GREENFIELD — The town’s Department of Public Works is hoping to make several much-needed repairs to Poet’s Seat Tower next year.
“You can see that there’s a lot of rust on the stairwell going up, you can see that there’s a lot of places where the concrete is failing — particularly on the top level, there’s one corner that’s in pretty rough shape,” DPW Director Don Ouellette said. “It’s probably overdue, but we’re trying to get something done for next summer.”
The DPW has included the repairs in the capital plan it submitted to the town, and Ouellette said he expects the work to cost between $30,000 to $50,000. It will involve sandblasting and painting the stairwells, spot welding and bringing in a restoration or masonry company to make repairs to the structure.
“We will probably try to do most of that in-house, but as far as the masonry work, we’ll probably try to get a contractor,” he said.
The stone tower, built in 1912, was last refurbished in 1977.
Ouellette said the DPW isn’t trying to do a complete restoration, but wants to get the worst problems taken care of. He said at this point, the structure isn’t dangerous, but cautioned that visitors should not throw anything off the top.
He expects the repairs to take three to four months.