abraham lincoln in a Tutu

[Shelley]

Some wise soul once said that to change people's minds, you have to change their hearts first. I buy that. We have in my town, which is very rural, and a dairy and small farms area, a Land Alliance group which tries to acquire properties and keep them unchanged to preserve the rural character and also natural animal habitats. At first they all came on like gangbusting treehuggers. A lot of angry words were exchanged, insults and criticisms of homeowners and landowners followed. The ringleader of this group changed tactics and opened up her farm, which raises sheep, gave spinning lessons, lectures, etc. Schools were invited, and special events were held. Now Rt 149 is a designated scenic highway, the town has acquired some great acreage, the wildlife is happy, the trees are spared, and Mrs. Jeffries, the former firebrand is a heroine. Nat Turner turned his carpentry business into a historic restoration company and many early-mid nineteenth century homes have been restored.

We have a thriving historical society, and in spite of Foxwoods casino being 5 miles from our village center, you would still recognize the town from the 1900's postcard. There is the vinegar approach and the honey approach. Frequently people just need educating in an entertaining way of course, enlightening, and informing. When everybody realized we all have a vested interest in our village, volunteerism increased.

I had high hopes of Mayor Correia's "Pride City Wide" slogan. I had hoped there would be education and enlightenment about the history of various sections of Fall River in schools and events highlighting the city history. People will take care of what they are proud of. My guess is that there are so many in-and-out passthrough residents of FR now that nobody cares. when people stayed put they were interested in everything that happened around them.

So what's the average person to do to preserve what's worth preserving for future generations? Sometimes all you can do is keep good records, photograph all you can, write articles and editorials and join and support your local historical and preservation societies- and volunteer.

[mbhenty]

Yes Yooper: their are no guidelines that are concrete or clear when it comes to any sort of restoration. Sacrifices must be made and what is accepted to one group or town may be refuted by another.

To make myself clear, I always found it bizarre that a certain property takes on historical importance, because someone slept there or died their.

Let us take the Lafayette House in fall river. It is famous and historical because the marquise de Lafayette stayed there.

The Lafayette house has more interest to me because it is the 2nd oldest house in fall river and has an early 19th century pedigree, thus its value is in the architectural design first and foremost..............at least to me. But, to everyone else it is the fact the marquise stayed there.

The same for the Borden building on 2nd street.

The Lafayette house below: