Historical Commission Meeting: June 17, 2025

Attendees: Tom Kokernak – chair, Carl Soderberg – vice chair, Larry Todd – clerk, Gina Polewczyk.

Not attending:  Joyce Anderson.

Tom opened the meeting  at 7:07 pm at the annex, with remote access

The meeting minutes of 5/28/25 were approved as written.

Budget: We still have $1500 in our allocation from the town. Tom has submitted paperwork to encumber $1200 for the work Stacy Spies is doing on the Boylston Villa project. The commission moved to encumber the remaining $300 for Hubb Manufacturing to construct the metal door for the town tomb. The estimate of the cost is $522.50 so the balance will come from the new budget we will have after 6/30/25.

Civil War project:  There is still work to be done on our web site. The Princeton Historical society is also doing research on the Civil War using their collection of material.

Cemetery work: Paupers’ Graves sign: Tom sent his draft of the sign to the members and also brought printed copies to the meeting. We agreed to have a printed sample made by the Seratto Sign, size 12 x 18, and discussed adding a QR code which will provide information about the sources of the information and names on the sign. Tom will work on this and send it to Larry to get the sample made so we can review and Tom can share with the Cemetery Commission.

Historic house signs: We discussed the writeup which Carl did and  we made two minor changes. A motion was approved to add the 3 page “Historic House Plaque Program” to the commission website. Gina will try to recreate the application page so it can be filled in on a computer.

Public Safety Building: Carl said the group is planning to have a public information meeting in July or August to present information to the public. Gina asked if future population growth is limited because of little land available for development and this could be used to help “sell” the public safety proposal because it will meet the needs of the town for many years.

Mechanics Hall: Joyce sent a note to the commission that Mechanics Hall was briefly discussed at a recent meeting of the selectboard and several options were given but perhaps were not serious suggestions. Larry said he was told that the owner of the garage and store next to Mechanics Hall is retiring – stay tuned.

Tom is interested in doing research on Princeton’s role in the American Revolution.

Joyce said she was in touch with Martha Upton who may want to join our commission.

The next meeting of the historical commission will be on Tuesday, August 12, 2025 at 7pm. This meeting will be in person at the town annex building. Tom will set it up for remote access/participation.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 pm

Respectfully submitted, Larry Todd, clerk

Action items:

Tom:   Revise layout for paupers’ graves sign and send to Larry

Have Historic House Plaque Program posted to the commission website

Larry: Review paupers’ graves sign with Serrato Signs and have a 12 x 18

mockup made for review by our commission and the cemetery commission.

Return signed copy of quote to Hubb Manufacturing.

File encumbrance form for $300 for Hubb with the town accountant.

Gina:  Work on creating a fill-in application form for the historic house plaque

Joyce: Check on progress with Stacy Spies

Larry:  Review details of the work to make the tomb door and get a quote in writing from Hubb Machine, and give him the hinges from Tom.