Historic Preservation Easements: helping complete the story Sheridan County

One of the first things Sheridan Community Land Trust Historical Educator Carrie Edinger heard when she began reaching out to colleagues around the Mountain West to learn how they work with historic preservation easements was by the time they get the call, the wrecking ball is at the door.  

In a press release the SCLT stated, it’s sad to think important threads to our past can be severed so suddenly and with such finality, but the reality is that the historical value of too many historical buildings, architectural features, and sites aren’t always considered before irreparable changes are made. Or, quite commonly, the owners may want to do something to protect their piece of community history, but don’t know who to talk to or what options are available. 

But that’s where a historic preservation easement can help residents. 

A historic preservation easement is an agreement between a property owner and a land trust that puts restrictions on the types of renovation that can be made on a historic building. Preserving the past for the future. 

“A historic preservation easement doesn’t have to only be a building,” Edinger said. “The easement can be for specific architectural features and they can even be for a place or marker of historical significance.”

In fact, SCLT holds two historic preservation easements that safeguard architectural components of two buildings that are quite important to Sheridan County history. 

The Sheridan Inn is perhaps the most famous structure standing in Sheridan County. In 2008, Sheridan Heritage Center Inc., and SCLT created an easement that preserves many of the inn’s iconic features – like its porch, dormers, desks, stone fireplaces and even Buffalo Bill’s bar – ensuring those iconic features remain unchanged for at least 50 years, according to the release. 

“The Sheridan Inn was a stopping point for many travelers heading West and the inn itself was once considered the finest hotel west of Chicago,” Edinger said. “It was one of the first buildings to have electricity and was host to Buffalo Bill, Ernest Hemingway and many historical characters.”