An $800,000 grant will be used to build a 100-foot, historically accurate walking bridge entry to historic Hyde Hall, State Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford announced Friday in the Cooperstown village offices.

"I’m delighted this has come to pass," Seward said. "Hyde Hall is significant for its history and its attractiveness as a tourism destination along the Route 20 scenic byway."

The footbridge will replace a vehicular bridge destroyed during June’s flooding. The grant comprises $640,000 in federal transportation funding and $160,000 in state money through the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

"After the June flood, we feared for our very future at Hyde Hall," said Alice Smith Duncan, executive director of the facility, in a news release. "But our loss was indeed the seed of our gain."

The bridge design is based on drawings from 1824 found in the archives of Hyde Hall. The project will also include creation of a new 20-car parking lot, handicap-accessible walkway, stream bed restoration and a new culvert. The total project could take three years to finish.