Brief thoughts on some of the events making news around Franklin County and the North Quabbin area:
It’s nice to see that Greenfield continues to make good use of its beehive heritage, especially as recreational beekeeping seems to be growing in the region.
As the birthplace of the modern beehive, Greenfield is home to the Langstroth Bee Fest, which opened this past weekend and continues this week. It is named for the father of modern beekeeping, Lorenzo Langstroth, who served as pastor of Greenfield’s Second Congregational Church from 1840 to 1848.
In 1852, he patented his design for a moveable-frame hive, the most common beekeeping method used worldwide still. The following year, he wrote his beekeeping manual, “Langstroth on the Hive and the Honey-bee.”
“We’re now getting beekeepers coming from all over the country, looking for Langstroth’s church and the dedication monument around the corner, but they want more information, so we feel both an interest and an obligation to provide more information to them,” said organizer Sandy Thomas. She expected hundreds of bee fanciers at the various bee week events, giving Greenfield a unique claim to fame we hope will continue to draw bigger crowds each year.
Another generation of future Greenfield Community College students will see themselves benefit from scholarships and special academic programs thanks to the generosity of area supporters who gave nearly $825,000 to the GCC Foundation’s annual fund drive.
How this small school manages to raise close to a million dollars every year, is both amazing and a testimony to the strong and lasting impact it has had on its alums over the years.
“It’s amazing what a whole bunch of small gifts can add up to,” said Foundation organizer Regina Curtis, who graduated from the school 30 years ago.
“You just never know how people are going to be moved, but GCC impacted their lives and they know how important it is to the community, so they step up,” she said.“People know when they make a gift to GCC, it goes straight to GCC — to resource counseling or helping pay the bill,” she said. “It directly impacts students to make them successful.”
Hear, hear.
Northfield officials have proposed strengthening the town’s zoning, in particular to better control the growth and redevelopment of its downtown and the former Northfield Mount Hermon School campus.
Fast-food restaurants and adult use businesses such as adult shops would be discouraged.
Consultants who helped the Zoning Bylaw Revision Committee noted residents have asked for more economic development, more employment opportunities and more places to gather, while preserving open space.
All laudable goals, especially as it comes to ensuring the town has maximum control over what ultimately happens to the former prep school campus.
Friends and owners of the dilapidated Charlemont Inn are attempting to raise $25,000 online to start repairs this summer with the intention of reopening this year. That would preserve the inn’s ability to use its well, which is a grandfathered public water source. That designation lapses if the inn doesn’t reopen this year, which would make the building virtually useless commercially because of modern requirements.
According to co-owner Charlotte Dewey, the Charlemont Inn has been in operation since 1775, with a few interruptions during World War II and for the past four years, while it has been closed and found out of compliance with health and building codes by the town.
According to Dewey, the Inn has been on the National Historic Register since 1987. Historical guests have included Mark Twain, Calvin Coolidge, Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, according to Dewey.
She hopes to reopen initially as a catering kitchen and eventually rent the rooms.
We wish co-owners Dewey and Linda Shimandle the best of luck in their uphill struggle. Reviving the Inn would only benefit them and the town.