The Marion Historical Commission is pleased to announce that Claire Dempsey has been selected to begin the task of updating the Marion Village Historic Survey. Work will begin shortly to expand and update the 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 a Survey & Planning Grant received last spring from the Massachusetts Historical Commission, (funded by the US Department of the Interior, National Park Service), with the local match generously provided by the Sippican Historical Society.
Claire Dempsey is familiar with Marion history and in 2019 completed a Survey Plan which made recommendations for better documenting Marion’s historic and cultural resources. For this project, she and co-consultant Jennifer Doherty will revise the existing survey form into separate forms for the areas of Hiller/Front Street, Main Street, South Street, and Cottage and School Streets, making it much more manageable to use. This information can then serve as the basis for determining if properties or areas are eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, the nation’s primary tool for recognition of resources of historic and architectural significance. Listing in the National Register provides recognition but no constraints upon an individual property owner’s rights.
The project will be carried out over the next nine months, with completion expected by summer of 2021. The Marion Historical Commission is delighted that this project will soon be underway. The results will benefit individual property owners interested in the history of their homes as well as being 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.