by Mary Grow And the year without a summer Before this series moves on to describe the year without a summer, one more flood needs mention and another a description. The Fairfield Historical Society’s bicentennial history says a March 2, 1896, freshet took out the last remaining of the three 1848 covered bridges between Fairfield […]
by Mary Grow After the China select board’s Jan. 17 meeting, town manager Rebecca Hapgood reported that most of their decisions, as assessors and as select board members, involved individual property tax issues. Topics of town-wide importance were a potential new fire engine, on which no action was taken, and a committee appointment. China Village […]
by Mary Grow Four members of China’s Thurston Park Committee spent most of their Jan. 19 meeting talking about money, both the 2023-24 budget and the long-term future of the almost 400-acre public park in northeastern China. As in past years, committee members intend to ask for money from China’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) fund, […]
by Mary Grow After the great freshet of 1832, with which last week’s article ended, Augusta business leaders went ahead with their plan to build a dam across the Kennebec River to power mills; and a Fairfield company dammed part of the river there. The idea of an Augusta dam was by then about 50 […]
by Mary Grow China Planning Board members discussed suggested ordinance amendments and the town’s 2020 comprehensive plan at their Jan. 10 meeting. The ordinance amendments came from the select board, in the form of a proposed revision of Chapter 9 of the Land Use Ordinance, which is titled “Appeals.” Select board member Brent Chesley prepared […]
by Mary Grow Mary Sabins is making a major career change, from managing a town of about 4,500 people to managing flowers. Vassalboro’s just-retired town manager has started classes in the Maine State Florists and Growers Association Professional Certified Florists Program. She has enjoyed flower-arranging in her spare time for many years; once certified, she […]
by Mary Grow When this historical series started in the spring of 2020 as a way to distract writer and readers from the Covid-19 pandemic, part of the plan was a survey of historic local disease outbreaks and other disasters. The latter have come to include weather, floods, fires and other destructive events, man-made or […]
by Mary Grow The final Vassalboro select board meeting of 2022, held Dec. 22, began with discussion of renewing medical marijuana business licenses for 2023. Codes officer Paul Mitnik presented the list of licenses up for annual permits. Audience members offered no comments on any of them. Select board members unanimously approved five of the […]
by Mary Grow Tim and Heather Dutton want to reopen the former East Vassalboro Corner Store, beginning with pizza and sandwiches and adding local products (garden produce and crafts, for example) if business goes well. Everyone who spoke at the Jan. 3 Vassalboro Planning Board meeting wanted them to reopen it, too, including those who […]
by Mary Grow China Road Committee members met Jan. 6 to make a preliminary list of roads to be repaved during the 2023 work season and to consider other road-related recommendations. The focus of this year’s paving is the southeastern part of town. Roads recommended by the end of the meeting include Pond Road (the […]