AKCHO members got a preview of the popular Friends of Georgetown History’s annual Haunted History Tour at AKCHO’s October membership meeting, which was held at The Stables in Georgetown on October 18. This meeting was arranged by AKCHO Programs Chair Jessie Cunningham with the help of FOGHi member Patricia Filer.

LaDele Sines, Georgetown resident and proprietor of the local Carleton Avenue Grocery Store (located in an historic building that was once a roadhouse), organizes the Haunted History Tour every year. She spoke about the colorful history of Georgetown and introduced two FOGHi members who embody the “ghosts” of Georgetown residents of yore. Jesse Moore told the story of Peter Gessner, who committed suicide in the magnificent Victorian house he had built for his wife after discovering that she had committed adultery, and Gayle Miles gave a haunting performance as a child who alluded to some of the creepy legends of the Georgetown Castle as she sang childhood jump-rope rhymes.

For members who missed the meeting, but would like to learn more about Georgetown’s history, a book titled The Georgetown Story: That Was A Town 1904-1910 and authored by June Peterson is available at the Carleton Avenue Grocery Store, 6601 Carleton Avenue S in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood.

Also at the October 18 meeting, Christie True, director of King County’s Department of Natural Resources and Parks, spoke about the department’s new charge of overseeing the Historic Preservation Program. She addressed the HPP’s funding issues, noting that in County Executive Dow Constantine’s proposed budget for 2012 the HPP will be funded primarily by revenues from filing fees. Made possible by HB 1386, this fund is now called the Heritage Preservation Fund (HPF) #1471. True said that HPP also will obtain funding via grants (Preserve America and Certified Local Government (CLG)) and a new policy to charge other governmental units for services received from the HPP.

The DNRP director fielded several questions and comments from AKCHO members, who pointed out that Constantine’s proposed budget ignores the recommendation made last year by the King County Heritage Preservation Task Force that some of the revenues acquired under the auspices of HB 1386 should be distributed directly to non-profit heritage organizations throughout the county to support their work on a variety of projects. Members of Seattle-based heritage groups also expressed concern that their organizations would have no access to these funds, because of the way the HPP is structured to serve unincorporated King County and cities with interlocal agreements.

Also at the meeting, members noted events and doings in their organizations. Among the news shared, the Woodinville Historical Society has moved into its new (but historic) digs, YuleFest takes place November 19-20 at the Nordic Heritage Museum, and the Southwest Historical Society just hosted its Celebration 160 gala at Salty’s on Alki, and the Pacific Northwest Historians’ Guild has a call out for papers relating to the Seattle World’s Fair.