Historical Commission grant to fund study of early buildings

Nov 12, 2019

The Dartmouth Historical Commission will continue a project to document early buildings in town after receiving grant funding from the Massachusetts Historical Commission and the Dartmouth Community Preservation Committee.

According to a Historical Commission press release, the Commission used the grant to contract with Public Archaeology Laboratory of Pawtucket, RI to survey and document early buildings in Dartmouth.

Archaeologists Virginia Adams, Melissa Andrade, and others will work with volunteer members of the Historical Commission to reveal the history and building styles of the town’s early buildings.

This survey will better inform the Commission’s decisions concerning requests for demolition and rehab of structures within the town.

Final reports — including photographs and other information generated from the study — will likely be completed by July 2020.

This information will be made available online to all members of the community through the Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System database, known as MACRIS.

The archaeologists may be seen around town photographing houses and outbuildings from the street in order to document the buildings as they appear in present times.

These photographs will be filed for future generations in the Historical Commission office.