[MassHistPres] Another Endangered Historical House in Dighton (built in 1790)

[RafaelRobertDelfin]

Hello everyone,

I am reaching out to you to humbly seek your assistance. Another historical
house (James Briggs House) in Dighton, my hometown, will be demolished
after the six-month demolition by-law expires in August. My fellow
concerned citizens and members of the Dighton Historical Commission are
trying desperately to save the 250+ year-old house, after the Town voted to
NOT save it because it would cost at least $60,000 to maintain it. The town
bought the property on which the house stands (they claim that the land
could be used to build more town buildings, even though the town only has
approximately 8,000 people and we have enough town offices to accommodate
town employees).

For more information about the house, and to see photos of the outside and
inside of the house, please visit this link:
https://jamesbriggshouse.blogspot.com/2019/10/free-historical-house-in-dighton.html

Anyway, the town does not want the house, and they are purposely letting it
rot. A tarp was placed over the roof last summer but it has now been
shredded. Two out of the three "progressive" Selectmen voted NOT to replace
the tarp. Meanwhile, water has been penetrating into the house and much of
the ceiling and some of the walls on the second floor have been damaged by
mold.

The house is being offered to anyone who is willing to dismantle it and
move it to their property. A woman has expressed interest in the house, but
she cannot afford to have it dismantled, moved and rebuilt to her property.
I know that it is easy to just advise her to resort to fundraising, but I
hardly doubt that she will be able to reach $100,000 (the approximate cost
of dismantling, moving and rebuilding) within six months.

I would appreciate if anyone could provide us with any guidance as to what
to do next, as we are more or less running out of options. Simply put, most
of the citizens (including 2 of the 3 Selectmen) do not care about
preserving Dighton's past, especially its colonial one.

Thank you for you attention and I hope to hear from you soon.

-- 
Rafa Delfin
Vice-Chairman, Dighton Historical Commission
774-766-2928
rafadello at gmail.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/pipermail/masshistpres/attachments/20200221/edfe0761/attachment.html>