Sue Turner Preservation Fund for Louisiana

Sue Turner Preservation Fund for Louisiana is sponsored by Louisiana Main Street. This fund supports planning, educational projects, and capacity building related to preservation in Louisiana. It requires a dollar-for-dollar match.

About – Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation The Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation (LTHP) was founded in 1979 as the Louisiana Preservation Alliance as a response to the sudden and unexpected demolition of Welham Plantation, an important antebellum house and its associated outbuildings located on Louisiana’s River Road in St. James Parish.

After the loss, a group of concerned citizens scheduled a late-spring meeting in Natchitoches and invited history and preservation society members and other individuals known to support historic preservation throughout the state. The core organizers included Peggy Bolton (then chairman of the State Museum Board), architects Samuel Wilson and Michael Hopping, and Baton Rouge preservationists, Winnie Byrd and Sue Turner.

John Jardell was elected as the organization’s first president. The Louisiana Preservation Alliance became a Statewide Partner of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1998 and changed its name to the Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation. The following year, LTHP established its 10 Most Endangered Properties List, which is modeled on a similar National Trust program.

The list expands awareness of preservation issues and spotlights parts of Louisiana’s heritage threatened by neglect, deterioration, and insufficient funds. In recent years, the program has expanded to highlight preservation success stories. Another of the Trust’s major programs is the Ramble, which is patterned upon a similar program sponsored by the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation.

Designed as an educational experience, a fundraiser, and membership development tool, a Ramble consists of an introductory presentation by a local authority followed by a tour focusing on the art, music, history, culture, and architecture of a specific locale. Rambles are held in the Spring and Fall of each year.

Since the first Ramble in 1997, these tours have highlighted every region and many individual communities throughout the state. With generous support from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the 1772 Foundation, and an anonymous donor, the Louisiana Trust achieved its long-sought goal of establishing a statewide revolving fund and employing a full-time, experienced, professional fund director in 2015.

Within its first year, the fund accepted one donated property and secured options on several others. The first sale with protective easements of a fund property, the 1867 Morehouse College Building and associated acreage in Bastrop, was finalized on September 30, 2015.

Today, the Louisiana Trust serves as the statewide nonprofit which advocates for the preservation of Louisiana’s unique architectural and cultural heritage and provides a voice for the state’s historic preservation community. Headquartered in Baton Rouge, the Trust strives to raise public awareness, concern, and support for preservation through technical assistance, education, outreach, advocacy, and strategic alliances.

LTHP is governed by a Board with a full slate of officers and directors drawn from around the state, with financial support derived from memberships, sponsors, events, donors, and grants. In the fall of 2025, the Louisiana Trust was awarded the Trustees’ Award for Organizational Excellence from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the highest honor for a statewide preservation organization.

This award recognizes a nonprofit organization that has demonstrated sustained and superlative achievement in historic preservation.