by Mary Grow In the course of collecting information on the doctors included in last week’s article about the central Kennebec Valley (and other places), your writer reviewed lists in Henry Kingsbury’s Kennebec County history and Rev. Edwin Carey Whittemore’s Waterville history. Each book has a chapter on the medical profession in the 19th century. […]
by Mary Grow While wondering what new subject might keep readers – and writer — interested, your writer glanced at random pages in randomly-chosen history books. A warning: what she found does not remain in the central Kennebec Valley. Her eyes fell on Dr. Nathan Goldsmith Howard Pulsifer. Who could resist a name like that? […]
by Mary Grow Vassalboro Cemetery Committee members spent much of their July 21 meeting discussing David Jenney’s proposal to prioritize work in the town’s more than two dozen cemeteries. They reached a preliminary agreement: do the ones with the most graves and the least recent repairs and maintenance first, with exceptions when justified. The work […]
by Mary Grow China voters have a special town meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, Aug. 18 (place to be announced). They will be asked to take one action: discontinue an easement at the head of China Lake’s east basin, so select board members can transfer the property it covers to the abutter. The area […]
by Mary Grow Yet one more important early surveyor in the central Kennebec Valley was John Jones (c. 1743 – Aug. 16, 1823), known as “Black” Jones because of his dark complexion, and later because of his unpopular politics. Capt. Charles E. Nash, author of the Augusta chapters in Henry Kingsbury’s Kennebec County history, and […]
by Mary Grow Two types of proposed local government change generated wide-ranging discussion at the Vassalboro select board’s three-and-a-half-hour July 17 meeting. One, a proposed budget committee ordinance, is likely to be a question for voters to decide on Nov. 4. The draft ordinance Town Manager Aaron Miller prepared calls for election of between seven […]
by Mary Grow Another Kennebec Valley surveyor who worked for the Kennebec/Plymouth Proprietors/Company was Dr. John McKechnie (1730 or 1732 – April 14, 1782). Ernest Marriner, in his Kennebec Yesterdays, called McKechnie “one of those men of varied talents who meant so much to many pioneer communities” – “an educated physician, a civil engineer, a […]
by Mary Grow China select board members whipped through two short agendas in less than 10 minutes at their July 14 meetings. Meeting first as the town’s board of assessors, they unanimously approved a tax abatement for $2.34. Re-meeting as the board of selectmen, they approved two payroll warrants for town employees, totaling just under […]
by Mary Grow At the July 8 China Transfer Station Committee meeting, Palermo representative Bob Kurek shared a mission statement for Palermo’s new Solid Waste Committee – one he had Artificial Intelligence (AI) write. The unedited result is very comprehensive, incorporating public education and outreach, waste reduction and recycling, waste-to-energy plans, pay-per-bag (PPB) or pay-per-throw […]
by Mary Grow China Planning Board members approved the only application on their July 8 agenda, partly because several board members considered it already approved six years ago. The application was from Justin Rolfe, of Fairfield, to use half of the building at 360 Route 3 to dispense medical cannabis, as a licensed caregiver. The […]