What Can I Do to Help Preserve the Site and Burlington History?


 

About the Friends


What Can I Do?


Local Contacts


State Contacts


Internet Sites


Main Page


  • For right now contact Burlington officials and emphasize how important it is to protect the mill site for future generations. Sample letter.
  • Contact your local and state politicians and let them know that preservation of historic resources is important to you and your family.
  • Volunteer at the Burlington Town Archives and Historical Museum.
Dear ---:

As you know, Massachusetts and the rest of the nation is experiencing an unprecedented building boom. In light of the growing pressures on historic resources and open space, I urge you to support the preservation and acquisition of the Butters'/Miller/Clapp's mill site in Burlington and Wilmington, Mass.

The site is:

  • Potentially eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, due to its significance on the national, state, and local levels

  • Registered as a Massachusetts Historical Commission's Archaeological Resources Survey Site

  • Historically significant for 17th-19th century associations as Burlington's last surviving water-powered mill Burlington's other main mills--the Reed mills on Vine Brook--are covered by the Burlington Mall

  • Associated with Minuteman James Butters (1745-1838), the propagator of the Baldwin apple and Loammi Baldwin (1745-1807), designer of New England’s first canal (1803 Middlesex Canal), and the first individual to graft the Baldwin apple.

  • A quiet and natural place

    The wind whispers through the trees and neighbors take advantage of the area's natural beauty. It deserves to be protected as a conservation area and an historic area.

  • Severely endangered by heavy development and vandalism

    During the 1950s-1960s, Burlington underwent the most rapid development of any town in the state of Massachusetts, resulting in the demolition, relocation, alteration and removal of many historic buildings and streetscapes. The Conservation/Recreation Dept.'s most recent five year plan identified the acquisition of open space as a major goal-- the town has already undergone several stages of development, with the loss of countless historic sites. This is an important site--regionally, as well as nationally--and we must do everything we can to protect it.

    I urge you to take the steps necessary to acquire this land and to protect the site--as a historic and conservation resource. I am counting on your leadership to ensure its protection.

    Sincerely, (your name here)
  •