Hope Historical Society Minutes
November 16, 2021

The meeting was called to order by Vice President, Marie Berry at 6:35 PM - attendees in addition to Marie, were Catherine Pease, Gwen Brodis, Linda Hillgrove, Ann Leadbetter, Margaret Morse, Judith Jones, Ron Smith, Jim DellaPenna, Mary Ireland, Cindy DellaPenna, new member Linda Black, and guests Bruce Linthicum, Lisa & Jeff Clark. Marie announced that our guest speaker for the evening would not be available due to illness; it is hoped we can rebook her for a meeting next year.

The secretary's report had been emailed to all members and a few copies distributed prior to the meeting, therefore a reading not required. It was moved, seconded and passed to accept the October 19, 2021, secretary's report.

The Treasurer's report was distributed, which included income and expenses through October 31, 2021. Total income for the month of October was $2,144.72; this included donations of $1,630 - a $1,000 donation was made by Mike Brown of New Hampshire, who suggested part of his donation be used to replace the defunct dehumidifier. Expenses totaled $826.50. Gwen explained that she had been able to negotiate a better rate with our website server, Maine Hosting Solutions - what had been an annual billing for the server and Domain will now be billed every two years for the same amount, $289.40, a nice savings. As of the end of October, we had $580.70 in checking and $23,495.47 in savings. The proceeds of the bake and craft sales on election day, Nov 2nd will appear on the next report, but it was close to $900. It was moved to accept the Treasurer's report, seconded and passed.

Gwen discussed what expenses will appear for November, in particular, the extra payment to Maritime Energy above and beyond our regular service contract. The heavy rain storm, that brought about 5 inches of water to our area, flooded the Historical Society's basement, shutting off the furnace. She said we were fortunate that after the water receded, Maine Maritime was able to get the furnace up and running again.

We next discussed if we should resume our usual Christmas brunch in December - with a show of hands, it was overwhelmingly decided to forgo one more year.

Marie advised that member Evelyn Ludwig had donated a desk and stand for the society to sell. Marie was able to secure $100 for the desk, she still has the stand available for sale. Items are given to her over the year for the benefit of the Historical Society, as she is the summer yard sale coordinator. We store some things in the Historical Society's garage and she puts other items in her barn. It was recommended she consider advising members of available items from time to time so they may consider purchasing.

Jim DellaPenna informed us that the new Black and Decker dehumidifier is in place and doing its job. It is a higher rated unit than the one it replaced. He stated he has checked on it several times and has been surprised how much moisture was/is in the house. On the other hand, the flooded basement likely contributed to excess moisture.

There was a discussion as to who would check on the house during the winter months. We have a light that comes on should the furnace go out for any reason, but that requires someone to drive by at night to notice if it is on. Weekly physical checks of the house were determined best to compliment the light. Jim will begin the monitoring at the end of December (when Gwen and Donovan end their sporadic archivist/curator work at the house) through January; Marie Berry will cover February; and Judith volunteered her husband, Bill Jones, for March.

New Business

Ron Smith proposed some sort of permanent plant, plants, or better yet shrub to be placed in the hollow stump of the tree removed from the Historical Society's front yard. Judith and Bill Jones have planted some perennials in the stump hollow to help dress up the yard, but their height is minimal and the thought is that some kind of shrub or even an evergreen might be more appropriate to spruce up the blandness of the yard. Years ago, there had been rose bushes out front, according to Gwen. Ideas are welcome - lets plan on some landscaping in the spring.

Mark Brown, son of David & Katherine (True) Brown the former owners of the Historical Society house, has donated a desk thought to have been built by his grandfather, Elmer True.

Cindy DellaPenna discussed two Bartlett journals, one was definitely written by Nathan Bartlett, a blacksmith in North Appleton, entries are from 1837 to 1841 when that part of Appleton was still part of Hope. The other journal is supposedly Daniel Bartlett's, a Hope farmer; it runs from 1827 to 1845, this may be the journal of two different Bartletts, as the presumed Daniel died in 1837. In any case, these journals will shed more light on life in our area in the early 1800's. Kate (Grenier) Gilbert, her mother was a Bartlett, has scanned the two journals and provided the scanned copies to Cindy and to the Town of Hope Sexton, Beth Gindel. Kate instructed us to share with anyone interested. Cindy copied the scanned images to two thumb drives and gave to Gwen. Donovan had already been informed of the scanned journals and will take one of the thumb drives to the Appleton Historical Society.

There was a request to solicit contributors to keep Florence Merrifield's craft table going. If you like to sew or make appropriate gifts for the craft table, please consider reaching out in her memory. She contributed an annual raffle quilt and scores of handy sewed kitchen crafts.

In lieu of a quilt, ideas for something else we could raffle on an annual or even more frequent basis was discussed. The suggestion of a basket with contributions from local businesses is popular. We have many small businesses in town, with any array of goods, that would be appropriate for a basket - also, it would be a nice way for businesses to promote themselves.

We have a speaker for next April, when we will meet again.

At 7:25 PM a motion to adjoin was seconded and passed.

At the conclusion of the meeting, cookies and cider were available while people took the opportunity to socialize.

Respectfully submitted.
Cynthia S. DellaPenna, Secretary