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Small Town Life
May. 12th, 2010 08:52 pmToday's mail brought my favorite publication of the year: the Town of Wales Annual Report. I'm only 26 pages into the 121-page report and I've already called my dad to tell him about the number of tobacco, milk & cream, bed & breakfast, and campground permits issued in 2009. (1, 2, 1, and 1, respectively.) While I had him on the phone, I also gave him the rundown on the number of new homes built (3), additions and remodelings (8), roofing and siding repairs (21), and so on for the various permits issued by the building inspector.
The Wales Cemeteries had a quiet year. There were 17 deaths in town, but "only one full burial and two burials of cremains." The Cemetery Commission did see to the planting of 20 arbor vitae trees in the #4 Cemetery, "along the property lines with the campgrounds to enhance the beauty of the cemetery and discourage access to the campgrounds." It's the first I'd heard of arbor vitaes as ghost and zombie traps, but there you go.
There's interesting information about various gifts made to the town, most notably the "Norcross Gift." Arthur D. Norcross, founder and manager of the Norcross Greeting Card Company, was a native of nearby Monson, MA.
Arthur Norcross also created the 6,000+ acre Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary, starting with the 100 acre family woodlot and pasture he inherited from his father and expanding from there.
The wildlife sanctuary is just 2 miles from Toad Woods:
See?
More of the interesting history.
Okay, back to the Wales Annual Report. I started this post to share this gem from the Highway Department's report on page 26:
"Our 1965 Wayne Surplus Sweeper is running again. This machine has been around! Somers, CT scrapped it and Wales Highway has serviced it and put it back in service. Then it went to Brimfield and was scrapped again. Wales took it back for a second time -- and put it back in service again. Parts are very hard to find, hopefully it will last the season."
I love this town.
I've looked ahead to confirm that my name does not appear on any of the delinquent taxpayer lists. Now it's back to the fun and informative perusal of the report as well as the 22 articles in the Town Warrant and proposed budget we'll be voting on at the Annual Town Meeting a week from now.
The Wales Cemeteries had a quiet year. There were 17 deaths in town, but "only one full burial and two burials of cremains." The Cemetery Commission did see to the planting of 20 arbor vitae trees in the #4 Cemetery, "along the property lines with the campgrounds to enhance the beauty of the cemetery and discourage access to the campgrounds." It's the first I'd heard of arbor vitaes as ghost and zombie traps, but there you go.
There's interesting information about various gifts made to the town, most notably the "Norcross Gift." Arthur D. Norcross, founder and manager of the Norcross Greeting Card Company, was a native of nearby Monson, MA.
Arthur Norcross also created the 6,000+ acre Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary, starting with the 100 acre family woodlot and pasture he inherited from his father and expanding from there.
The wildlife sanctuary is just 2 miles from Toad Woods:
See?
More of the interesting history.
Okay, back to the Wales Annual Report. I started this post to share this gem from the Highway Department's report on page 26:
"Our 1965 Wayne Surplus Sweeper is running again. This machine has been around! Somers, CT scrapped it and Wales Highway has serviced it and put it back in service. Then it went to Brimfield and was scrapped again. Wales took it back for a second time -- and put it back in service again. Parts are very hard to find, hopefully it will last the season."
I love this town.
I've looked ahead to confirm that my name does not appear on any of the delinquent taxpayer lists. Now it's back to the fun and informative perusal of the report as well as the 22 articles in the Town Warrant and proposed budget we'll be voting on at the Annual Town Meeting a week from now.
