Reckson grants $100,000 to restore history museum.

Reckson Associates Realty Corp. the largest owner, manager and developer of Class A office properties in Westchester County, is teaming up with Historic Hudson Valley (HHV) the county's largest cultural organization, to lend crucial support to a significant restoration project at Philipsburg Manor, a 20-acre living history museum on the Pocantico River in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.

The company is launching "The Reckson Challenge" and will match up to $70,000 raised by HHV to pay for restoration work on the Manor House at Philipsburg, one of six historic sites in HHV's network.

If HHV reaches this goal, Reckson will consider offering an additional $30,000 bringing the company's overall gift to $100,000. This represents the largest corporate gift ever received by HHV.

For Reckson partnering with HHV helps fulfill the company's mission of adding value to the communities where its properties are located and strongly supporting education.

"The education programs offered to young people at Philipsburg are vital, important efforts," said Salvatore Campofranco, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Reckson.

"Promoting and supporting educational opportunities is a mission we take very seriously and we are proud to be involved with this project."

"We are overwhelmed by Reckson's generosity and the commitment to historic preservation and education this challenge represents," said Waddell W. Stillman, president of Historic Hudson Valley.

"It is also supremely inspiring and satisfying for us at Historic Hudson Valley to work with corporate partners who share our passion for making history connect with the present."

Each year, Philipsburg Manor serves as a learning laboratory for 15,000 school children, offering six different intensive, curriculum-based workshops. HHV has forged partnerships with school districts and social service agencies, and Philipsburg Manor now offers an after-school enrichment program for middle school students; scholarships to attend its living history day camp; and paid internships for teenagers in wooden boatbuilding, museum theater, and agriculture.

This restoration of the site's Manor House is its first in 40 years. Planned exterior work includes restoration of staircases, windows, shutters, and roof. Work has begun and the site is open to visitors as work progresses.

In addition to the Manor House, the site includes a functioning gristmill and a working farm. History interpreters in period clothing welcome 50,000 visitors each year for daily tours and weekend special events.

Philipsburg Manor continues to attract national attention for its new interpretive focus on the little-known story of slavery in the North during the 18th Century. The site's tours and programs reflect the daily lives of the 23 enslaved Africans known to have lived and labored there. It is the country's only fully staffed living history museum to focus on the history of northern slavery.

"The Reckson Challenge" grant and the matching funds, along with two generous grants from New York State--$250,350 through the Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, and $24,626 from the New York State Council on the Arts--will pay for the entire Manor House restoration project.

HHV will be raising money throughout the year to meet The Reckson Challenge. To help, contact Peter S. Pockriss, Historic Hudson Valley's director of development, at 914-631-8200 or email [e-mail].