Historical Commission
Princeton Historical Commission
September 21, 2023
Attendees: Tom Kokernak - chair, Carl Soderberg, vice-chair, Matthew Lindberg, Larry Todd - clerk, Joyce Anderson. Not attending: Gina Polewaczyk
Tom opened the meeting at 7:01 pm.
The meeting minutes of 8/31/23 were approved as written.
Matt announced his resignation from the commission. He has accepted a job with the Massachusetts attorney general’s office and will be involved with enforcing the open meeting law. We all wished him well and Tom has sent him a letter thanking him for his many years of service.
Budget: Tom reported there is no change from the previous month.
Civil War Folder: Carl made some minor changes and sent the file to Curry Printing. They will provide a digital proof for approval before printing. Joyce suggested we give a copy to the Princeton historical society when they are printed. We will also let the Thomas Prince school know we have them available for their use.
Sign for Paupers’ Graves: Larry felt we do not have enough detail to ask for a quote from Leominster Monument; Tom will work on possible wording for a sign.
Cemetery Preservation: Joyce obtained a quote to brick up the two tombs, possibly with a cement base. Larry recounted the problem with the plastic casket which was buried in front of the tombs and rose when the water level rose. The area at the tombs has several feet of fill and will not be a stable base to build on. After much discussion Tom said he will review this with Lynne.
Gravestone fragments: Larry does have a complete copy of the photos from Teddy Lindberg and will put them on a flash drive for Tom. There are a number of fragments with carving but most are just broken stone pieces. If we want to display any we will need to go through the collection.
New Business:
Tom spoke with people in Sterling and he sent us a copy of their preservation plans.
Public Safety building - no update
Town pound: most of the poison ivy is gone but someone dumbed scrap wood on the path. We will clean it up.
Matt is helping with the winding of the clock in the library clock tower - it’s a good workout.
The next meeting will be on Thursday, October 19th at 7pm. The meeting will be remote.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:51 pm.
Respectfully submitted, Larry Todd, clerk