Preservation Massachusetts’ 2011 Most Endangered Historic Resources Program
Special Edition: Tornado Damaged Communities of Western Massachusetts

2011 Most Endangered Nomination Form

The Most Endangered Historic Resources List for 2011 will be a Special Edition focusing only on the communities of Western Massachusetts hit by the damaging June 1st tornadoes and storms. For this reason Preservation Massachusetts will only accept nominations from the Western Massachusetts areas negatively affected by the storms:

Agawam, Brimfield, Monson, Springfield, Southbridge, Sturbridge, Westfield, West Springfield, and Wilbraham.

PM feels strongly that in order to continue our commitment to the needs of the western Massachusetts constituency, it is imperative to keep the spotlight on the areas devastated by this spring’s natural disaster. PM’s Most Endangered Historic Resources List will be an opportunity for continued advocacy and education about preservation in these communities as they begin to rebuild and restore.

This year’s form has been modified for ease of use and time efficiency. Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact Courtney Whelan via email at cwhelan@preservationmass.org or in the office at 617-723-3383.

Please download the nomination form and have an electronic and physical copy to Preservation Massachusetts by close of business Friday, August 5th.

Should you need a nomination form printed and mailed to you please contact PM’s office.

Preservation Massachusetts
Old City Hall
45 School Street
Boston, MA 02108
Re: MER 2011

617-723-3383
cwhelan@preservationmass.org

Today, Preservation Massachusetts was quoted in an article about a previously listed Most Endangered Historic Resource:

Threatened: Salem Witch Trial Survivor’s House

By Margaret Foster | Preservation Nation | Online Only | Jan. 19, 2010

A Massachusetts house built by a Salem witch trial survivor has stood empty for a decade, but a group of locals wants to save the boarded-up structure….

… Saving the Clayes House has been a challenge because it was previously owned by a couple who divorced. “Unclear title chain makes purchase and restoration extremely difficult,” says Erin Kelly, assistant director of Preservation Massachusetts, which placed the Clayes House on its 2007 list of the state’s most endangered historic places. “The unique history and wonderful architecture of this property are an incredible local resource.”

For the full article, click here.

Putting poor farm to use

Housing advocates, historic preservationists have eyes on Milton site

By Jenifer B. McKim

Globe Staff / December 1, 2009

MILTON – Preservationists, housing advocates, and other residents here are at odds over what to do with the town’s centuries-old poor farm. Should the 34-acre site be preserved as a historical reminder of how the community once aided its less fortunate citizens or be used for affordable housing that would benefit today’s residents?

For the full article, click here.

In Concord, a bid to save tie to abolitionist days

By Peter Schworm

Globe Staff / September 14, 2009

CONCORD – Amid such historical touchstones as Walden Pond and the Old North Bridge, the quaint cottage barely merits a second glance, just another Revolutionary-era New England house in a town steeped in the past.

But the brown shingled house on Bedford Street, built in the 1780s by the town’s first freed slave, is the last of its kind, a crucial but long-forgotten link to the town’s early black community and abolitionist movement. With the house in danger of being demolished, its history has emerged from obscurity, and advocates have mounted a spirited campaign to stave off its demise.

For the full article, click here.

The Caesar-Robbins House in Concord listed as a Massachusetts Most Endangered Historic Resource on September 11, 2009 – The house was the home of several generations of Concord’s early African-American families as well as connections to Nathaniel Hawthorne and Ralph Waldo Emerson! To help save this historic resource please visit http://drinkinggourd.cchumanrights.org