Marlow Historical Society Minutes - June 2009
Jeff Littleton spoke to us about the tasks at hand involving the Marlow Historical Society role in the Conservation Commission's Historical Resource Inventory.
1. With the assistance of MHS, the CC will compile a list of historical sites and structures for reuse as well as a list of present uses of historical structures. Business, industries, and public buildings will come first with private homes later there is time. We mentioned Jones Hall, Murray Hall, and the James Burnap House as well as Edgewater Park with twin waterfalls, and the Tontine House. We mentioned Adam Plumb and his father as good resources for information about Class Six roads and the Huntley Mountain area and John Salo for agricultural history.
2. The product will be a map with color coded symbols and text which will be a brief version of a stand-alone history of the town.
3. Jeff will email us a map and ask us to fill in structures and attributes of those structures including age of construction, removal from original site (if applicable), destruction, architectural style, quality, condition, importance, and uses (historical and present). We should include the library, stores, and any businesses.
4. We should find pictures, references from articles, and personal recollections.
Loisanne will loan her copy of the Jones map to Jeff. Loisanne will attempt to do a study of Washington Pond Road, particularly the mill sites.
Jeff will run a Conservation Commission Forum in the fall at which time the gathered information will be presented.
Loisanne read a brief Secretary's Report compiled and transcribed by Candy Wiggum. The report was accepted as amended. Mary presented the Treasurer's Report which was accepted as read. We now have $4,436.22 in our accounts.
OLD BUSINESS
By all reports, our NHHC speaker at Perkins School, Bob Goodby, did an excellent job on his presentation for the children and public who attended. He spoke on Native American archeology in New Hampshire and held his audience spellbound.
Maria asked what's happening with the windows at Murray Hall, and Mary assured us that Bucky is still planning to do them and will get to it, probably by doing a little at a time.
NEW BUSINESS
Mary explained that keeping our accounts at Ocean Bank has become troublesome as the bank makes accounts dormant after a very short time, making a lot of unnecessary red tape to reactivate them. She suggested that we move our accounts to Citizens Bank, and we agreed unanimously.
Monadnock Music Dinner and Concert will be held on Friday, July 17 this year. Mary has taken care of the letter to Pat Gallup and she has agreed once more to allow us to use Christmas Trees Inn. Mary will take care of the letter to the Selectmen. (Who will inform the Fire Chief?) Maria will contact Charlie Strickland and Tom Fuschetto to sell tickets at the door. Laura Lindholm has graciously consented to do the flowers. Maria will be in charge of the food and the dining room. Maria will send the call-for-donation forms to the board members and she will compile the information. Maria will be at Christmas Trees Inn the whole day from receiving to cleanup. Maria will cover letters to store managers asking for donations. We will ask Susan Rock to serve as our hostess again. Mary will do press releases and other publicity and inventory paper and plastic goods and get from Sam's Club what we need.
Instead of having a public forum for our postponed 1960's Oral History Project, we decided to accomplish that segment by individual interviews. Since Joann Thomas expressed an interest in volunteering again for Oral History work, we will ask her to participate.
Loisanne asked that it be a matter of record that, through our Forum contacts, we received two items last month. The first is the Pratt genealogy from Mardy O'Neil. The second is a box of New Hampshire public record books from the 1880's from Marcia Malone. They include legislative reports and "arguments" as well as such items as prison reports and annual reports on the care of the insane. Thank you, Mardy and Marcia!
During the last meeting, Pam had given each present board member information on a particular grant with a view to preserving the James Burnap House. Members reported back. Maria reported that for LCHIP, the preliminary application should be done on line, and, if the grant committee finds the on line application appropriate to the goal, we would be asked to submit a more detailed paper application. The Kresgie Foundation also wants an email application first.
Mary will cover our Museum hours (9:30 - noon) for June. Loisanne will cover for July 19th. We will deal with August when we know our August schedules.
We chose June 10 for planting the last three elms of our Liberty Elm Tree Project begun in Oct. of 2006. We will meet at Jones Hall at 9:00 AM, and, with the help of Tony Davis and a Marlow Town back hoe, plant one near Jones Hall, one by the cemetery, and one by the school. We thank Tony Davis for his help in this project. Without his generous gift of his strength and his time, we would be unable to complete this important project.
At Mary's suggestion, we agreed to purchase a sandwich board (23" by 36") with changeable letters for giving notice of the Museum hours and other events. The cost is $174.00.
At Loisanne's request, Mary will look up in the cemetery records for the surnames Steele and Lee in response to an inquiry on the MHS Forum.
We discussed the fact that Marlow is a beautiful town, much visited and photographed, a town with unique and interesting events, but this doesn't just happen. It is a result of community commitment and the efforts of many individuals. Loisanne agreed to express this point, profusely illustrated, in a letter to the Selectmen to make it a matter of public record.
We mentioned that Donna Chase takes care of landscaping at Abby Park. Jeannie Merwin does the garden beside the library. The Women's Group does the cleaning, weeding and mulching of the Jones Hall garden. Terry Lance planted flowering trees around town. Candy Wiggum has done the window boxes at Murray Hall, made by Adam Levesque, and the spring flower plantings at The Quiet Spot and around the MHS elms on the common for MHS. MHS has planted seventeen blight-resistant elm trees with volunteer help, including that of Tony Davis with the town back hoe. Charlie Strickland mows around Murray Hall and other public areas. The Salos of Windy Hill Farm have adopted the main road through Marlow to keep green.
In the 1990's MHS, through its Historic Preservation Fund, raised more than $20,000 for restoration work at Jones Hall, the Methodist Church, and the Odd Fellows Hall (Old Marlow Academy building). MHS volunteers continually show interest in Jones Hall by doing such things as restoring the cushions, putting floor protectors on the old benches, and sealing drafts! More recently, MHS has restored the exterior of Murray Hall (The Grange) and is working to restore the hall to become a useful community center. Through its research and expression of interest, MHS has preserved a piece of Marlow history, the old James Burnap home from a scheduled controlled burn and is working to find a grant for its restoration. MHS maintains the Hearse House as well as the old town pound. MHS maintains a museum above the Chapel which is always seasonally decorated by the Methodist women, whether by spring and summer flowers, autumn corn stalks, or Christmas village window display.
The librarians provide summer reading and activity programs for the children. MHS provides a community Christmas program with original Marlow skits each year and hangs wreathes along our pond fence, recently painted by volunteer youth. Members of various organizations coordinate their efforts in making sure that white Christmas lights appear in the windows of their respective buildings and the Odd Fellows light the trees on their lawn and provide of pot luck Christmas dinner with a special visit from Santa and gifts for all the children. Then there is the tree with tags that magically appears each year at Marlow Grocery, and, just as magically, provides generous gifts for needy children in town. During cold months, a group of women sponsor a monthly free pot luck meal for Marlow citizens sixty-five or older, providing not only nutrition, but a chance to socialize.
Adam Plumb chose for his Eagle Scout Project a well-marked trail up Bald Mountain to the Profile and has provided a kiosk with a map, making this natural area accessible to many. MHS sponsors the free Monadnock Music Concert at Jones Hall each summer and the fine dinner in the elegant atmosphere of Christmas Trees Inn with its "world famous" dessert buffet as well as free educational programs throughout the year. Organizations work together to provide the town's Harvest Festival complete with such as antique cars, a fire truck and/or a pony cart with free rides for the children, and there is always at least one free musical event, usually two or three. Our own Shanty Town Band is a favorite. The women of the Methodist Church provide us with another community event, Christmas on the Pond.
Dave Stewart and MHS keep Marlow in cyberspace with several presences on the web. MHS provides an interactive Forum dealing with Marlow History and genealogy and another historical web site dealing with connections to Lyme, CT. Dave Stewart has long maintained an interactive Marlow site which keeps us informed of town events and issues, allowing each organization its own free space on which we can post or minutes, our events, questions, and photographs.
These points will be among those mentioned in the coming letter. What can you add?
The meeting adjourned at 8:40 pm.
Respectfully
submitted,
Loisanne Foster