Above: NYHS Board members Mark Heath, Dixie Hayes and Katie Murphy, NYHS President with Chris Bolduc, North Yarmouth Interim Town Manager
On Thursday, September 9, North Yarmouth Historical Board members met with Interim Town Manager Chris Bolduc and Draven Walker, Assistant to the Town Manager, to finally sign a lease for 475 Walnut Hill Road, the northern end of the town’s Village Green. In exchange for $1.00, the town has agreed to lease the property to North Yarmouth Historical in order to move the 1853 Old Town House to the property, to be restored, renewed, and reopened.
The recent timeline for this initiative has been several years long:
2013: As Town creates plans for developing a town center, NYHS Board votes to offer to re-site OTH on Town property somewhere in the Village Center.
2013, August 13: Wescustogo Hall, North Yarmouth’s central meeting place and historic former grange is destroyed by fire.
2016–2019: The town’s Wescustogo Committee works on a plan to identify a new site to replace the lost building. Eventually, the town votes to build a new Wescustogo Hall & Community Center, replacing North Yarmouth Memorial School. The “Wescustogo Lot” is therefore freed for Old Town House relocation.
2019, April 11: At Town Meeting, residents vote to approve a lease agreement to “swap” property: NYHS will transfer deed for Old Town House property at 470 Memorial Highway to Town; Town will lease NYHS the “Wescustogo Lot” for Old Town House.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the “Old Town House is Moving Into the Future” project is set for Monday, September 20 at 475 Walnut Hill Road at 7:30 AM.