The Informer has received a request to open a discussion on preserving the older buildings in Historic Ashuelot Village in a natural way instead of using synthetic siding. We received the following letter and thought this was a very important issue that merits space on our blog. Welcome people of Ashuelot Village!
People in the village of Ashuelot would like to see it begin to be thought of as an Historic place.
We are asking that the Historic district preserve the look of the exterior facade of old buildings such a the Hotel in the village, by painting, and not siding with synthetic materials.
Historic Commission Public hearing tonight: Monday Oct 20 at 7 pm at the Town Hall
Please stand up for our history in this simple way.
We already have our beautiful covered bridge, lets keep looking good, and become a destination that people travel too, throughout the state.
Thank you.
Julia Ferrari
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7 comments:
It's a shame and a real tragedy that so many of our old historic buidings, hotels, railroad stations, saloons, churches and even some old meetinghouses/town halls are now gone forever or remolded to look like the new surroundings. There really is no sense of history in America any more and each day we lose more and more of what made this country what it is today. The sweat, blood and tears of those who came before us, bringing with them their craftmanship from all over the globe is discarded today without a second thought, never to be seen again. These places should be preserved to their original beauty for future generations to marvel over and share in the dreams of those who have come before us. We should never forget our heritage or what it took to get us to where we are today.
Well put, people today have no clue when it comes to historic buildings and places, they mostly could care less.
It really is a shame that some of our most historic old buildings are in need of so much repair and have been ignored for so long. Too many have been torn down or made to look like today's modern buildings ruining their character and destroying the craftsmanship that was so prevalent in their day. You don't see that detailed work on buildings any more and now it's lost forever. Hope you people over in Ashuelot were successful in convincing them to preserve that building.
I understand the desire to preserve the heritage of our old buildings. Remember though, the long term cost of painting vs. siding is tremendous. I would be in favor of gov't dictating the continual painting over vinyl siding IF gov't is willing to pay the difference in order to preserve the "old style" charactor. To mandate this upon the home owner without giving help in the cost of this type of restoration would be wrong. Where do we draw the line in mandating what someone can do or not do with their property when we are not willing to help financially? Some old buildings still have lead paint which is very expensive to remove and despose of properly when vinyl siding not only drastically improves the appearance of an old structure, but also encapsulates the lead paint so that it is no longer an issue. Just a few thoughts from a Winchester resident.
I must say that what has made this country great and what we are loosing today is not contained in old structures, even though we need to preserve them as much as possible and still be financially responsible. What we are really loosing is the moral fabric of our society. Historical buildings are wonderful, but we need to rebuild the biblical moral values this country was founded on and used to stand on. Things are changing in such a way that our society will continue to deteriorate if we do not address these heart issues and stop putting more money, value and time into the "outward appearance." the outward appearance will never amount to much if the inward heart of our community is left unchanged.
Not every building that is old has historical value, It is not right or fair to force a very small amount of peoples personal opinion upon a entire village.for example the cost of restoring a building properly (paint and wood) is sometimes double or more the cost of vinyl siding and a large majority of people feel there is nothing wrong with modern building materials.In the case of the Thayer library vinyl will look alot better than the building looks now. the taxpayers cannot afford any more expensive projects and will most likely never give the Ashuelot library the money it needs to restore it properly.Leaving the building as it is now is a shame, and soon the old run down hotel will look better than the library.I agree that some historical buildings need to be preserved but it brings up the problem of funding and the legal and moral issues of telling a private home owner how they may or may not remodel or repair there own property.
Really Fed up wishes
I really wish Julia Ferrari would log back in and try to justifty her and her husbands (Dan Carr) actions. It would be very interesting to hear her point of view on taking her neighbors rights away and how she feels this could be the right thing to do. I will close this blog with a scarey and sad note, her husband was just elected by people around here to represent us in concord. OMG what have we done now.........
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