April 3 HN support.docx
April 3, 2024
Community Preservation Committee
Northampton, MA
Dear Committee Members,
Due to schedule conflicts with the Friends of Forbes Annual Meeting and Library Giving Day, I regret to say that I cannot attend the April meeting. Please accept this letter of support
for a CPC proposal from Historic Northampton.
Historic Northampton (HN) is responsible for some of the oldest buildings in town. Many of us have witnessed the transformation of their campus in the last decade and the effect it has
had on our community. Thank you for your continued support of that work.
It was with great admiration that I watched the Shepherd Barn restoration. HN accomplished a beautiful project that restored an urban barn, inventoried its historic contents, and expanded
their programming capabilities. Moreover, they conducted the work as a community celebration. Close your eyes and remember people of all ages pulling the barn hand-over-hand by rope
back onto its foundation! I marveled at the planning for that kind of community engagement.
Their current CPC proposal tells me they once again have the energy, expertise, and vision to proceed with building restoration work, and I urge you to support them. The proposal from
Co-Directors Laurie Sanders and Betty Sharpe contains an impressive amount of research and detail:
The preliminary study of the Shepherd House coinciding with its availability
A detailed study of Parson’s House, led by an architectural historian, identifies a team of experts to engage in a study of the building’s archaeology
There is a detailed description of the work and cost for all involved
I even admire the forethought to include “Next Steps” to point the way forward.
I truly look forward to reading their reports - how the houses were built, what the landscape looked like then and how it changed over time, the local economy and its connections to
the rest of the world, and of course, the history the houses have witnessed.
Debin Bruce,
Northampton