A Special Town Meeting will be held on the morning of June 2nd, at 10:00 am, in the Town Hall, to ask the voters of our community to authorize the Selectmen to become agents for the Building Capital Reserve fund. This would allow the Selectmen to cover the cost of the Health and Safety renovations on the Old Brick Schoolhouse (our Town Offices) ordered by the Department of Labor.
No money would be raised at the meeting. This money has already been raised and appropriated to the Town Buildings therefore the process would be a simple posting procedure.
The DRA suggests this is the only special fund to consider using to cover the project as it is already specifically for the Buildings. You are invited to bring your questions and concerns to this Town Meeting.
The Nelson Trails Committee is working to add two to four new trails this year. The two most active projects are on Cobb Hill and in Munsonville.
Pair of Canada Geese
At 1900’, Cobb Hill is one of the area’s highest points. It is flanked by two old roads that join Nelson and Harrisville which run on the east and west sides of the hill. The Harris Center already maintains the Jane Greene Trail that comes up from Hancock to a lookout on the east side of the hill with a beautiful view of Mount Monadnock. We hope to extend the Jane Greene Trail so hikers from all three towns can enjoy visiting the lookout and the high bush blueberries growing on the windy summit and loop back to their starting point. Further work with the landowners must be complete before a trail can actually be laid out. The trails committees of Nelson and
Eric Sandberg spots proud parents with 5 goslings
Harrisville are co-operating with the Harris Center for Conservation Education on the project.
Further along is the development of a trail that explores the wetland across Granite Lake Road from the Nelson School. This opportunity offers a visit to an old gristmill site and bird habitat long of interest to the Audubon Society. The trail will be laid out so as to afford opportunities to enjoy this important piece of habitat without intruding unnecessarily on bird life. Troy Tucker has already started to clear the portion of the trail that runs through his property. Kathy and
Julia Lennon and Kathy Schillemat spot spring flowers
Duane Schillemat have generously offered their driveway as the access point.
The Committee has been learning about trail making from the experts. Tom Duston, chair of the Chesterfield Conservation Commission, has spoken to the group and recently spent a rainy morning walking Cobb hill to share tips on good trail layout and construction. He’s produced a six-page guide on the subject to help inform our work. On May 12th, committee members Susan Hansel, Julia Lennon, Kathy Schillemat, Eric Sandberg and I walked the Audubon Society’s Cove Trail at the Sucker Brook Sanctuary to observe good trail making practices in wetland bird habitat. The views of Mount Monadnock over Silver Lake were beautiful. A pair of Canada Geese announced their landing in the cove with loud honking. Another pair paddled by with their five youngsters. A plethora of wildflowers including numerous painted trilliums graced the side of the path.
Painted Trillium
I can recommend the Sucker Brook Sanctuary for anyone wanting a comfortable walk through hemlock groves, past boulder strewn landscapes and rock outcrops with beautiful forest flowers, water foul and song birds to add to your enjoyment. Parking is on Breed Pond Road. Directions and a trail guide can be downloaded from New Hampshire Audubon .
It has been suggested that the weekly meeting of the Selectmen start at 5:00 PM. The Board would like to hear how people feel about this change in time. It is understandable that some people don’t get home from work this early but there are others who feel that a Meeting that may regularly run till 10:00 PM or 11:00 PM is too late to attend.
Before any final change is made the Board would like some feedback. Please respond to:
execadmin@nelsonnh.us
The Agricultural Commissions of Nelson and Harrisville are collaborating to bring you a local Market this Summer. The Markets will begin on Friday, June 8, in Harrisville, and alternate towns every other week, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. The last Market is scheduled for Nelson on Saturday, October 13 from 10:00 to 2:00. For the complete schedule, please refer to the March 2012 issue of The Grapevine, and watch for the signs to be posted around the town.
For all interested vendors, there will be a public meeting on Saturday, April 14, from 10:00 to 12:00 at the Nelson Town Hall. Members from both Agricultural Commissions will be present to review the respective bylaws, distribute vendor applications, and answer questions. (Interested potential customers may attend, too!)
For more information, call David Voymas at 847-3137 or Scott Oliver at 827-3973.
The town of Nelson has recently received the digitized copies of 5 books containing town records from 1802 to 1885. The contents include tax records and receipts, agreements and expense records for maintaining the town poor and a list of articles furnished by the committee for the poor farm. There is a list of jurors (1845-1875) and records of School District No. 5 (1820-1856), data that can be found nowhere else.
The Selectmen’s records from 1869-1884 list town expenditures and dog licenses issued 1884-1885. In the Selectmen’s book from 1802-1817 tax records are listed giving a clear picture of life in Nelson, naming the town officials at the time. Thaddeus Barker, John Breed, Josiah Robbins and George Tolman are but a few of the names mentioned in the records that span the whole of the 19th century. These volumes reveal how the schools, poor farm and roads were part of the social fabric of the community. They list who lived in the town and who were the tax collectors, selectmen and just ordinary citizens who paid taxes.
There will be a detailed index available for anyone wishing to do research. It will be
based on the index that exists in the Archives Office created by Bert Wingerson, Town
Archivist.
This project was made possible by a State of New Hampshire Conservation License Plant Grant, which allocates money raised from the extra cost of Moose plates to such worthy purposes. The original intent was to post these files on the web, however due to the size of the files, this is not practical. Copies are available on CD from the library, and it is permissible to copy the files from the CD onto your personal computer.
1: To choose necessary Town Officers for the year ensuing.
2: To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $301,876 to be raised by taxes. This is to defray Town charges for the year ensuing. The Selectmen recommend this appropriation. 3-0 [an amendment - vote, NO] [vote on the article YES]
School District Meeting Friday, March 9th 7:00 PM., in the Town Hall. Candidates for School Board are Maureen Lord and Jessica Walker.
Town Meeting, Tuesday, March 13th. Please remember that voting for candidates occurs from 11:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. At that time the polls close, and subsequent voting is for items on the Town Warrant, which will be presented during the Business Meeting, starting at 7:00.
On Wednesday, March 7th, The Olivia Rodham Memorial Library is sponsoring a “Meet the Candidates” evening, which will be as follows:
6:30 – 7:00 PM Meet and greet the candidates for Nelson Selectmen.
7:00 – 8:00 Candidates for Selectmen will answer questions submitted by the audience.
8:00 Time for one on one with the candidates
The following individuals have filed to run for a selectmen’s position for the town of Nelson
Selectman (3 years) – one position available
David Upton
Margaret Schillemat
Selectman (2 years) – one position available
Duane Schillemat
Maury Collins
John Cucchi
As well as this being a great civic occasion, the library is also providing refreshments!
Any questions? – Call the Library at 847-3214
Everyone Welcome!
The Nelson Trails Committee sponsored a hike recently with the Harris Center to the Bailey Brook Trail. The hike drew more than 30 people on a clear and cold Saturday, February 11th. It was led by Rick Church, of our trails committee, and Ben Haubrich, a Harris Center guide. Meade Cadot, senior naturalist at the Harris Center and Martha Pinello, an archaeologist from Monadnock Archaeological Consulting, were along to explain the natural and cultural items of interest.
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Hikers gathered at the Nelson Common and carpooled to Maury Collin’s. The group walked up and over the hill behind Maury’s house, the area of a new conservation easement and looked across the valley toward Osgood Hill and more land protected by the Harris Center. The hike followed a logging road back to the Old Stoddard Road where we turned east. Meade Cadot pointed out black bear markings on most of the telephone poles along the road. These are territorial markings. Most of the poles showed teeth marks and one had bear hair imbedded in the pole itself.
From the Office of the Town of Nelson Select Board
Over the last couple of months there have been several changes in the Town Offices. There was an incident that took place with documents being removed from the upstairs that should not have been taken from the Town Offices. Due to the sensitive nature of the documents and the concern of possible litigation against the Town of Nelson and some of its employees, and also the concern of any other documents being removed, the Select Board took the precaution of locking the door to the upstairs until we could speak with Town Counsel and see how best to proceed while protecting the integrity and security of not only the Town of Nelson Offices, but also all of the Town’s employees. CLCK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE→ Town Office Update
Great news! The Town of Nelson has received an award of $3,500 from the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance. This money will be used in 2012 to fund half the cost of an assessment and a plan for the use and preservation of the Town Buildings in the Village Center. The grant must be matched by $3,500 from the town before the award can be used — we will vote on this at Town Meeting in March.
The Buildings Committee has selected Rick Monahon to lead town residents through this planning process. Rick is a local architect who has worked on Nelson buildings in the past, and who has a wealth of experience working with old buildings. His work will take advantage of the dollars already spent by the town in 2010, through use of the property survey, wetlands delineation, digitized base drawings of the buildings, and the initial engineering assessment of the Town Hall.
INTERESTED CANDIDATES MAY FILE AT THE TOWN OFFICE ON THE FOLLOWING DATES:
THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2012 FROM 9AM TO NOON
TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2012 FROM 9AM TO NOON
TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2012 FROM 5PM TO 8PM
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2012 FROM 9AM TO NOON
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3,2012 FROM 4PM TO 5PM
Editor’s Note: Rollstone Mountain was also the inspiration for a contra dance tune written by Ralph Page. It was recorded in 1975 by Rodney Miller (fiddle), Randy Miller (piano) and Peter O’Brien (harmonica), on one of the first local recordings of dance tunes: “Castles in the Air“. It was arranged for the Nelson Town Band to play in the town’s musical history, The Hotel Nelson, in 1997, and the band continues to include it in their repertoire. You can hear the original recording by clicking on the link below.
Three inches of fresh snow greeted us Nelsonites that morning, two days before Christmas. Our weekly Monday hike was on Friday this week, and we looked forward to exploring the extreme northeast corner of town. We hoped to check out some rumored trails around Rollstone Mountain, an intriguing area on USGS maps and Google-Earth satellite views. Rollstone Mountain and Holt Hill make up the uplands in the extreme northeast of Nelson. Strangely, the hill is higher than the mountain. Years ago Sue and I had followed a bobcat here, along logs and across walls, round feline tracks in powder.
Four of us carpooled from the village, skidding up slippery Old Stoddard Rd, barely squeezing by the Hayes wrecker parked mid-street on the straight uphill stretch of road past the town barns. The car on the flatbed was an indication of the driving conditions. So was the greasy road itself.
Two sections of Nelson’s town lines cross Rye Pond: a north-south section of the border abuts Antrim to the east. North of the east-west line sits Stoddard. It’s a wild area—most who drive NH 123 between Hancock village and South Stoddard spend less than a minute in Nelson, but a disproportionate percentage of the town’s moose collisions likely happen in those few rods. We parked on the shoulder and heading into the woods of Antrim. CLCK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE→ A Hike Up Rollstone Mountain
Nelson and Harrisville Trails Committees and friends at the David Marshal home site.
The Nelson Trails Committee is exploring Cobb Hill on the line between Nelson and Harrisville with the hope of laying out a network of trails. Several ancient roads and a Harris Center trail provide a good starting point. There are a number of early cellar holes in what was originally the southeast corner of Nelson. There should be circular walking routes available from both towns. The Harrisville and Nelson Trails Committees are working jointly on the project.
The committees have walked the territory on two separate hikes covering about five miles in the process. Sunday, December 4th saw thirteen committee members and friends from both towns assemble at the end of Nelson’s Nubanusit Road for an afternoon’s exploration of Cobb Hill. The temperatures were in the forties; there was a brisk, cold wind on the high ridge and a skim of ice on some of the puddles in the road. CLCK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE→ Nelson Trails Explores Cobb Hill
Sophia Newell (or possibly an imposter) in front of the Gad Newell home, on Cemetery Road.
Editors note: This is the third and final article in a series relating the founding of the first ministry in Packersfield. The first detailed the many efforts to acquire a minister for a small, remote community. Several ministers came for trial periods and several offers of employment were made before Jacob Foster accepted the call. The second discussed Foster’s contentious dismissal for reasons the records do not make clear. What is clear is that the parting was difficult. This final article deals with the start of Packersfield/Nelsons longest ministry, that of Gad Newell. Sensitive to the situation in the aftermath of the Foster mess, the young Newell took a healing approach.
In the aftermath of the Reverend Jacob Foster’s dismissal, Packersfield moved on.
A much more established community now, the town seemed to have little trouble finding a replacement. The process took two years, but there is no record of repeated trials of new ministers and rejected offers of employment. The town provided a settlement of 170 pounds (a sort of signing bonus) and offered the new preacher a salary of 70 pounds per year. The new minister was a twenty-nine-year-old Yale graduate named Gad Newell. The Reverend Newell was installed on June 11, 1794 and retired 43 years later. His letter to the people of Packersfield bespoke his faith in God and of the healing needed in the aftermath of Jacob Foster’s dismissal reproduced here in its full late eighteenth century eloquence: CLCK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE→ A New Minister
. . . Though they don’t seem to know about our town.
October 20, 2011: The Oxford English Dictionary “Word of the Day:
Nelson, n.1
Etymology: < the name of Horatio, Viscount Nelson, Duke of Bronte
I. Compounds.
1. Nelson touch n. an approach to a situation or problem typical of Nelson, esp. in being characterized by bold action or self-confident leadership; also (in later, humorous, use) the turning of a blind eye to something
1805 Ld. Nelson Let. 25 Sept. in C. Oman Nelson (1947) xix. 607, I am anxious to join the fleet, for it would add to my grief if any other man was to give them the Nelson touch, which we say is warranted never to fail.
Mike Blaudschun who has served for several years as selectmen has resigned, due to a job change which has created a schedule conflict. Thank you Mike for your excellent service to the town.
His position will be filled for the remainder of the year (until Town Meeting, 2012) by Bud French. Thank Bud for stepping in!
