Buttonwood Park: An “Olmsted” Park

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Come to the Mattapoisett Free Public Library on Sunday, October 16 from 1:30–2:30 to hear Friends of Buttonwood Park President Richard Leary give a fascinating talk – Buttonwood Park: An “Olmsted” Park. He will share the story of New Bedford’s largest and most heavily-used park. This presentation is a part of Olmsted 200, a yearlong nationwide bicentennial celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of American landscape architecture. The talk will include an overview of Olmsted and his theory and works, the 1980s Olmsted revival in Massachusetts and the history of Buttonwood Park.

            For those interested, a tour of the Park will be conducted after the lecture, weather permitting. Attendees can drive to the Park where Mr. Leary will give a tour starting at 3:00 pm. Details to be provided at the lecture.

Rochester Historical Commission

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A few years ago, the Rochester Historical Commission purchased a print at a Marion auction. The print is of the summer residence of the late Charles H. Leonard in Rochester. The residence was built in 1756 and remodeled in 1850. Sadly, it is no longer there as it burned down in the early 1900’s. The provenance of the print was that it actually hung in a home at Eastover. After having some restoration done to the print, it was framed, and this August it was loaned to the COA to hang in their foyer. We hope people look for the print when visiting the Rochester Senior Center, as the accompanying picture doesn’t do it justice.

Family Jeopardy at the Mattapoisett Library

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On Tuesday, October 4 at 6 pm, gather your family together and head to the Mattapoisett Free Public Library for Family Jeopardy. Experience some friendly competition as your family plays against others for the grand prize. The best part of Family Jeopardy is that no one loses as all participants walk away with a prize. When the game is over, the winners of the Library Card Sign-Up Month Raffle will be announced. This is an event not to be missed. No registration is required and all ages are welcome. If you have any questions, contact Michelle Skaar at mskaar@sailsinc.org or by calling the library.

RMS Solar Draws Criticism

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            The Rochester Planning Board started its September 27 public meeting by briefly reviewing the draft decisions for the Arch at the Meadows project and the Buzzards Bay Coalition’s Marion Road Scenic Highway permit application.

            Board Chairman Arnold Johnson quickly concluded that both plans were ready for Town Counsel Blair Bailey to review before they would be voted on at the Planning Board’s next meeting on Tuesday, October 11.

            The Arch at the Meadow plan is to move the property owner’s driveway to their home lot instead of its current location, which is closer to the business lot. Doing so will require waivers of parking and lighting regulations.

            The Buzzards Bay Coalition’s Scenic Roadway permit application involves permission to cut trees on 55 acres on Marion Road now owned by Elliot Farms, LLC.

            The board, however, reserved most of its time Tuesday night for an “informal discussion” of the plan to build a photovoltaic solar canopy in the back parking lot of the Rochester Memorial School.

            Senior project engineer Robert Bowman of Green Seal Environmental (GSE) began by noting suitable documents have been submitted to the board, and he was open to further questions.

            Johnson’s first criticism of the plan was that in some spots it promises the solar installation will supply 70 percent of the school’s electricity needs and in other spots only 68 percent. “I’d like you to be more consistent,” he said.

            Then Johnson noted the plan requests waivers from all stormwater regulation. A decision on that will require first the engineering peer-review report, he said. Next, he criticized the screening plan as not being adequate for the neighbors to the west of the school.

            Lastly, Johnson noted any decommissioning fee would have to be paid up front, not later, and he criticized GSE for paying for an engineering study that “got it wrong.” The study asserts the school building is one floor when, in fact, it is two floors.

            The board’s discussion with Bowman also revealed that the 14-foot-high steel beams holding up the canopy would be embedded in a concrete foundation, and the school will have direct access to the electricity it generates and to the installation’s lighting system.

            Town planner Nancy Durfee said she wants more information on how the installation’s electrical system will tie into the school’s system.

            Board member Chris Silveira asked whether the project’s design would meet setback requirements. Johnson said he will check with Town Counsel to answer that.

            Bowman expressed willingness to work on all of the above concerns.

            GSE officials on Zoom asked when the public hearing will take place. Durfee was unsure, as she is still reviewing the paperwork. But she said the hearing might be scheduled for the Planning Board’s October 25 public meeting.

            In related action, the board then signed the contract with Field Engineering for the peer review of the solar canopy project.

            Also Tuesday night, the board said it will post a meeting so it may attend an October 4 site visit of the Rounseville Road solar project.

            The Rochester Memorial School solar canopy is being installed as part of a power-purchase agreement between GSE and the school. GSE is paying for all construction and permitting costs.

            The Planning Board’s next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 11, at 7:00 pm at Old Colony Regional Vocational-Technical High School library, also accessible live via Zoom.

Rochester Planning Board

By Michael J. DeCicco

MATTREC Tri-Town Basketball Registration

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Mattapoisett Recreation Basketball registration is open. We are thrilled to be offering Tri-Town Basketball league to Grades 3-6, Grade 2 Basketball, and K-1 Afterschool basketball. Dates and information for all leagues is available on our website at www.mattrec.net. Last year, we had over 16 teams in the Tri-Town league. Games and practices are on weekdays, so players can still participate in travel basketball and other weekend sports. Sign up today. Registration deadline is October 30. Please email us with any questions at mattrec@mattapoisett.net.

From the Files of the Rochester Historical Society

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I’m probably showing my age when I ask how many remember Longfellow’s poem that begins,” This is the forest primeval, the murmuring pines and the hemlock.” If you guessed “Evangeline,” you’re correct. Reaching back to my 8th grade English class, I remember being upset at the treatment of Evangeline and her neighbors, but I don’t recall learning anything of the history that led up to the destruction of her village and the dispersal of her neighbors. While Longfellow created a fictional village and characters, he wrote the poem in part to highlight the treatment of actual Acadian inhabitants in the 1700’s.

            The wars that we here in America refer to as the French and Indian Wars were in truth a succession of wars pitting England and France against each other in both the old world and the new. New France’s (Canada) military and their alliance with the Wabanaki Confederacy stood in the way of the New England colonies, primarily Massachusetts, from expanding north. France claimed that the southern border of their territory was the Kennebec River. Massachusetts’ charter included today’s Maine and settlers wanted to expand beyond the Kennebec.

            The border between the two countries fluctuated back and forth depending on the success and failure of battles. Acadia, the present maritime provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Maine, were home to many villages where people had farmed for generations. While over the course of the wars, some Acadians had helped with French military operations and also sent supplies during the siege of Louisburg, many more were neutral and wanted only to tend their land and raise their families.

            When the British forces had control of the area, they began at least three different expulsions of the residents. During some of these, British ships would arrive, and entire communities would be loaded onto ships, often separating husbands from wives and mothers from their children. During transport, many Acadians died of disease and drowning, as many shipwrecks occurred.

            I’m sure that about now, you are wondering what this has to do with Rochester’s history and Bowen’s Lane. According to Mary Hall Leonard’s book on the history of old Rochester, Massachusetts troops, which almost certainly included Rochester men, took part in one of the Acadian expulsions. In 1755, General Winslow of Marshfield was ordered to remove the inhabitants of Acadia, Nova Scotia. The General went on record as saying that the order to remove these people was, ” disagreeable to his natural make and temper and that his principles of implicit obedience” were put to a severe test. He did follow his orders and brought 1000 French Acadians to Massachusetts. While these exiles fared better than many, they were still in a strange land with only the possessions that they were wearing or could carry and whose language they couldn’t understand. Massachusetts divided up the group and sent them to different towns, including Rochester. For quite a few years, they were a ” public charge” and town records include bills for “cloath for the French”. More than one petition was sent to the General Court asking for “relief on account of the “natural French.”

            While some of the Acadians never adjusted to their fate and ended up in almshouses like the ones once on Bowen’s Lane, others assimilated into their new community, and it’s believed that some of the French surnames in the area can be traced back to Acadia. Once again, the echoes of history resonate into the present.

By Connie Eshbach

MNHM after School Programs

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The Marion Natural History Museum after School Programs for Fall/Winter 2022 will be on Wednesdays from 3:30 to 4:30, the cost is $8.00 members, $10.00 nonmembers

            October 26 – Backyard Archaeology with Jim Pierson. In celebration of Archaeology Month, we will be looking at the basics for finding artifacts in your own backyard. We will be practicing techniques for exploring the remains of the past that you would normally never notice. Grades 3-6 only, program limited to no more than 12.

            November 9 – Sea Turtle T.L.C. with Sara Sperber, Operations and Programs Coordinator, National Marine Life Center. How do you take care of a sick sea turtle? Students will learn about sea turtle strandings, rehabilitation and release. This program will focus on the National Marine Life Center and their mission of caring for stranded marine animals, focusing on sea turtles as the sea turtle cold-stunning season will be upon us!  Learn what to do if you find a cold-stun sea turtle and how the NMLC is part of a stranding network that care for these animals in need. There will be hands-on activity that will allow students to care for their own sea turtle patient.

            November 30 – Introduction to Forestry. Join Service Forester Jim Rassman as we learn about the trees of Massachusetts. We will learn about different types of local trees, how to tell how old a tree is and the benefits that trees and forest provide to us all. If the weather is nice, we will get to meet a few trees that grow nearby.

            December 7 – Dissecting Owl pellets. What is an owl pellet? How is it formed? What is in it? Let’s use our magnifiers and dissecting microscopes to take a close look at these interesting owl castings. Program limited to 8, grades 3-6.

            December 21 – Holiday Party! We will be celebrating the holidays by making gifts and crafts from natural and recycled materials. Join us for this annual get-together and have fun making crafts, being with friends and enjoying some snacks to celebrate the end of the year.

            To register, please go to www.marionmuseum.org.

Benson Brook Solar Coming into View

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            The long-standing solar project at Benson Brook landfill is finally achieving a timeline, reported member Alanna Nelson at Monday night’s Marion Energy Management Committee meeting.

            Nelson said that the Eversource connection is complete, and the connection to the grid has been approved.

            Committee members agreed that while revenue is now projected at $100,000 per year (down from $140,000) the financial lease cost remains under consideration. Nelson said incentives would give the town more opportunity to negotiate with a developer so the lease might theoretically go back up. Francis said that the incentives are so much larger that Marion should also make sure in negotiations to reap some benefit.

            The public-comment period is closed, but the study will not be officially approved until November. The Cape & Vineyard Electric Cooperative (CVEC) will presumably negotiate with the developer, and installation is hoped for next fall.

            Smaller photovoltaics on town property, reported EMC member Jennifer Francis, have become a quandary because some local contractors say they are dismissed by the CVEC in favor of out-of-state low bidders.

            What Marion decides about the size of a solar canopy over the parking lot at the Police Station is in Chief Richard Nighelli’s purview. Cost estimates would be based on size.

            Marion is a CVEC town but according to Nelson is not contractually bound to pursue any solar project through that agency. Nonetheless, Nelson believes that there are moving parts to consider and that should the CVEC take up grant-application management, procurement and distribution of funds, there would be great advantages.

            “I think there are some really wonderful horizons if CVEC decides to play a different role,” said Nelson, noting that the agency is looking at smaller projects that developers do not want. “Now whether it changes who they want to install those projects is another question.”

            EMC member Bill Saltonstall suggested that there “ought to be a nice, dry lot somewhere in this town where we can install some solar. … not sure who to go to with that investigation.” EMC (and Planning Board) member Eileen Marum recalled that the Planning Board voted against such a project. Francis said the decision was rendered “because of the clear-cutting prohibition there.”

            Francis is concerned that Marion could go into a stall waiting for large agencies to determine a business strategy.

            “There’s this evolution going on, and we’re getting nowhere fast,” she said. “We use to get a lot of help from Gil (Hilario) as far as looking for grants and applying for grants … I feel like we’re missing a lot of opportunities because we’re not town planners … there’s a lot of money on the table and I feel like we’re missing it.”

            Since Hilario left Marion to become North Attleboro’s town planner, Town Administrator Jay McGrail planned to split grant writing with new Town Planner Doug Guey-Lee.

            Hilario typically suggested projects based on grant-funding research, while it appears current grant pursuits are more driven by existing funding needs. Nonetheless, Francis articulated her concern over the news that McGrail is among four finalists for the town administrator job in Middleborough.

            “Obviously, he’s looking for a bigger town. I’m bummed. I think Jay is fantastic. It’s really too bad,” she said.

            Speaking of grant applications, EMC Chairman Christian Ingerslev said that McGrail indicated he would apply to the Seaport Economic Council for the final $1,000,000 needed to build the new Marine Center. “It’s a little bit of worry as far as the town is concerned,” said Ingerslev.

            Saltonstall indicated that the EMC is in “pretty good shape” regarding the Green Communities annual report due this fall.

            Francis suggested the committee publicize a comprehensive list of grant projects that have made Marion a Green Community. Saltonstall said the state agency’s reports go back five years with cost figures.

            Nelson said she would email Green Communities regional representative Lisa Sullivan on the matter. The EMC’s efforts have reduced the town’s electrical bill by over 18%, albeit very little in the past year.

            According to Saltonstall, the three largest energy users in Marion are the Wastewater Treatment Plant, Sippican Elementary School and the Police Department. Fuel costs are obviously up but so is usage, he said, by 40%.

            The EMC will appear before the Select Board during the latter’s October 18 meeting, and the committee spent significant time strategizing its presentation.

            While its members are in agreement that the committee’s purview has taken on climate-related issues and would desire to be reidentified accordingly, the concern was articulated that the Select Board would reject a new name and thusly clamp down on the committee’s efforts to address those long-range issues.

            Francis and Ingerslev suggested being more pragmatic in their approach, using what Francis figured will be a 20-minute window to state their case. Marum agreed and suggested recommending clean energy for Heron Cove Estates, the new DPW and the Marine Center.

            Ingerslev reiterated the committee’s recommendation that the town ban the use of fossil fuels in any new public construction. Nelson noted that Heron Cove has proposed electric heat. “The price of gas or oil is to our advantage,” she said.

            While Marum said Marion’s power lines need to go underground and that everyone needs to be on board with a grassroots, widespread effort to mitigate climate change, Saltonstall considers the concept broad, difficult and “beyond us in some ways.

            “We can warn them, but we cannot say to the town, ‘These should be the only issues.’ Taxes are going to be a big issue, we can’t always fix that,” he said. “There may be things we need to do before we figure out how having a nuclear plant somewhere may be necessary.”

            The committee settled into a plan to address its success with Green Communities projects, the progress on Benson Brook solar, request more help with grant research and finally recommend a ban on any new fossil-fuel infrastructure.

            Working out the details will require enough correspondence and review that the EMC decided to hold a special meeting the day before it meets with the Select Board.

            The next meeting of the Marion Energy Management Committee is scheduled for Monday, October 17, at 5:00 pm.

Marion Energy Management Committee

By Mick Colageo

MATTREC Home Alone and Babysitting Workshops

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Mattapoisett Recreation is pleased to offer Home Alone and Babysitting Workshops this November. Our Babysitting class introduces participants to all aspects of babysitting along with first aid and choke-saving techniques. Class held at Old Hammondtown School on Thursday, November 3 from 3:30-5:30 pm. Home Alone Workshop is designed for children who are unattended at home for short periods of time. Participants learn accident and fire prevention, safety training and first aid skills. Class is on Monday, November 7 from 3:30-5:30 pm. Online registration is now open at www.mattrec.net.

Joseph H. Plumb Memorial Library

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The Joseph H. Plumb Memorial Library’s Board of Trustees is pleased to announce the hiring of Kristen Cardoso as Library Director, effective September 26.

            Kristen has more than 17 years of library experience. She holds a Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) degree from McGill University’s ALA-accredited School of Information Studies, as well as a masters in English Literature (MA.) She started her journey as a page for the New Bedford Free Public Library where she developed a deep passion for the service libraries can provide communities. She carried this passion with her as she took on various challenging roles and increasing responsibilities, first as a student staff member at UMass Dartmouth and McGill University and then as a professional at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies and the University of California, Santa Cruz. Most recently, upon moving back to New Bedford, she has served as the Howland-Green Branch Library manager.

            Kristen is also a published author on library best practices. As a leader, Kristen focuses on developing and supporting her staff, while also having a deep understanding of community needs. She has created and executed successful library programing, including those based on technology education for all patron groups. Kristen’s expertise aligns with the goals of the library’s five-year plan and its mission to make available to the residents of the town of Rochester, a center which provides information, entertainment, education and enrichment for all segments of the community.

            Kristen Cardoso said, “The Plumb Memorial Library is a beloved community institution, and I am excited and honored to be taking up the torch. I believe libraries are essential for creating thriving communities, where the library is the community’s home away from home, and I look forward to being a part of that here in Rochester. I hope to make the library an even bigger part of people’s lives. See you at the library soon.”