Leverett Historical Commission Presentation to the Select Board Strategic Planning Leverett Historical Commission Presentation to the Select Board March, 2017

The Problem Today ad hoc requests come in to Historical Commission and Community Preservation Commission No clear sense of what historical properties are worth investing in as a town No clear consensus of what the citizens of Leverett think is worth preserving No clear idea of the economic, historical and social significance of each of the assets No plan to maintain properties

Why is a strategic plan needed? To define what historical assets we have To determine what the historical significance is for each one To create guidelines for defining our historical entities To define the audiences who will use the assets To determine what our priorities are for restoration, preservation, conservation, and rehabilitation To decide how they are going to be paid for and maintained

What we know We have: 4 historical districts with 123 houses and 14 cemeteries within those districts, including Mt. Toby and the Peace Pagoda Several properties within the town of Leverett Schoolhouse Museum Leverett Family Museum Beaman-Marvell Box Factory Saw Mill (No. Leverett) Ad hoc smaller sites—Pound, Pond, Coke kilns, archaeological sites such as mill remains along Roaring Brook Archival material in Town Vault and in the Museums

What we have undertaken A preliminary plan to archive the documents in the Town vault and have executed parts of that plan through grants and donated labor Digitized our town records through the Digital Commonwealth Project Created a spreadsheet that details important elements of historical significance from the Town records that will ultimately be able to be searchable in a database Created a preliminary plan to integrate all the digital assets into one database so that historians, descendants, townspeople and other interested parties can do research and explore the history of Leverett

What we are doing in 2017 We are: Continuing our cemetery research— Cataloguing the condition of 6 of our cemeteries Working with Historical Society and Cemetery Association to register our remaining cemeteries at the State and National level so that we can apply for a planning grant Launching the cemetery NRHP designation project Continuing the archiving and digitizing of the Town Records

Guidelines for inclusion of assets need to be created How do we define their significance? Economic benefit to community Historical significance to historians and other researchers Personal significance to descendants and other interested parties Community significance for the ethos of our town

How do we secure funding for the Historical properties? Which models are appropriate? Town pays for the maintenance of all properties, but only continues to own those it currently owns Town employs a public/private partnership model for purchase, maintenance and upkeep of all properties Town increases tax base to buy and maintain historically significant properties and other assets Town continues with current ad hoc model Town applies for grants and other public funding sources Other???

Conclusion We need a strategic plan that outlines our assets, goals, and timing for restoration, preservation, conservation, and rehabilitation projects and for the execution of our ad hoc projects We propose to execute one for Leverett We would like your support