by Mary Grow How towns cared for their poor This article will continue the theme started June 14, how central Kennebec Valley towns took care of their poor residents, jumping across the Kennebec River from Augusta and Sidney to Vassalboro, Windsor, Palermo and China. The focus will remain – mostly – on the 19th century. […]
by Mary Grow China planning board members began their June 27 meeting with sequential public hearings on two applications for self-storage facilities on Route 3, from Chris Harris and Lucas Adams (see the June 22 issue of The Town Line, p. 3). China codes officer Nicholas French had allowed half an hour per application. He […]
by Mary Grow Local historians make some references to Independence Day celebrations According to Wikipedia, celebrating Independence Day on July 4 each year is most likely an error. The writer of the on-line site’s article on this national holiday says that the Second Continental Congress, meeting in a closed session, approved Virginia representative Richard Henry […]
by Mary Grow China select board members again postponed a decision on whether some town officials should be elected from geographic districts, after a discussion with two planning board members who attended the June 20 select board meeting. The select board’s agenda included numerous other topics. Two were related to the transfer station: a suggested […]
by Mary Grow If I raise everyone’s property valuation by 20 percent, most Vassalboro taxpayers will see little if any tax increase, assessor Ellery Bane, of RJD Appraisal, told select board members and an interested audience at the June 22 select board meeting. If I do not raise everyone’s property valuation as planned, many, probably […]
by Mary Grow An address at the Vassalboro Historical Society On Sunday afternoon, June 18, Joann Clark Austin, of South China, a semi-retired lawyer and self-described “fifth-generation China Quaker,” spoke on the local history of Quakerism at the Vassalboro Historical Society. An Englishman named George Fox (July 1624 – Jan. 13, 1691) founded what became […]
by Mary Grow China Planning Board members have scheduled June 27 public hearings on two applications for self-storage buildings on Route 3. The applications, from Chris Harris and Lucas Adams, were on their June 15 agenda. Harris plans a 40-by-100-foot, 28-unit building at 623 Route 3, beside Central Church (the church’s address is 627 Route […]
by Mary Grow Vassalboro planning board members approved both site review applications on their June 6 agenda. Kassandra Lopes has a permit to run a retail store in one of two existing buildings Raymond Breton owns on the east side of Main Street, in North Vassalboro; and the Oak Grove School Foundation has a permit […]
by Mary Grow The earliest settlers in the Kennebec Valley, as elsewhere in New England, were for the most part able-bodied and self-supporting. But within a generation or two, a settlement would be likely to have residents who were unable to support themselves. Some might be physically or mentally disabled. Older people might lose their […]
Vassalboro balloting by Mary Grow Vassalboro Town Clerk Cathy Coyne reported the following results from the polls on June 13: Vassalboro’s amended Site Review Ordinance, adding a chapter on commercial solar development and making other changes, was approved by a vote of 137 in favor to 44 opposed. The 2023-24 school budget approved at the […]