Perhaps it’s fitting that the once-grand home of a Civil War Army major isn’t going down without a fight.

A group working to save Coupeville’s Haller House got a double dose of good news last week to keep alive hopes that it can purchase the home, restore it and one day turn it into a heritage and visitor center to showcase Washington’s territorial period.

Historic Whidbey, a nonprofit working to acquire the 150-year-old house, didn’t raise the $250,000 it had hoped to reach by a May 19 deadline to be eligible to apply for a state grant, but a significant pledge by a donor and an empathetic gesture by the homeowner kept the project from being defeated, according to Lynn Hyde, the nonprofit’s president.

Historic Whidbey received a $20,000 pledge May 16 from the Pickard family of Coupeville to push its fundraising total to $50,000. That met the challenge of an anonymous Seattle donor who last month agreed to donate $50,000 if an equivalent sum could be raised elsewhere.

Still well shy of the sum it was required to raise in order to be eligible for a Washington State Heritage Capital Projects Fund grant, Historic Whidbey then approached the McPherson family of Coupeville with a lower purchase offer last week — and the McPhersons accepted, Hyde said.

The newly accepted price for the home was $265,000 — down from $375,000 — with the McPhersons still retaining the waterfront portion of the property on Front Street, Hyde said.

With enough cash and pledges in hand, Historic Whidbey met initial requirements to apply for a grant in which the state would pitch in one-third of the purchase price, Hyde said.

Historic Whidbey will need to come up with rest of the money to account for the remaining two-thirds, but last week’s developments enabled the group to apply for the grant, build momentum and buy more time.

“It’s exciting news,” Hyde said. “I’m shell-shocked.”

And, by the end of the week, she was exhausted.

“I haven’t had much sleep,” Hyde said. “The state grant is a beast of an application.”

There are still plenty of uncertainties and potential barriers, Hyde admitted. The grant must still be approved and funding could take more than a year.

That means fundraising efforts will continue.

“The good news is, ‘We’re not dead,’” Hyde said.

Ken Pickard, a retired attorney who grew up in Coupeville and was instrumental in helping lead the fight to preserve the Ebey’s Prairie landscape, credited Hyde for her tireless efforts the past three years to save the Haller House.

Pickard, his sister Jan Pickard and their mother Muriel Pickard were given a tour of the home by Hyde and ultimately became convinced it was a unique residence from an important territorial time period that was worth preserving.

So the family agreed to pledge the $20,000 to help protect it.

“I thought, ‘We can’t let this go by the way side,” Ken Pickard said. “It’s pretty apparent what would happen. If somebody were to buy the property, they’d tear the house down and build something new.

“It’s not like the Victorians. There are a lot of Victorian homes but there are not many of the earlier settler homes left and none of them open to the public except for the Jacob Ebey House in the summer.”

Pickard, a 1968 graduate of Coupeville High School, grew up with brothers Stanley and Dan Willhight whose family lived in the house for decades. Edna Willhight was a school teacher in Coupeville.

“I had that little connection with the old place,” Pickard said.

Pickard said his mother is still a little skeptical. The home needs extensive repairs, starting with its roof, which received more damage by raccoons recently.

But preserving another piece of Coupeville’s history is important to Pickard.

“I’m really proud of our family for stepping up,” he said.