Chichester Forest Management Plan
Meeting June 9

The Chichester Conservation Commission is seeking citizen input on a Forest Management Plan for  Town-owned land.  Charles Moreno, a Consulting Forester and Forest Ecologist, is just beginning his work on the Plan, which involves three parcels:

1. The Spaulding Town Forest, a totally wooded parcel of 122 acres off Hutchinson Road in the southerly part of Town on the Pembroke border. 

2. Carpenter Park, which is made up of three lots comprising 42 acres, one of which includes the Carpenter Park recreational fields north of Bear Hill Road.  The Management Plan will focus on the wooded parcels north and south of Bear Hill Road and will be coordinated with other Town committees with an interest in the park. 

 
3. The Madeline Sanborn Conservation Area south of Main Street, some of which is in the area of the Grange Hall and surrounding Marsh Pond.   This area is comprised of four lots totaling 48 acres, some with restrictive deed covenants.  A large portion of this area was donated to the Town to foster timber and wildlife management and  passive recreation. 

The goal of the Management Plan is to provide recommendations to the Town on:

1. Possible timber harvest volumes and values

2. Forest management that may be needed over the next 10 years to foster wildlife habitat, passive recreation, and timber production.

3. Identification of features of these properties which can be incorporated into the town’s Recreation Master Plan and land management goals.

The Conservation Commission will hold a public meeting on Thursday, June 9th at 7 pm at the Grange Hall for the purpose of gathering citizen input on the goals of the plan and specific desires regarding any of the parcels involved.

Out Of Your Attic Thrift Shop News
Submitted By Carol Hendee

We want to say thank you to all who helped with our yard sale, either by setting up, taking down, sales or if you were a customer.  A very good day was had by all.  There were bargains galore and we were able to empty a storage unit and decrease expenses.

The work continues and so does the need.  For babies, we need donations of summer outfits, onesies, sleepwear, size 0-3.  Baby bodywash is always welcome.  There is an immediate need for towels, shampoo and body wash for the kids that will be going to summer camp.  Sleeping bags would be greatly appreciated. 

We are located at 345 Suncook Valley Hwy, Rte. 28, Chichester and are open Tues. and Thurs. 8-4, Wed. 11-4, Now Open Fridays 10-4, and Sat. 10-4.

We have a good supply of glassware, dishes and extra household items for camping or the vacation house!

Bright little bird sends a welcomed bit of sunshine to Shannon Mcgowan a Chichester resident and sophomore at Pembroke Academy by flying right into her hand - bringing smiles to all who witnessed this little miracle which surely brightened all our rainy days

Chichester Historical Society
Town Hall Part V
Submitted By Walter Sanborn

My last article ended with the voters of Chichester voting to reconsider their last vote passed at their September 23, 1845 meeting.  This meeting was called by a petition to meet at the Center School October 29, 1845 to reconsider locating the town house where the old meeting house stood and to locate it at the Center on the land owned by David Carpenter on the northerly side of the Canterbury Road and easterly of the Methodist Meeting house and to acquire a sufficient quantity of land and raise $500.00 to defray the expense of building said Town House.  This piece of land is the property opposite the present Grange and Town Hall where I presently live.

This is where the story of the Town House being moved to the center derives from which I believe was never completed.

I bought my present home in 1940 and believe it was built around the year 1850. When I moved into the house in 1942 I was told by Marshall Sanborn who owned the old farm house next door that the town once moved some lumber from the old Town House onto this land to erect a new Town House here but then moved it back to where the old meeting house was.

Sometime around the 1960s Rev. Franklin Parker, the Congregational Pastor here in Chichester, wrote an article on the history of the Town Hall which was published in the newspaper and is in our archives in the Historical Society.  In this account Rev. Parker states that he had an interview with Miss Sally Carpenter who was a great granddaughter of the Rev. Josiah Carpenter who was the first Congregational preacher in Chichester.

Following is a quote from the article as it was written for the newspaper by Rev. Parker.

“At a town meeting it was voted to move the building one mile up the road.  So it was taken down and the oxen of the late Charles Carpenter Esq. were used to take the boards and timbers up the road.  It was left on the land now owned by Walter L. Sanborn where it was proposed that the building should stand.  But before it could be put together a special town meeting was held and it was voted to bring the boards and timbers back and re-erect the timbers and boards of the Town Hall in the present location.  So Mr. Carpenter took his oxen and again brought the parts of the building back to the original site.  He was a picturesque figure with his tall hat and patriarchal beard.  I can imagine him walking along the highway with his oxen chuckling to himself because he had an opportunity to pick up an extra dollar moving the parts of the Town Hall.  Here is romance enough to form a plot for a first class novel and it ought to be given literary form.”

This ends the quote from Rev. Parker’s newspaper story.  This is, however, not the end and when my head clears I will continue the story in my next article.