The Marion Historical Commission is pleased to announce that Claire Dempsey and Jennifer Doherty have been selected as historic preservation consultants for continuation of the Focused Historic Survey of Marion’s Portuguese and Cape Verdean Communities. Work has begun as part of efforts to expand and update Marion’s Inventory of Historic Assets, initially completed in 1998, in order to make it more accessible, more easily usable, and fully compliant with present-day state standards.
The project is funded by Community Preservation Act funds awarded by the Town to the Historical Commission in 2020 and will be carried out over the next four months.
Claire Dempsey is familiar with Marion history. In 2019, she completed a Survey Plan, which made recommendations for completing a full survey of Marion’s historic and cultural resources. For this project, she and her co-consultant, Doherty, will expand research done in 2020 on the Portuguese and Cape Verdean Communities. The work focuses on sections of Point Road both north and south of Wareham Road, and on sections of Mill Street near Gifford’s Corner.
The consultants are interested in talking with local residents who have knowledge, personal history, or old photographs to share about the formation and development of the Portuguese and Cape Verdean neighborhoods of Marion. If you can help, please contact Meg Steinberg, Marion Historical Commission, bmjb@comcast.net.
The Marion Historical Commission is delighted that this project is now underway. The results will benefit individual property owners interested in the history of their homes and give the broader community an understanding of local development and culture. It will also be a useful planning tool available to local boards to ensure development decisions are in keeping with goals for preservation of the town’s historic resources.