Private Donors Revealed For Montgomery County Historic Property Preservation

WHITEMARSH TOWNSHIP, PA — This spring, an anonymous donor offered a private gift to help preserve a historic property in this Montgomery County community that was once a stop along the Underground Railroad.

This week, the identity of that private donor has been revealed, and local township officials on Thursday are expected to take up the matter of the grant donation during their regularly scheduled evening meeting.

Nicholas and Athena Karabots, through their Karabots Foundation, have been outed as the private donors who are helping to preserve the Corson Homestead, a piece of property along Butler Pike that dates back to America's slavery period.

The announcement about the donor's identity was made by the Friends of Abolition Hall.

Patch previously reported on what was then an anonymous donation to help secure the property.

Related: Historic Corson Homestead Gets Private Donor Gift For Preservation

The Friends of Abolition Hall stated that the couple behind the foundation were longtime Whitemarsh Township residents dedicated to local history.

Nicholas Karabots passed away last year but, "his legacy will endure, as will the Corson Homestead," the group posted to social media.

The property, which dates back to 1734 and was eventually operated by the Corson family, who were well known abolitionists, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 2016, it was slated for potential development, but historic preservationists and community members banded together to stop the property from being turned into townhomes, Patch previously reported.

"We had to find a way to stop this," Zove, of the Friends of Abolition Hall, previously told Patch.

The private donation was much welcomed, Zove had said, since it would help fill the gap between what Whitemarsh Township can legally pay for the property and what the sellers of the property were looking to get for their land.

The identity of the private donor was initially kept a mystery, but that has now changed with Wednesday's announcement.

The Friends of Abolition Hall said that Nicholas and Athena Karabots are "known for their generosity here and elsewhere."

The Whitemarsh Township Board of Supervisors was expected to take up the donor gift matter during its Thursday meeting, which is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. at the Whitemarsh Township municipal complex.

A meeting agenda can be found here.

Nicholas Karabots passed away last August at the age of 86, according to a story on PennLive.com.

The article says that Nicholas and Athena were well-known in the Greater Philadelphia region for their philanthropic endeavors, including being lead donors for a 50,000-square-foot addition to Philadelphia's Franklin Institute.

Known as the Nicholas and Athena Karabots Pavilion, it was considered the largest expansion of the Franklin Institute in the museum's 150-year history.

The couple were also the namesake of a pediatric care center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the story says.

And over here in Montgomery County, the couple gifted $7.5 million to Einstein Medical Center in Norristown toward a renovation of a medical office building.

Nicholas and Athena were owners of the Karamoor Estate Vineyard & Winery.