Essex National Heritage Area
Tom Leonard, President, ENHC

Tom Leonard,
President Emeritus, ENHC

Tom Leonard writes a monthly column for the community newspapers in the Essex National Heritage Area. This is a reprint of this month's column.
tleonard
at essexheritage.org.

Columns
Essex Heritage Gains Support From
the Commonwealth and
Trails & Sails Takes Center Stage

Now that the summer of 2010 is over, we are fast approaching a part of the year when Essex Heritage and its partner organizations offer a series of wonderful events.  Over the last two weekends of September, Trails and Sails take center stage for Essex Heritage and this year the weekends will feature wonderful free events offered by over one hundred partner organizations.  This year’s program guides are available on the Essex Heritage web site at www.essexheritage.org.  Just click on events for more information.  Trails and Sails are brought to this region through the cooperation of TD Bank, Eastern Bank and Hunts Photo and Video.

Governor Patrick Signs Heritage Area Bill
Essex Heritage is pleased to announce that Governor Patrick has signed legislation that recognizes the importance of Heritage Areas to the Commonwealth.   The new bill recognizes Essex Heritage and the other four Heritage Areas in the state as important entities that service the public good, The Governor urges state agencies and departments to consider the Areas in their plans and this also makes possible public-private partnerships and joint projects that advance the goals of Heritage Areas.  Those goals are in important issues like environmental protection, heritage resource preservation, recreation, tourism, and trail development.  This legislation was offered and supported by our local state elected officials.

The five Massachusetts Heritage Areas covered by this new law includes the Essex National Heritage Area, the John Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor the Quinebaug and Shetucket Rivers Valley National Heritage Area, the Upper Housatonic National Heritage Area and the Freedoms Way National Heritage Area.  National Heritage Areas are congressionally designated in perpetuity and receive an annual stipend of funds through the US Department of the Interior/National Park Service and are generally supplemented by private and foundation funds.  Essex Heritage is very pleased to see this legislation become law and is looking forward to working with our elected officials on Beacon Hill in Boston and State officials to find ways to implement this law for the benefit of the residents of Essex County.

Essex Heritage Photo Contest
If you go to the Essex Heritage web site at www.essexheritage.org you will find information about the 2010 Essex Heritage Photo Contest.  This year the photos all must be taken within the boundaries of the Essex Heritage Area and must be submitted before October 1, 2010.  The photos must depict the historic, natural or cultural resources that can be found in such abundance in the region.   Photography is an important aspect of the work of Essex Heritage and the participation of the residents from this area at the Photo Safari’s sponsored by Hunts Photo and Video in Melrose is particularly gratifying as each event is usually sold out well in advance, so we know that we have many photo enthusiasts in the region.   We look forward to receiving a wide range of photos from our members and friends and choosing winners this fall that will have their work displayed in the National Park Service Visitor Center.

Boys and Girls Club of Greater Salem Makes Plans
In the next several weeks, the Building Committee of the Board of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Salem will begin the process of determining the best approach to assessing community interest in a potential building project.   I am pleased to serve on this board, and offer help to an organization that is a partner of Essex Heritage.  A Series of interviews that could begin as early as this fall will be conducted by an independent advisor with community leaders that would help the club determine the scope and the depth of any campaign to build a new facility in the near term.  

The current owner of the building that houses the club has indicated that in the near term that they wish to sell the sixty-year old former parochial elementary school.  Those plans have caused the Boys and Girls Club to consider several options as they look to the future.   It is expected that the series of interviews will help that club determine the depth of resources that might be available to them as they continue to explore all future facility options.  Certainly, if anyone in the area wishes to provide any help to the Boys and Girls Club as they embark on this important exercise we would encourage you to contact any member of the Board of Directors or the club’s Executive Director, Joanne Scott.


In addition to a much broader use of the website, Essex Heritage also communicates using traditional methods like this monthly column and social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin as well as using other non traditional methods like the Essex Happenings BLOG that I post information to three times a week that can be accessed at www.essexhappenings.blogspot.com.

Read more about the region from Tom Leonard on his blog.

Thomas M. Leonard is President Emeritus of the Essex National Heritage Commission, Inc., the nonprofit management entity of the Essex National Heritage Area, and can be reached by clicking here.