprofit charitable branch of Benjamin Moore. The window project, as noted, was made possible by a $15,000 Preservation Opportunity Grant via the Preservation League and private community donors. We gratefully acknowledge community donations from both Glen and surrounding community residents who have supported our programs and events. We look forward to continuing support as 2025 comes to an end and moves forward into 2026. 
Ron Burch, President
The Glen Conservancy
518-281-0369
[email protected]