[Music] good evening and welcome to the cush historical Commission meeting for May 14th here at 6:30 at the Town Hall this is in the finance committee room um have a motion to open the meeting I'll make a motion I have second and second okay okay so we'll we'll build the pledge tonight there's no flag in here all right you want me to reild the minutes the minutes from the April meeting okay y okay okay let's see all president except for John yep well he's a select man will be moving monument at old library to finding way pting way grounds the Tank's capsule will be found and moved uh must try to find a way to get into the old library and see how bad it is I think that's still important for us well he won't let me in I know that but there's going to be a way I'll find out breaking and entering now okay uh someone from the historical commission should be allowed to get inside just to check the place out of course state is cutting back on funds for local programs cut back funds will be a problem for preserving buildings meetings for the last meeting accepted Y Community preservation commission put sear charge on utility bills to pay for improvements to historical buildings problem is voters will reject must try to find a way to get code exemption on historical building so they can be used hlin Street cannot be taken care of because Mill does not belong to the town am I right on that yes okay all requests must go through Selectmen m flag hole at Museum must be repaired Pole to be painted and pulley repaired problem is machine needed to reach the top still looking for old pictures of building and places in town meeting was adjourned at 7:30 okay you have a motion to accept the minutes so move second second okay all in favor okay so we accept few minutes all okay and now about the theal library um Mr Kelly told me that we cannot go in there he said the fire department is not even allowed to go in there nobody is because of the condition building can't be that bad no I think what they're afraid of is because they had told me that the ceiling had fallen and I believe it probably is the ceiling in the lower level must have come down yeah you know and I'm probably afraid of as bestus and everything that could be in there you know has there any been any word on the sale of the building nothing I haven't heard nothing so when is the next select's town meeting that we can attend the town meeting has been mov coming up isn't it pretty soon June 17th they changed it from June 3rd now to June 17 that will be town meeting and that'll be up at the school on Middle Road were they vote oh yeah that'd be uh no I said is that where the meeting is isn't where they vote that's yeah the residents will be there hopefully we get enough people there to vote now I found that uh my wife has been watching the TV for the select meetings and I found out this week we have a bicycle commission that's brand new yes that is brand new now what is do you know the name of the gentleman who runs it I know lri Bates is on there because I saw her on on the meeting on TV they were showing the meeting and only her and one other lady showed up so they really didn't go through with the meeting and I think it was at the council in aging well I know that they're looking for members they're looking for members but two members resigned because the selectman on their meeting tonight accepted the resignations of two members a manually on the high school really right so they only got probably a couple of members period and lry Bates is one of them so um I I need phone list again so you guys they looking for members all right lry bates's phone number is right there or email her emailer with the uh she's on that she's the one yeah she's one of them on the uh and joh there's a phone list for you oh good yep okay so you could call lii or email her and ask her about it tell her you're interested see what that what where that goes okay okay so yes new business uh one other thing that I found out or she did actually she Dred me crazy anyway uh the uh budget allowed for the historical commission next semester or whatever it is I don't know how long it it last every year every year it's only $9,000 that's all we get that's all you get I think I might have got a little bit more this time really was on the TV was 9 Grand yeah so and that with that money I run the meeting house and the museum was I going to say electric bills is that enough uh it's close but I just got two builds uh for electric in both buildings and telephone I'm going to send bring those builds in tomorrow and um I just had an oil delivery every oil delivery was $600 $700 $100 was horrible oh horrible this year but uh yeah I still got money left over in my account so but last year I had got a raise cuz they gave us a uh what do you call it a new liner and it was for um like office supplies and things like that um because I was making um copies and the pictures that we were having Haven framed so that came under that covered the covered most of what I did last year but that's for both buildings okay uh is that the a total number of buildings that the town owns that are historical how many are there it's um per Hill per Hill Church the museum the museum the meeting house the Quake of Friends Meeting House is one 1 mile up from the museum yep 1 mile up near qu Lane mean up you mean further out further out on Main Street what's what is it the Quaker our friends Quaker Meeting House yep okay then that's the three that uh those three the libraries is the town building the new library too I believe is still under the town of aush the new what the new library on Middle Road so that's a historical building also that's that doesn't need any work no they've been doing a lot of stuff on that building yeah they have cuz I go it quite a bit and I have my meeting for the society there be Thursday [Music] night okay so with the $99,000 that doesn't seem to be any major construction allowed this year am I right or wrong was that's one need a budget to run the buildings that's for like your heat Electric telephone oril you know the oil is there more available oh that's where CPC comes in so if you've got any ideas of something that you want to do MH well do any of the buildings need major major Construction Construction right now the um the museum has been doing pretty good see what happened was I used to get in touch with the Sheriff's Department mhm cuz they have the work clue and now that's how we were able to have the museum painted and I think I we did it twice or three times since I've been involved okay does it need it again uh well the back side of the buildings for some reason or other never got completed so I talked to the uh well town administrated and also the boys that work for the town that do the little work arts and ends they cut the grass and all that and I've talked to them so they're aware of it so I don't know if they're going to be able to do it because even then they're going to need a lift truck you know something to be able to reach the building that building is tall yeah I know but that like you said before that stuff isn't cheap to rent it isn't cheap but there again if the building needs work then what I have to do is go to CPC and ask for the fots was I going to say now can is it possible to get the back of the building painted and the flag pole the flying pool and the fire chief has been out there to look at it and he I saw him last week and he said to me I will be calling you but he's got to make sure that he's got enough guys on duty that day so that the fire department is covered because if they go out there with a ladder truck that's going to take two guys or three okay he said that he would be able to do it and he's going to call me and let me know when he can get out there but he's got to have the coverage so the fire department can probably take care of the FL mhm in due time I don't know if they're going to be able to paint it though that's the only thing that's going to take a time and I don't think they can tag the machine up that long okay and the other thing too is I've had the Der Ro Brothers do a lot of work for me too on the on the museum and um even on the meeting house they've done a lot of work but with the meeting house the meeting house has its own funding in fact uh if you guys have a chance you should go out and take a look at it because the paint is chipping in a lot of places on the meeting house so um they've changed things around now so that they have a board for all the um what do you call the uh the fund set up oh my God I can't take today my brain is dead um you know the meeting house has that fund where we can't spend the 100,000 that was originally put in there we can only spend over I can take that money to do whatever we need at the meeting house but they've changed it now where they've got got a committee Pam is on that committee with John Roy from Middle Road there's another guy too there's three of them so we' have I what I I'm assuming and I got to talk to Pam about it I would probably have to get two or three rids and see what it would cost to have that building um you know fixed up touched up where the paint where it really needs painting I don't know if that'll get done this year because uh D Ro is are so booked up with work I don't know if we can do that and the town guys I mean they've got the two boys now from Old Colony but right now they're doing cutting grass they have to maintain all these buildings oh you know with the grass y they've going to do it so that's their job so I might have to hold off until next spring well we got to do what we got to do right that's right now the museum for CPC remember I put in asking for the money for the on the South Side mhm okay as far as I know that everyone's approved it so far so that's going to town meeting okay the fence has been approved the fence was approved by CBC and the selectman so now it goes to time town meeting to get the final approval and then I can get the funds been approved by who the selectman CPC CPC and the selectman and the select and I believe Finance uh committee also so at this meeting for the town where the selectman will be there we can maybe find out a little more if we open up miles the library you can't do that at town meeting it don't take no because a town meeting they're going to have an agenda uh there a name for what do they call that uh with all the items listed and you got to vote on them one at a time okay M you're allowed to speak you know on that particular item well will your library come up I don't know I don't think so not that I know of maybe I don't know is there anyone that we can find out what's going on anybody we can ask oh yeah I can ask Kevin the one that was out there the Selman you just missed him oh dear but I complained to him about the Hamlin Street Bridge nobody has been there for over 3 weeks nobody's working on that bridge so one of my neighbors I guess was really upset and he called the state raised hell with the state what's going on here you know we live on this street we have to go through Main Street I know even when I leave the house in the morning 6:30 7:00 I hit all the school buses and I hit all the traffic coming from Rochester it's a full line of traffic where before I could shoot out Middle Road at Clear sailing to go to work you know so it's a real pain with it being closed was I going to say what wonder what's taking so long it should have been done they're not even there working I know there's no heavy equipment there there's nothing what you see when I I went down there last Friday actually who's in charge of the uh it's the state this is all being done through the state but I put a bug in Kevin's ear out there and he said I'm going to get on top of it he'll make some phone calls and find out what's going on I something's good they know they didn't know it's not being worked oh he could tell because he said he took a ride down there last week and he could see there's a huge Mount of dirt in the street and it's barricaded all over the place so you look they've got like a cement platform where the water runs through that part of the bridge is going to be cement beyond that is a huge pile of dirt in the street yep no equipment whatsoever nothing nobody's working there at all so how do we uh how do you complain to the state who do you complain to I don't know my neighbor did he called up there and he raised some heck so I don't know who no because you know that's like you said that's been more a year now um July right it'll be July will be a year yeah and they said three when they first started three years three years slow coold molasses running up hill sounds like the state that sounds like the state y yep so that's where we're at okay what I'll do is I'll put a I can call Kevin in uh cuz I already bugged him tonight about the street about the bridge I can call him and find out what's going on uh with the library see if they can tell us a little more who's going to man the museum you uh myself and Katie one of the members of the society we're open from 1 to 3 and that's for tours or are you just people can go just they can they come in yeah they ask questions we you know answer the questions we show them around we just had some work done at the Museum we had all new window shades put in upstairs in the clothing room oh my God what a difference the shades in that build that they green on the outside what on the inside gloomy so dark and you should see the difference with the new shades all white but they room darkening so we can pull them down to save the clothes yeah oh yeah you know but what a difference so now we're getting a price on the other room and see what that's going to cost to do um we're working we're trying to keep these buildings going of course like I say that right now as far as I know the meeting house is off limits I even talked to uh Mr Kelly about doing the car show which I used to do up there every year and um any were on the car show that supposed to be in town here that cancel for two years I don't know I I haven't heard nothing about that either okay what you should do call the selectman office and talk to Sydney the girl that she's the administrator's assistant talk to Sydney and then she'll go right to Mr Kelly and and say you know this call came in they want to know about this and she'll get some answers for you I've been trying to see Mr Kelly he's been so busy with this uh town meeting stuff that I haven't been able to catch him in there they're in meetings all the time so yeah okay so uh uh all right so tell me it will be June 17th yep still looking for pictures for the Perry Hills School yeah this background is the school when did they tear it down 1944 I think uh the last document I've got on it was 1944 and they took all the wood and used it to build the um Legion Legion on Hope Street that don't makees sense what uh what was I going to say where was the school right at the corner perill Road you go around mle Road this is where we had the little park all cleaned up the scouts did it that's where it was that's where there's still part of the foundation on this side of near the neighbor they're still part of the foundation there it was a good size building well it must it was a good a good size building did they only have one class in it I guess it was all open for one class but it looked almost like a twostory it had a big peak roof if you look at some of the pictures that the ones that Gary gave me that were quite of they weren't very clear um it resembles the church it's almost identical to what the church looks like and that was the school y So and I've been trying to find pictures I've asked everybody about pictures and just like the old meeting house that was over here where the fire department is that old sign you remember the old 1903 sign that was outside on the ground they refurbished it it's hanging up in pading ways so if you go in there you go in you look straight ahead it's on the wall he did a beautiful job painting it and the meeting house is there in fact I went to the town clerk's office today to get some information looking for old Maps I'm looking for an 1830 map of aush I've got documentation in fact I showed Pam that says all the one room School houses that were in town years ago there was like nine of them really yeah if you it's on the 1830 map shows all the schools I cannot find an 1830 map nowhere I've gone online researching asking for antique maps what was that the early 1900s 1830 1830 1830 it's an 1830 map here's a question for you since the town did not officially committed being until 1860 is there any building over in Fair Haven that might possibly have such a map do you know the lady that was at the library in for Haven that knew only hysterical she passed away oh I talked to her quite a few times she was such a knowledgeable person yeah she passed away so I don't know who's doing it now cuz what one would have to figure there's going to be some old thing in the original U Town that this was once a part of I mean I've even inquired in dmouth yeah because it was part of dmouth part of fa Haven even part of newed up here near River end yeah yeah now it's part oford um the only other thing I can think of is to go to the assessors in the bethan mhm and see if they have old Maps they might have one you that goes back that old I wonder if there might be Maps U perhaps in some dusty height away in the registry of deeds from way back not somebody that those Maps we were looking at yeah back in the 1700s or 1800s you were looking at Maps well the some of the uh found a few yeah some of the properties that we were looking at yeah they had a map of right the street map certain section of the Town yeah you know there's got to be a like you said at the uh registry of deeds there got to be a map at a time you know who may help us there's a guy in there that does all the um photocopying and so forth I Tred to reach him too with no luck anytime I've been in there he he's seems to be present he seems able to help out but they gave me his phone number yeah yeah no but if there's any body is AP to know where the oldest stuff might be is him I should think cuz I've been in there a number of times and he's always been helpful to me what about the print shop the one that's right there alongside the registry of deeds that the fellow it's a print shop a print shop yeah oh yeah I know what you mean yeah you see a sign for it at the side of the building yeah I don't know if that would have anything but uh certainly no harm in asking I might be in the in there sometime before the week is out I could just question them question them yes if the 1830 map of aush that's what we need yeah and right now like I said we have had no luck um yeah CU I would think in 1830 they hadn't even concluded that we're going to break away and become a separate town of a Krishna I don't think that name even had come on anybody's lips I don't know yeah but it's I've got it written right down the and and what the paper that I have yeah that gave the information was put together through the state that's no guarantee of anything but I know and it's got all the information about the town like uh way back when when how many houses doing like in districts you know it has a ton of information and it says in there the 1830 map of a cushion shows the nine School houses the original nine oh my goodness but I can't find a m so were they all one room School houses yeah but were they all around the center of town or they were all spread out well like pting ways they're calling pway a school now but at that time it wasn't a school well when was fting WS built 1903 I just saw that date today I think 1903 yeah and that's on the National Historic register I got that one on the register I got the museum on the register and I've got the district I did those three things when I first got on the society the what the district the uh Rivers End oh okay that's the historic district you know was that big sign wasn't you the one that painted it yeah I painted you painted it yeah I did yeah okay okay so originally the only building that was on the his uh National Historic register was the meeting house [Music] and that goes back 17 yeah 1795 friend's not working today uh it goes way back the meeting house so now we've got the meeting house the museum pting ways and rivers and the district and that's why that's all recorded on that's all recorded all done through the town and everything all done legally y and now um once we go to town meeting if we get the funding we're going to start on the per Hill Church and try to get it on the National Historic register because once it's on the register then we can try to apply for Grants to get some of this work done yeah I would think it would be more difficult for them to put you off if it were under your register you know cuz that would show that some people care some people are interested I have been fighting for that since 2011 I've got documentation at home I could fill a boxo box for one moment fact I asked 10 paym today for another box I said I got to start cleaning my house up and bringing it to you I got so much oh my god um but if we get the money at town meeting which I'm assuming we're going to do it uh we'll hire the preservationist and she's going to stop all the paperwork sure lot to it a lot of pictures and everything a lot of a lot of stuff she's going to go through try to get it on the national register yeah okay so um I did send an email to the history teacher at Old Colony to see if she had any students that might be in need of community service hours uh to do some research you know I never heard back I sent a direct email to the teacher the history teacher and have not heard a word back well where would they be looking if they if they said yeah sure we'll do some work they go to the registry oh yes of course sure okay would be doing the research for us yeah until 1837 as you may know that that is when they finally split the county up into three different Registries of Deeds before that everything was um in um I I I can't remember if everything was in New Bedford at that point or what it was or everything was in Taunton but they oh they they broke it up into three I I thought about 1837 and that because it was so ridiculous to make people way up the north have to come all the way down all this stuff and they broke it up into three pieces but it is very time consuming as you know well yeah but at least you get uh you got the wheels of a vehicle under you that's a little quicker than you know horseback or something I I just haven't had the time I can't get down there it's very hard what about that fell that Brian you had told me about did you ever contact him this heck I was talking to him two days ago but you know we weren't talking about that but well if if he knew um yeah I I mention it to him but uh that was a number of weeks ago and what he did knowing that some people were interested or did not do I couldn't tell you but I was talking to him a couple days ago but the subject did not come up mhm but I'm apt to be talking to him sometime between now and Saturday and I'll just remind him of it that uh is he retired or oh no no no he's younger than all of us so he may not have time for the registry either well um I don't know he gets to all three of them at one time or another you know cuz see he lives in um the northernmost part of the county he lives up in um Mansfield but you know you get highways you can quickly get from one point to another and he has had to do research as have I in all three of the Registries at one time or another for some reason or other so it's not like he doesn't know where the places are yeah and okay I will remind him in fact I could probably talk to him um I found a good time to catch him was about 25 after 8 in the morning no no because he has not yet gone out whereever he's going he sometimes stays home and does stuff or he will go to the free counties uh the three places occasionally he needs something on the vineyard and I can give get him that you know and he does go to n Tucket even so but I I'll just tell them you know that there could be some work to be done here in town ask them about it I certainly will I mean even if I have to yeah see if I can get some funding from CPC yeah I see I don't see why I don't think it'd be a huge amount do you John no I mean it would be it's time consuming that's the only problem I'm not sure if if that even that is the case if you had a pretty good idea what you wanted and what year it was involved um you know he and I and I'm sure a few other people have done enough research that it's not as argu as as some people make it up to me no well now if you've done it for yeah yeah yeah but the thing is if you've done it a few times you just follow the same you know each and every time and most of the time you got to find something if it's there if it if it isn't there then you you look and you just say look I don't know what what's wrong but I'm not finding this yeah the only problem is I've got about 20 files already at home mhm that need reseearch [Music] well you w know until you talk to him right no and mentioned that he's got plenty of files and he possibly could get paid yes no no cuz see I don't believe he's all that wildly busy just now you know he goes through you know spurts of being busy and not busy well if you talk to him find out how much he would want yeah I don't think it would be a king's Ransom either because he he can get stuff done fairly prly well like I said well the only problem is we don't have the funds we would have to gather some funds Well it can't be more than what a couple hundred bucks yeah I mean I really I can't believe that it it could ever run into anything more than that and if he was paid occasionally partial payments he not a hard guy to deal with yeah I mean couple hundred bucks can't be hard to get from the town no [Music] okay all right so starting this Sunday May 19th the museum is going to be open from 1 to 3 yep uh and it'll be like every other Sunday uh the only time it might be a little bit hard is when it comes to around Father's Day we just made you Mother's Day but Father's Day will be coming up so if it is we might skip it'll be skipped two weeks yeah you're not going to get many people going in there on Father's Day all no no we won't even open um oh and the the other thing too uh the museum and the meeting house have alarms yep they've been set up for years and years um I mean long before I ever took over there were uh Ben Baker from he's from marum it's his alarm company but he's been ill and his wife called me last week to tell me that they sold the business oh so a Wayne electric and alarm company from F Haven they're the ones that bought them out yeah the alarm systems working now look they're working fine they're all set up but where he sold out to this company now I'm going to be getting the building from them but they're going to have to go in and see what's there what buildings have alarms in them The Meeting House Museum and the museum okay the meeting house and the museum yeah yeah so I've been waiting to hear from them cuz they're supposed to send me like a contract and to be honest with you I don't even know if I can sign that legally I'll have to bring it in to Mr Kelly and ask him about it he may say go ahead you're head of the commission but are these alarms connected to the police station the museum is at the meeting house I'm not sure the meeting house has got a different system because it was further out and I think they had kind of problems there with the wires and the olds it was a big thing over there but there is and I believe it is hooked up to the uh police and fire I know the museum is because I when I get a call from the alarm company that the alarm is going off at the Museum she tells me right away the fire department and the police department have been made aware I go out there they're there so and they've got keys why was the alarm set off it depends sometimes even a heavy Windstorm will set it off oh dear yeah especially the one at the Museum yeah the me house I have never had a problem with that building and it's surrounded by trees and everything what is the street address of the meeting house I'm trying to visualize it's 1341 Main Street oh okay and the museum is [Music] 1203 y I know them by heart okay 13 what 1341 okay it's just before quick aain oh all right yeah sure I mean I'm at 1 2 3 six that's not very far from there at all close yeah yeah he's close yeah and the museum is 12:30 so you're right there yep no I've been the museum before but not lately it was a number of years ago and I was fascinated you know what really fascinated me you you may recall many years ago they altered the boundary line between Rhode Island and Massachusetts in order to put certain land in one State or the other uh and they had to have a congressional involvement and I said to myself wow so in other words the boundary line the way you see it right now running between this County and R Island look quite different for really yes you don't hear much about it because it's a long time ago as long as it's settled it's not currently any kind of controversy how long ago years oh yes at least those old ERS are not here anymore no it's the way the old times is we're getting there for sure yeah we we lost another uh from right here in town to the tree water known for death oh yeah oh I knew him you knew him 64 years old he's going to be at Boulevard Funeral Home passed away last Thursday oh go how old was he 63 64 64 that's pretty young not even old enough to collect security or nothing and he was a hard worker that happened to a friend of mine retired at 65 and one month later died yeah he didn't even get his first check that's rough and you and you know what thing about social security like when my mom died at the end of August yeah y so that was a month after she got her check well they made me send it back send it back yeah yep I couldn't get over it yeah but that's the state yeah yeah but he he's been really n was really good with us last year I called him uh because he's the tree Warden I called him up to the museum because we did the fence on the North side and we needed a lot of branches cleaned out mhm he came up there with the tree guys he hires them up there they did a wonderful job so now on the South Side I had a problem too because a lot of the trees from Mr bry's property is over the fence oh sure that's always that always for I called him and he said we'll take care of it before your fence goes up so who's the new tree water now do you know well this just happened so I think they voted right he could voted in I think he got voted in so they'll probably have to wait for elections to uh I I can't believe it nothing should surprise you anymore though you know so okay anything else under old the new business if you have any ideas is going around of course things that you might want to see done like with the buildings or things like that you know let's talk about it and that way I know next spring I can go to CPC and ask for funding uhuh well you I can't think of anything that we would need right now do you except the fence and the tree cut and you know everything else seems to be uh coetic y I mean the meeting house pretty much that building has a fund that was left to it years ago to maintain that bu building you say that needs to be painted the whole building the building is in yeah it's a lot of Peel in paint is there enough in that fund to paint the building is it what enough money in that fund I don't pay for that what happens is that fund I have to approach them now they've got a board which is different from before I could just do what I needed to do you know as long as I come into town and say look this is what I need to do I got an estimate on what it's going to cost then I could do it on my own but now with the board it's different so I got to talk to Pam and find out what I need to do if I need to get two or three estimates I'm going to have to do that but that building could use uh painted on the exterior yeah yeah you know it's hard because that building has no heat in it whatsoever yeah you know and it has no invol of the Quakers at this point Quakers are all in the cemetery behind oh I just thought of something what do you um jat you remember c a jat okay I got a a wonderful letter from a gentleman from Texas Mr a Tom ja Y and he wrote in the letter his family grew up on quck Lane they were Quakers belong to the meeting house they're in that Cemetery he was giving me the whole thing in the in the letter and he said um when his father passed away he got a lot of furniture from the father's house so he's got a a what they call a windsor Rock and chair W all wood he sent me three pictures of it that's what I meant to bring tonight to show you sure yeah um beautiful chair and he's dates back to 189 something who his great-grandfather's passed down the line so he sent me a letter asking if we would like to have it in the museum so of course I saw the pictures and everything I said we would love to have that cuz we don't have anything like that in the museum yeah um so he answered me saying that he was going to have it shipped up to us sure and then on second thought he says I'm going to have it shipped to my cousin's house in a Kush and then I'm going to come up for a visit and I will bring it to the museum so he can see the museum at the same time I said oh wow so I'm waiting to hear from exactly when he's coming up and uh he's going to bring the chair he's going to have it sent to his cousin's house so CLA jagat is his a't and I think Claire is in the nursing home cuz their son and daughter-in-law are in the house mhm on Main Street right near the golf course but yeah he said all his family grew up on quakea his great-grandfather great great grandfather he listed all the names in the letter unbelievable sometimes I get so surprised with the either phone calls emails or letters that I get from people that were born here in town and you know live elsewhere and he's in Texas so that's more good information so we'll be getting that donation okay so the next meeting will be June 11th 11 okay may I have a motion to adjourn adjourn second okay all in favor 720 y [Music]