(a) The board of supervisors may procure by purchase, gift, devise or the exercise of eminent domain a lot or lots of ground located within the township and erect or use buildings thereon for township purposes. No land or property used for any cemetery, burying ground, public or parochial school, educational or charitable institution, seminary or place of public worship shall be taken or appropriated under this section.

(b) Subject to the restrictions contained in section 3402,¹ townships in counties of the second class A may enter upon and appropriate historic land and structures which are privately owned, provided the sole purpose of the taking is the preservation and maintenance of the property for its historic value and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission or the county historical society has certified both the historic value of the property and that it is not being maintained in an appropriate manner.