All right, good evening everybody. Um, my name is Tom Pendetti and I am substituting for Craig Dalton who is ill tonight and uh uh the time the beginning of our meeting is
6:31. Um, okay. Uh let's have a call of those members who are here tonight. Uh first uh Tom Vendetti is present, Linda Aosta,
Jim McKenna, Don Martin and Brad. Okay. And absent Lyn Carrero and Craig Dalton. Okay. Great. So we have a uh we have good number of people here. We'll begin first with a review of the minutes
of the previous meeting. question. Not not regarding the the minutes themselves. Fine. Um the the um the civil grade um Civil War restoration photos. Are any of those um
available? Um you should be I was I was and um uh I gave that I gave the stick with the converted file formats to Craig. Okay. So he does have that, right? And Craig Craig gave it to me. Oh, okay. And there
are only the um the tabletop tombs are there. Not none of the Civil War tombs are there. Gravestones are there. So um So you did tell me that when I got them. Um Oh, good. We do have the initial photos from the damage, but all the 13
stones. So we need to go back and take pictures of all the repaired ones now. Right. Craig um just told me that those uh tabletop ones that were done on the side of the of the uh meeting house, those are there. So So we will see about
the other ones and part of my questions for um for the book in that that section on restoration. Of course, it would be nice to see some of them. So only the tabletops were tabletop graves are
photographed, but what was missing? the um the Civil War graves. There's 14 of them in the old burying ground, right? 13 of the original damage ones. The 14th was missing. They dug up and found it. Was there a 15? No, the 14th
was, but remember the 14th was pretty much it just had the base and then they found it on They found it. That has been repaired. Yes. So, that has been repaired. So, there'll be 14 that we take pictures of now, but I think they only have 13 of damage, right? So, John, um, you'll you'll be following
up to get those photos. Okay. He said he gave me the strip. Must have left it like in the car. Nope. There it is. Oh, you're better than I. I had a flash drive with my, you know, it's all ready for tonight and I left it at home. I wonder who this
should be given to or whether they'll supply another flash drive. Um, while I take it for now, so we're going full circle here. Um, and I'll at least see if we can get this stored digitally
somewhere on the town website. And if not, I'll keep it on the personal computer. I don't want this to be the only thing that motion to approve the minutes. Sure. Has everybody had a chance to read the minutes? Okay, we have a motion to
approve the minutes. Second. All in favor? I I ready to move on to the next. Okay. Uh the paying of bills. Uh Craig gave this to me today and it is a
bill for NAPC dues which we take every year and it has gone up a little bit. But it's $150 now, but every year we do um Okay, we do pay and belong to this
group. So, um are there any questions about uh these dues? I have to um send this into the finance committee. I I I I just want to for my own sake, NAPC, that's the one that we talked about that provides like the webinars and exactly all of that
stuff. Yep. Yep. National Alliance of Preservation Commission. So, is there like a We wanted to go look at it and do you need a login or anything as a member? They uh uh Craig uh sends a blast out to everybody that something is
coming up. Okay. and and you can you can do it or not. Um in the la the last couple of years I haven't been able to do anything because we've been working so hard on other other issues. Uh but um Craig swears by them and um he's well
informed I think and part and partially uh because of them. So I think it's a worthwhile resource. Does everybody u agree that we should um do this? Well, I'm going to send this paper around and it requires a signature of everybody in order to pay
the Oh, Oh, thank you very much. Okay. And the next on the agenda to the update. Oh, wait a minute. The mail. And there is no mail. Just a process question. We don't need to have
a formal motion to pay those. It's okay. We just sign. That's enough. I don't know. So, uh, why why don't we cover both bases? We should ask Greg because he's on. Huh? We should ask Craig. He's on here. Oh, hey. Greg,
doesn't he looks um Well, why don't we cover all bases and simply is can I hear a motion to accept this pay this bill? I make a motion that we pay the bill for second. Okay. Thank you. All those in
favor? I Okay. Thank you very much. Now, um coming to mail, there was no mail in the mailbox and um so I think we can move on to number four, which is an update of the 300th book project.
Uh I can start quickly. We're uh into the sixth um section of 11 and um trying to ramp up our speed a little bit and really be planning ahead. at the other sections but um coming together really
really well and some sponsorships rolling in too. So we're ongoing. Could I ask when you say into um is that like you know doing all the the layout and the type setting and all that stuff.
You've already got the content. Yeah, content's pretty much set to that section. Not all, but it's it's starting to go through finishing editing to the designer. Yeah. And things do come up all of a sudden. We realize, hey, we should really say
something about this or that. And then and then we race to see if we can find some good resources. And it's a lot of fun, but it's enormous work. And I can tell you that our prime director is uh he's eating and breathing this project.
It's it's a lot of work. Huge work. Saw the four four members. Yeah. Excellent. The things you put on Facebook are really good in the all things Kingston the little y find more in the 300. Those are really good. I think it's good to
keep them coming. Appreciate people's attention that that's you know a big deal. Yeah. And the book will be not only informative but it will be beautiful and there'll be a lot of surprises in there because we're digging up some information that I I don't think has really I've seen
published before. So that that's a lot of fun. And we're coming right up to the present time because to yesterday is history if you know what I mean. So so many people who are living today, working today, uh contributing today to
the town um are actually historic figures. So um so I think it'll be very interesting to people. Uh we are ra trying to raise money, get contributions from people and um we also have right now a matching grant. So, if um anybody
here on the historical commission would like to donate um money to this uh cause to help us put this thing together, it's enormously expensive. I'm the treasurer. I know I'm the one who stays up at night going, am I going to be able to pay this
bill? Um but we do have this matching grant. So, if any if someone gives a $100, it's giving $200. So, how do you access that? Um, you would what you would do is simply uh write a letter to me, send it to me in an envelope and it
would be uh 300 Book Incorporated or Inc. and u Kingston 300. Oh my Kingston 300 Book Inc. So it's that probably be good to put on Facebook. Let's help people find
out what's going on in town. I know not everybody's on Facebook, but it's a lot of people see that stuff. Kingston 300, right? Kingston 300. No, three Kingston 300 Incorporated.
Kingston. All right. See, I'm the treasurer and I don't even know what the corporation is called, but And no th just 300. Yes. Yeah. But you would send it to my address. I'm the treasurer and I I take care of all the banking and I
do the deposits and I do withdrawals and we have monthly meetings going over the um my accounting. So where does the match come from? Who's doing giving the match? There's a um a private uh charitable
like an anonymous fun. Well, I mean, I will say as a member of of George River Village Historical Society who's a trustee of this fund and he's through his generosity. Oh, that's great. Great. Wonderful. We hope it'll continue for a little longer. Yeah. Makes it makes a
great deal of difference. It has helped us out a lot this spring. Promote it. Yep. It really does. I um this is now the third meeting that we've talked about and I have to send check. I'm sorry. Uh, I just have nothing in here,
but every time I go home and I'm just beating the drum all the time. No, it's good. Clearly, it takes me. Well, thank you. Number of beats of the drum for us. Do we have We gave We got coffees for this some point. Um, anything else about
300th book project? That's probably great for now, I guess. Oh, there's one other thing you should know. We're hoping to get this to the printer end of September into October and we're going to have these books ready. We hope
certainly before Christmas. So, um it'll be it'll be a lot of fun when they come out. I'll tell you, it's going to be beautiful. Every time I look at another chapter, it's like, oh my god, it's going to be unlike anything you've seen about Kingston history. It's gonna be
real nice. Is it um the six out of 11 sections are the sections um uh based on time intervals or there's some interceding sections that are more topical thematic
but but the key sections you know three centuries are in um generations of service section the full section just about final sign off. Very nice, Linda and the
working group. Yes. Terrific. Okay. So, we'll move on to section five, which is the update on the 300th anniversary committee. Okay. Um, so I I don't have a full update from the committee because unfortunately on our last meeting there was a uh Zoom outage,
so we had to cancel it. Um, so we didn't have that meeting, but we do have some stuff coming up. Um we have uh at least three more new members joining the committee uh within the next month. Um we also have uh many other members joining the working groups. So things
are progressing and moving forward. Um hopefully we will have a we were hoping to do it by June but hopefully by July we will have a calendar with pretty much all the dates down and events that we're going to do. Um on top of that um we're really going to be pushing our um merchandise sales this summer. automated
trying to get volunteers to hit all of the tinks and events like the uh farmers market, the um movie nights, the music nights down beach, things like that. So, if anybody's interested in uh purchasing 300 merchandise, um shirts um we have
pajama pants, sweatshirts, and hats. um will be around the um I know that the First Parish Church has its yard sale coming up and um as a nonprofit I don't have the date. I I'm going to uh I have to give you
information about G. So why don't I write uh I'll contact you with the date. Sure. And uh as a nonprofit they ought to let you have a little table there free of charge. I I'll I I I'm certainly uh uh that will be able to work out and
I'll send you the G uh info also. Thank you. Okay, you bet. All right. And um what we'd like to know u and I've thought about uh over time is the Kingston Historical Commission. Is there any way that somehow we can be engaged
in what's going on? I don't know what exactly. Um, I I just have no idea um how we could help you because right now we're writing this darn book which is taking all of our time. But um I'm wondering whether in some way uh who knows maybe
when maybe when the book is out maybe we can have some kind of event or something like that which would include uh you know. So, um I definitely um would love to have the historical commission involved and that's why I'm the representative to the committee for you. But, um some of the things I can think
of off him is we we're want to do event an event on the night that is actually our anniversary and I believe it's June 16th. I believe it's a Tuesday. Um so, it's kind of odd. You really can't do something during the work week during the day, but if we can do something at night, maybe that um we can involve the program commission to do something with
that. Yes. Um there's a couple other events I know um it's more you but we can involve the in commission as well with the um historic graveyard tours. Oh yes group has the house tours as well. So um those
are some of the the briefings I can think of that the historical commission can be involved with. But we're going to have plenty other stuff and a lot of volunteers. Like I said I know you've got you're going to be busy at least through the fall with this but after that we'll have plenty of other Yeah. um events and volunteer needs and
everything. The uh when is your next meeting of it? It is next Wednesday. Um maybe I could come on down and um talk to you about the tours for example. Yes. How many what you would like to see happen? Things like that.
Great. Yes. Okay. That's next Wednesday. Okay. Great. And hopefully at the Bradford House, you know, through the society, there'll be some special event Chuck Pisto giving tours or something. Yeah. Um just on a side note,
the um the Memorial Day parade um at the town cookout afterwards, there'll be a table with the Daughters of the American Revolution. I didn't realize that they I didn't realize they were still around. I thought that that had expanded. So, um,
my plan was hoping to talk to them, um, to see if they have reenactors and stuff like that we could possibly use, but also, um, we can probably use them for some of our, um, Revolutionary War history. Absolutely. Oh, that that is one other thing that I do need the historical commission's help with. Um,
one thing we do not have in town is a memorial for the Revolution. Um, and I figured that maybe our 300th anniversary would be a great date to do that. um speaking with the veterans agent, the um the VA and some of the other veterans
agents, the national veterans agents have grants for memorials. Yeah. So, I um I'm planning to look into that and I would like to get um a memorial done. Someone suggested um putting it on the town green because it's right in front
of the cemetery with the um where the most of our revolutionary veterans are buried. Um, but if that's not a plausible thing, then possibly in the old burial ground itself in the back where the veterans are. I know it's it's not front and center, but that is a veterans area and that's where all our
revolutionary most of our revolutionary vets are. So, just a couple locations they thought of briefly. There's a lot of things I have in my mind that ought to be thought about for the 300th. In any event, um, takes
volunteers. It's been it's been hard to get some, but they're starting to come around now. Some of them are very simple, but uh I should say u that we're we're going to have um a program of I guess you'd call them lectures uh
um during uh 2026 and um perhaps that could be part of your calendar. It will be. Yes. Right. So, um, that'll probably be either at Samson Hall or it'll be over at the Adams Library, right? So,
uh, we'll decide that's going to work. But I think that'll be very interesting for people. We have all kinds of topics be dealing with. So, well, that's very exciting. the idea of the memorial of revolutionary war.
Um, patriots, not just not just the soldiers, we have also patriots who risked everything, you know, like William Sber, everything. All right. Well, are out there to help do that.
Okay. Well, thank you so much. And next is the old burying ground updates, tree removal, inspection, and so on. And uh Craig um is the master of the tree removal. And uh he did contact me uh on
the phone and said even though he may not be present at our at this meeting or maybe even the next meeting that he would be willing to uh kind of supervise it from afar. He'll he'll know what's going on when when it's happening. And
um and I'm sure you can assign us, Craig, to uh if you need somebody up there to uh watch something, uh we can figure that out, too, and give you reports and let you know what's happening. Well, thanks. Thanks you guys for coming in. Um got a couple things,
quick things, but the tree removal, we passed the town meeting. Um there wasn't there weren't any problems with it this time. So, we have 65,000 to work with. Um, I'm going to get the RFP written up, talk to Fisher about the process for
that as far as bid versus RFP, but I think we're going to try an RFP and try to get some people at least at least one or two. I know we get one bid on the 65. See if we can get a couple. Um, so that's going to be working on while I'm in here.
Um, the other thing was uh just to remind you everybody to sign the uh bill tonight. Yeah, bill payable form that uh you had there Tom. And then a reminder, I asked Tom to
mention you, John, too. The disc for the uh pictures had pictures of the box graves only on it. And um Okay. So, I didn't know if they took before pictures cleaning the other graves. Uh no. And when I brought that disc, um I I did say
that. He told me it was only the box graves. I have um 13 of the 14 original pictures of the damage. Um the 14th was missing. They found it. Um so I need to go back and take pictures of all the ones that have been repaired and then we'll have a complete set of everything.
So you have the before on those other ones then. Is that right? I do. Yes. Y Okay, good. We like to get them all together. So all right. Um I do. And the other thing was Thank you. I mentioned to you too, John. I think I got an email about um cleaning products. Yes. Got um
we've got uh after the 150 for the membership, we've got about 850 in the U count right now for this year and we should be spending it pretty quickly. The thing that I can see coming up that might cost us some is advertising maybe
for the work in the uh old burying ground that a couple hundred bucks on there for that. But I don't know what you have to to uh you know how much that stuff costs or what we need to do. But I'm going to leave it to you guys to
kind of decide tonight um what you want to get and we should buy it while we can um with this year's budget. So I'll leave it. Craig, uh can I ask on this year's budget? Did we get that resolved? Are we at a thousand or 250 or
where are we? Yeah, we went they brought it back uh to the original thousand. So, okay. Um let's see. Yeah, and they've split it up. I mean, we've got actually we've got close to a,000 in there, but you take out the 150 we just spent and
the a couple hundred for the other thing. We can purchase, you know, five $600 worth of supplies, it's enough, I think, safely enough. I think we'll have to buy a sprayer to I actually have that information. Great. So, the D2
um very briefly, this is just one company, but they're all similar prices. Um for a five gallon uh correction, the five No, sorry. Five gallon bucket about $28. Um and then a kit, which includes um a sprayer, a
brush, one gallon jug, and then two quartsiz spray bottles um and a couple other smaller cleaning things. um that is $101. So we could buy a five the five gallon jug to have it and then we could buy two of these kits which would
include some more of the D2 but also multiple sprayers and brushes. So that would be approximately uh would be four four to 450. Yeah. I'm sorry. I had 208 for the five gallon bucket and 208 for the five gallon bucket and for
the um it is actually called gravestone cleaning kit master. Um, and it's 10134. So, the five gallallon bucket has a D2 in it. Is that right? It's a D2 concentrate. And then you also with these other kits, you also get another one gallon. And then you have um
actually, I'm sorry, it's not concentrate. It's just the straight chemical that you use. Um, and then you also get two quartsiz sprayers and then another separate spray bottle that you can use for the one gallon or for the five gallon. And and I'm sorry, just you got to 500 because you're thinking two
five gallon. Um, no. It would be like four, sorry. Four um 400 to like 425. It would be in there depending. Isn't it 309? 208 and 101. Oh, I was thinking of two kits. So, two kits. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. Gotcha.
So, what do we end up with total, John, for um what equipment, Ben? So, it will give us um one 5gallon jug, two onegon jugs, four quart-s size containers, two sprayers, the two brushes, and some other miscellaneous um equipment. So,
that would be like seven gallons of liquid. Yep. Okay. And then you wanted to buy more of that. It was what how would what is it? Um another five gallons or um 200 bucks? Oh, you can buy
it by the five gallon, but you can also get uh let me see if they have it. You can buy a smaller kit, which is a onegon and a one quart, and that's $62. Um, if we needed just the just the
chemicals themselves, um, if we didn't want to buy the five gallon. And what about protective gear? Um, so the kits um come with rubber gloves. Um, yeah, that's it. Rubber gloves, no eye
protection or um or um yeah, from what I was told, um, eye protection is probably needed, but um, you don't need to be in a Tyveck suit. Um, but it it doesn't hurt to wear guns.
Okay. Well, you guys can z up. I have to go, but uh you know, five to 600 bucks should be able to spend on uh on this stuff here. And I guess we're going to need an invoice and we're going to have
to meet to pay it uh to agree to pay it so we can get the money out to them once we get the stuff. But um and this company will they accept do we have to um you know I say can they invoice us
for the stuff once we get it or on that part? I just did a couple checks with some online. Um, so I'll check and see which one. The one that was recommended to me, they didn't have the prices online. That's um I think it's Vermont Granite Supply. Um, but this one is uh
cemetery preservation supply, but I would assume they deal with municipal cemetery, so I'm sure they could probably um get us a um to bill us. Yeah. And how close make some phone calls? Would they be delivered or do we
have to pick it up or what? Um I it's delivery. So I don't know if there's a delivery charge either. I have to um check on that when I actually and actually going down further there there are different there are more different packages we can get with different amounts. So it doesn't hold us
to buying just a five gallon. All right. Well, if you want to put that together and um well, I can say $500 to $600 total for everything we need, then um write it up and we will u we'll have to get together again just to vote on it. I tell you what, you may be able to
go ahead and might be able to just go ahead and uh approve an expenditure, but we don't have anything to sign yet anyway, so we still have to get together to sign it. Yeah. So, but um why don't we do that? Let's let's
plan on um we tonight we'll go ahead and have a motion to plan on spending up to $600 on this cleaning equipment um subject to availability and then once we get the equipment the invoice we'll write it up and then you guys can come
in and sign it in the townhouse. We'll leave it in the mailbox like that. Okay. Does that sound good? That's it. You like that idea? All right. Okay. Okay. So, shall we make a motion to uh set aside uh up to $300 up to $600 uh for
supplies to clean um gravestones in the old ground? Yes. Make that motion. I made the motion. I did a second. Second. Okay. All those in favor? I I I will um Okay. And John,
you'll keep in touch with me on that, you will let you know. Um but um even if we get this up um soon, I would say we hold off till the trees come down before we Agreed. Oh yeah. Yeah. Now it's just to spend for this fiscal year. So down
to the end. Yes. Yep. Right. Okay. Now what I understand I got to say good night to you guys. Okay. Sorry, but um thanks for coming. Appreciate you filling in. Thanks, Tom. Here now. We expect you at the next meeting now. Well, we'll see when the
next meeting is, I guess. Right. I know. Take care, Greg. Right. Yeah. Good night. Um, the good thing about this stuff is you spray it on and you just go away and you come back and take a look at it, see what it's like. Sometimes you need a second coating and a little
little brushing, but it's it's really uh it's it's it's good stuff. And even now I can see graves that have been done, especially the tabletop graves that are beginning to get a little dark tomb again every every couple years.
They do. Does it look um natural still like like you know sometimes with like cleaning products I know almost makes it look I'm not think grace but other things makes it look too clean you know kind of in a way out and stuff. Yeah. The the the marble looks very white.
Yeah. Yeah. And the gray the gray tends to look a whitish gray rather than a gray. But um but look, we can we can don't forget these weathered and so we're looking at old weathered stones. Maybe when they were new they didn't
look quite right as dark. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. Um some more information um about the old burying ground. I went up this week and um I checked all the Revolutionary War graves. It's 45 of them. Um, there are 50 uh supposedly uh
veterans of the Revolutionary War buried, but only 45 have been uncovered. Um, I checked them for uh markers and whether the the flags were intact. And so the 45 have markers. Some of them I
have to replace and uh and uh but they're okay. And I replaced some of the flags. And I did the 14 Civil War graves. Also, boy scouts should actually be in there tonight. Um, replace all the ranks. Oh, good. In any event, um, so
everything is all set. Uh, the scouts can go, if they go in, they can take a look and see see what they think. Um, but they all certainly have the markers there. Um, the condition of the graveyard itself is not particularly good. I don't think anybody's been in
there cleaning up the graveyard yet. Were you also the person that inquired about the cleaning? because someone inquired with the veterans agent as well about the cleaning who did that. Really? And I informed the Mr. Town. Okay. Yeah. So, she was going to let that person know. Okay. Um you're not the only one
that's made that comment. Yeah. I did talk to the veterans agent about it, too. Okay. Um Oh, by the way, one Revolutionary War grave had not been cleaned. Apparently, it slipped by Pelleg Bradford. Okay. and uh and we'll
test out our new cleaning agent on Pelig right away. And it's it's a nice um marble. Okay. As well. It's right near Bill Dad Washurn. So, it's right near the church. Right near right near the church. So, it looks good. I was happy that all of our stones are there.
They're all upright and and uh and I was able to find them all, too, which is a miracle. My wife said, "Do you want me to come?" I said, "You don't want to do this. It's It's going to be memorized by now pretty much. Well, we do pretty well. Civil War. We went over that
together several times. Can I just go back for a second? I'm sorry. Um, so we made the motion we'll spend up to the 600, but John's going to coordinate purchasing the cleaning supplies and then once you have the
price, we're going to all come into the townhouse and sign the approval to purchase it. Yeah. And then John will actually go and purchase it. Is that the way the process works? Okay. See the kids out there now? Do you see them?
Yeah, they're right there. Oh, yep. Okay. So, um I guess we are now going on new business. Are we? Yes. Um new business. Uh does anybody
have new business? I know that you do. We we both sort of do, but I can start. Why don't you Why don't you go first? Uh we received and um Craig has a copy which I'm sure can be distributed um from the Jones River
Watershed up at Forge Pond um in advance of the of the fish passage improvement project um which is going to mean putting in a fish ladder at the pond. I think it's close to the old Forge Road area, but there was a archaeological
reconnaissance survey done um just to kind of weed through are there any sensitive archaeological sites that might be impacted by the work that also involves
streen ladder. Um and it it's it's a as archaeological reports are it's sensitive that we you know we wouldn't share it be redacted like exactly when when the most sensitive area concern
where it is so that no one was in there afterwards. But um but I actually talked with Pine today. I I have the conclusions and recommendations and she said it's a commission one or two or we could just wait till how Craig would
like to but share that. But essentially there's um there's no um main impact seen except that in one area which which um is
uh between the old Forge Pond Road and I mean old uh Blake Street, excuse me. Um and Blake Street is where um there's um evidence of uh there was an old um tap
and nail mills there. So it's industrial archaeological. It's not Native American stuff that's that's not going to be impacted those sites. Um but there all they're all they're recommending is that there be special monitoring when that
area is being excavated where the fish ladder just have some eyes on it. Um so it's not doesn't sound like a big deal but it's of course of interest to us um with the that that era um 18th and 19th
century with the there were you know forges um and the the nail intact um mills or works um were there. We actually have a little bit on that in the in the forthcoming book. But anyway, so that's that's the gist of it.
[Music] Um, and again, I maybe suggest we see what what Craig would like to do next time, but you know, the recommendations are are here. Um, it's a report. It's a public archaeology lab. We did a lot of
work around town. They gave it came in last month, April, uh, to Jones River wershed. Um, people in town like conservation agent Matt Panell was involved, etc. So it's not like it's not like a big secret.
Yeah. The u the only thing that I would add is that um um you know the public archaeology laboratory have designated both the u postc contact and the pre-cont um uh sites uh as high
sensitivity areas. So they they want us to be very careful about everything that is being done down there and that the uh pre-cont Native American uh sites uh go back quite a way. That's different levels of actually going back
further in history. So prehistory. So it's very interesting. Everything that everything that uh you've spoken about is actually what I saw for the most part. Uh I I just got a a copy of it yesterday. Um Craig doesn't really want to
um copy this information, but this is just from the abstract that I have down here. It's just Yeah. And I got some interesting pictures uh from uh Pine and uh that the water is not coming from um Silver Lake
uh coming down into Forge Pond. It's dry because the rock has been taking the water and that's seriously impacting I forget the name of the type of fish. But there's a type of fish that has gone up herring and the herring.
They can't get back out to the ocean and Well, there's those and then there's the ones that are coming up this year. Yeah. And they have nowhere to go. Said they have video of it with hundreds of fish. Yeah. Just swimming there and I got no place to go. Yeah. So, all of the work
that's being done to try to bring back the the Jones River to its natural state, as natural as possible, Yeah. is really being thwarted by the fact that Brockman's taking too much water and that they're not taking it from their wells, as far as I understand. And the eel population as well. There's
a lawsuit going on right now. Are a little better off in that they're able to get across dry areas. You know, they're they're somewhat more mobile. Uh but still they are they are being impacted.
Yeah. And they are trying uh so I'm on the the Joseph Worship Association as well and you know we are trying to hold Brockman accountable. There's a lot of politics. There's a lot of uh grandfather clauses and and there's a
lot of money involved with this. Essentially, you know, from what Pine has sleuththed out essentially takes a lot of water from Silver Lake and then turns around and sells it to otherities.
So, it's kind of a bang for them. You know, they're they're not using it themselves. So it's uh it's very complicated but uh the watershed association is trying to get some accountability. We'll see what happens. That's great
you're on. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's very interesting. Well, I have one fun thing to tell you about. At 200 Main Street, there is a house. It's right across the street from the Reverend Stacy's house, right near
the point. The house is kind of back in behind some trees. You can kind of see it. It's an old old home. Well, it's for sale. And it turns out that that's the Abel Washurn house. And by the way, Jan was the one who alerted me to that at our meeting the other day. She knows
everything. Abel Abash burn house. Now, that house originally was basically kind of up where Samson Hall is on that on the side of the street, further up Main Street, closer to the road. And Abiel was a
carpenter and he had a little store. Okay. Uh it was built around 18 18 I 18 1808. Okay. Um had his family there and decided to move. So he went he sold his
house. He went and he moved to Akran, Ohio. The all the whole family went to Akran. Never he never came back. His his daughter Linda went on a wagon train from Akran to Sacramento, California during the
gold rush. Okay. She washed and mended clothes. Okay. made money, never married, invested in property, and when she died in 1888, she was one of the wealthiest women in California. So, it's an interesting
story. The whole story is really cool, and she was a real character from what I found. In her will, she wanted her body to be brought back to Kingston where she was born to Evergreen Cemetery. A monument to be built there and her
mother and her father and all of it's a it's a monument to her mother, father and all of her siblings, even though none of them are buried there. And her body is to be buried there above ground. So there's like a vault with just grass over it. And this is beautiful monument.
It's an evergreen. It's one of the prettier monuments. That's a cool story. It's a cool story. Right. Well, the house was moved down to its present location. So, I'm wondering if anybody here wants to go down. I I'll be glad to
call up the real estate agent and u and maybe let us take a walk through it. Is that the one they had the estates sale a couple days ago? Oh, really? It was Did you go? I did not, but I've been in there for Oh, yeah. with the fire department. Seen a little bit of the house. Not the whole thing.
Is it worthwhile visiting or is it pretty? I think it would be if you could get in there. Yeah. Yeah. Just just for interest sake, you know, and there was a huge tree out in front of that house for a long time and then finally it was down. I mean, it would have been beautiful if it was landscaped and the
tree was there, but that went years ago. Couple years ago. That wasn't the house that's on that tapestry, was it? Yeah. Second, was it on the on the Yeah. That's the house, right? That's the house. Okay. You talk about the little Yeah. And next door was his brother, Billad Washburn, when you can see him
pounding the the gravestones, you know, and I think Tom and Jan noted when you see that in the book's a little asteris the house was moved. Oh, good. Yeah. It's so interesting, you know, to me. Anyway, her story is really Yeah. Yeah. So,
in Marshfield, I think that is amazing. I think like you can do it now, but Yeah. Exactly. just and lifting it up, you know, houses. They were moved all over the place. You see it all the time with these Massachusetts
Historical Commission things that we have here. Slowly, I understand it. But slowly lift up. Exactly. Like they didn't have the kind of jacks we have now, do they? Don't forget these were ship builders. they could do stuff with levers and pulleys and things, you know,
and uh well, anyhow, so um I'll call them up tomorrow and uh get a couple of dates and uh let you folks know and maybe we can go down and see it, you know. But um but uh I'll also I'll I'll
email everybody at least the name of the um of the realtor, you know, and if any of you have an interest. I just want to see the inside of of Linda Washurn's house. That's all for all it's worth. Is there any other uh additional
uh things to be discussed here tonight? No. Anybody uh I will entertain a uh Oh, first of all, we we will meet next month. Is that satisfactory to everybody?
Yes. Wednesday is June 11th. June 11th. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Hey. Um Craig um I I I should tell you I did see Craig today when he he
gave me um this paper for you to sign and he was fine. He really looks pretty good. Looked pale but he's standing up clear. Well, you saw him clear Isabelle. I I have no idea what physical ailment
he has, but he's been ill. And um you want to um uh close the meeting and get off the Sure. Absolutely. Absolutely. I'll entertain a motion to make a motion to
second. Yeah. All those in favor? I I Okay.