Mahwah Family, Boy Scout To Be Honored For Historic Preservation Work

MAHWAH, NJ — A local family and boy scout are being presented with a Mahwah historic preservation award.

The DeSilva family, which owns and operates two Mahwah auto dealers, submitted a $50,000 donation to match funds raised to save the town's historic Erie caboose 04940 — an important piece of local and national railroad history.

The donation is precisely why the town's historic preservation commission is honoring the family and its Liberty auto group, chair of the town organization Anne Powley said.

Additionally, now-Eagle Scout Noah Brown, who helped restore one of the town's most significant historic sites — The Old Lutheran Cemetery on Moffatt Road —, is also being honored.

Brown, a member of local scouting troop 50, helped the commission refurbish the wooden stairs and landscape at the town's oldest (non-indigenous) cemetery and the second-oldest Lutheran cemetery in Bergen County.

The Mahwah High School junior raised more than $400 and coordinated 25 volunteers who collectively contributed over 114 hours to what he dedicated as his Eagle Scout service project.

"(The Mahwah Historic Preservation Commission) relies on volunteers to maintain the site and is deeply appreciative of all Noah's efforts on our behalf," chair Powley said.

MHPC will present the awards to the DeSilva family and Brown at a May 1 ceremony at 7 p.m. in the Mahwah Municipal Building.