by Mary Grow China select board members approved a new town program and scrapped an old one at their first 2023 meeting, held Tuesday evening, Jan. 3, instead of the usual Monday evening because of the New Year’s holiday. Donald W. Pratt, of Dirigo Masonic Lodge #104 in Weeks Mills, proposed what he called a […]
by Mary Grow Burleigh family of Palermo, Aroostook County and Augusta The Burleigh (sometimes spelled Burley) families were among the earliest to settle in the Kennebec Valley. One of Palermo’s early settlers was Moses Burleigh, and there were 19th-century Burleighs in other area towns. Millard Howard, in his Palermo history, said the Palermo family had […]
by Mary Grow China Transfer Station Committee members went over the five-year plan for the facility at their Dec. 20 meeting, planning to collect price estimates and present the select board with a prioritized list during 2023-24 budget discussions in January and February. Items on the current list include: A new metal waste container, so […]
by Mary Grow This article is intended to complete the survey of pre-20th-century social activities in the central Kennebec Valley and, given the current date, to report on Christmas observances. An organization omitted last week, but covered earlier in this series (see The Town Line issues of April 8 through May 13, 2021), was the […]
by Mary Grow China select board members spent three-quarters of an hour of their Dec. 19 meeting talking about their process for dealing with accumulated land use violations. They made two decisions, by unanimous votes. They extended the amnesty program during which people who failed to get required permits can get them without paying any […]
by Mary Grow The Thursday, Dec. 22, Vassalboro select board meeting will begin with a public comment session at 6:30 p.m. in the town office meeting room on medical marijuana business license applications. The list of applicants on the agenda is as follows: Leo Barnett (owner) 55, 57, 61 & 63 Old Meadows Road; Daniel […]
by Mary Grow Last week’s article talked mostly about ways early settlers interacted socially as individuals and families. This week’s piece will describe some of the 19th-century organizations that united residents and kept them busy, and related topics. Kennebec Valley towns had a variety of organizations, some branches of national groups and others home-grown. Some […]
by Mary Grow At their Dec. 6 meeting, Vassalboro Planning Board members unanimously approved a site review permit for Joseph O’Donnell to open a medical marijuana growing business at 960 Main Street, in North Vassalboro. The facility will use less than 1,000 square feet on the third (top) floor of the building in the old […]
by Mary Grow Every time Vassalboro select board members talked about how much they have to do in January as they begin 2023 town meeting preparations, Town Manager Mary Sabins’ smile got broader. Sabins is retiring at the end of the year, and early in their Dec. 8 meeting select board members had signed a […]
by Mary Grow This year’s Nov. 6 time change, with darkness falling an hour earlier, led your writer to think about how central Kennebec Valley families passed long winter evenings 200 or 250 years ago – a research challenge, as few historians devoted pen and ink to such mundane events. Readers who have answers to […]