2016-Annual Town Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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with Community Preservation Act (CPC) funding. Ultraviolet -blocking film was applied to all windows on both floors. Energy -conserving LED bulbs light the first floor. A picture rail was installed around the first floor to safely display interesting timely materials. During the winter a working group led by newest commissioner Ava M. Costello launched a Historic District Signage project collaborating with the Historic District Commission Chair Earl Mills and Town Planner Thomas Fudala. After identifying approximately 80 structures and sites in Mashpee Historic District along with significant locations and buildings elsewhere in Mashpee, the group met weekly to rough out text and graphics for sample signs, talked with design and fabrication experts, and submitted a proposal to CPC in April for funding that was approved at October Town Meeting. Signs will be installed along the Route 130 sidewalk nearby the site and a kiosk with information and map in Community Park between the Archives Building and One Room Schoolhouse will be the starting point for a Historic District walking tour. The working group will continue work on the project until research is completed and a designer/fabricator selected. The commission met with the newly hired Mashpee Wampanoag tribal curator Stephen Curley to discuss working cooperatively and sharing historical resources with the Tribe Archives. Stephen prepared a sample Memorandum of Understanding for consideration but Town Administration asked the Commission to postpone this project, a using of appropriate communication channels agreed to between the Tribal Council and Town Selectmen. Rosemary Burns Love's pictorial Town history "Mashpee in Words and Pictures" published in late 2015 has been distributed to Town department heads, Town Hall employees, to schools and CLAMS libraries. A number of copies generating funds for historic preservation efforts have also been sold. The book is available at the Archives Building, Town Library, and at local bookstores. During the spring and summer Frank Lord provided tours of the original (South) Mashpee One Room Schoolhouse to all Mashpee third grade classes, teachers, and chaperones pointing out the careful restoration and original structures in the building, describing the routine of a day in 1850, academic curriculum, chores, portrait of last class in 1901 with samples of students schoolwork, and later lives of those children. Each class was divided in half with one group walking to the Mashpee Indian Museum where tribal docents described culture, language, games, clothing, tools, structures, family histories, then classes swapped locations. Mashpee Summer Recreation program attempted to continue this educational program but it took too much time in one day and the Schoolhouse and Museum are too small to accommodate these larger popular groups at once so they were discontinued after the second tour. Smaller groups of residents, including the Mashpee Baptist Church, and visitors enjoyed these tours which ended for the season on October 12th. In late November the Mashpee Historical Commission accepted with deep regret the resignation of longtime Commissioner Frank Lord. Frank explained that the "Schoolmaster" moved to West Yarmouth and that the Schoolhouse will no longer be open on Thursday from loam to 2pm. To schedule an individual or group tour between June 1 and mid - October 2017, contact Frank Lord the "Schoolmaster" at fjlord@msn.com. Frank joined the Historical Commission in 2006 and became the Schoolmaster for the One Room Schoolhouse during some of its accurate renovations and 2009 relocation from the Indian Meetinghouse grounds to Community Park. As Schoolmaster Frank provided tours to students and visitors describing 1850 Mashpee school curriculum "reading', writing' and ciphering," and good manners, displayed school artifacts and student school work, school artifacts, daily routine of hauling water, feeding the wood stove, and 1901 portrait of last class with students' life histories. Thank you Frank for making Mashpee history live. Frank also was a member of the Community Preservation Act Committee. The Historical Commission voted to have Commissioner Brian A. Hyde replace Frank as the Mashpee Historical Commission representative on the Mashpee Community Preservation Act Committee. Thank you in advance to Town Manager Rodney Collins, and DPW Director Catherine Laurent and her team for putting the Archives back together for reopening Memorial Day 2017. Respectfully submitted, Nancy Soderberg, Chairman Ava Costello Brian A. Hyde Frank J. Lord (resigned) Rosemary Burns Love Gordon Peters Joan Avant Tavares 110