LEVERETT — An archaeological survey and mapping of the historic Graves’ Ironworks site, located downstream from the 1774 Slarrow Sawmill, will be supported with a small donation from the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s small-dollar grant program.

The Leverett Historical Commission recently received $4,415 that will go toward the project. The commission is one of 30 organizations, in 15 states and Washington, D.C., sharing $165,365 from the National Trust’s “saving places” program.

The remnants of the Graves’ Ironworks is primarily sited within 2 acres of conservation land that belongs to the town.

Susan Mareneck, who chairs the town’s Historical Commission, said the grant is among sources being used to explore, decipher and preserve this 19th century industrial site, which is believed to be one of up to 13 mills along that stretch of river powered by the 800-foot drop from Locke’s Pond in Shutesbury, now known as Lake Wyola State Park, and extending through North Leverett, eventually ending up in the Connecticut River,

The grant comes after the nonprofit Friends of North Leverett Sawmill received a $683,500 grant last summer from the Historic Preservation Fund administered by the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, identifying the sawmill as critical to the country’s 250th anniversary in 2026.

Mareneck wrote an article for the spring edition of the Society for Industrial Archaeology’s newsletter explaining the importance of the Graves’ Ironworks, which grew from a blacksmith shop founded in 1792 by Daniel Graves Sr., an emigrant from Southborough, after the American Revolution, and through three generations of the Graves family, including sons Stephen and Daniel, Jr. and their sons, Samuel, Sanford and Cyrus.

Research is still being done of the trajectory of the Graves’ family businesses which produced snathes and parts for scythes, and in addition may have included a gristmill, pail manufactory and a gypsum mill. Many of the current homes in North Leverett Center’s National Register Historic District were either homes or ironworks structures built by the three generations of the Graves’ family.

Established in 1969, National Trust Preservation Funds encourage preservation at the local level, supporting nonprofit organizations and public agencies by providing seed money for preservation projects.

The Leverett Historical Commission also has a request from the town’s Community Preservation Act Fund to do LiDAR scanning along with field work to survey and map the 4.5 acres of land downstream of the sawmill which was sculpted, including with long, tall stone foundations, to create millponds to power the ironworks and possibly other mills.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.