
Jaffrey Center Village Improvement Society
WINTER
2009

Jaffrey
Center Caroling and Tree Lighting on Sunday, December 6th
The Jaffrey Center Village Improvement Society will hold its annual tree lighting and caroling ceremony at 4:30 pm Sunday, Dec. 6 on the Jaffrey Center Common, followed by refreshments at 5 p.m. at the Oribe Barn, 384 Main Street. The Monadnock Inn's annual Christmas Dinner will be held at 6 pm. Call the Inn for reservations. The JCVIS decorated and raised a 16' holiday tree on the Common near the Meetinghouse and The First Church in Jaffrey on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Helping were, L-R, Dick Ames, Don and Pat MacIsaac, Janet Grant, Heather Ames, Christine Pedott, Ken Campbell, and photographer Suze Campbell.
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JULY
2009
Jaffrey
Center Village
Improvement
Society Votes
To Conserve
Small Plots
in Historic
Village Area
103rd
Annual Meeting
Endorses Saving
Character of
Area
The Jaffrey
Center Village
Improvement
Society voted
Sunday (7/26/09)
at its 103rd
Annual Meeting
to empower
the non-profit
organization
to hold conservation
easements from
land owners
who wish to
maintain the
open space
and historic
character that
is represented
by the Jaffrey
Center area,
which includes
a National
Historic District.
Kenneth
Campbell,
president,
said, “The
members voted
unanimously
to authorize
the Board of
Directors to
proceed with
the recommendations
and steps of
the Conservation
Easement Committee.
We
intend to
model our
procedures
on those developed
over the past
decades by
the Monadnock
Conservancy
and the Forest
Society.”
The
recommendations
of the VIS
Conservation
Easement Committee
can be found
here; the initial
proposal by
six home owners
would conserve
some 30 acres
of contiguous
open spaces
in Jaffrey
Center, where
zoning requires
just one acre
per house. “The
development
of all this
open space
to its highest
marketable
use would likely
destroy the
Jaffrey Center
landscape,” said
Richard Ames,
the chair of
the committee
The
VIS, in addition
to maintaining
at private
expense the
Horsesheds,
Melville Academy
and 16 acres
of parks and
commons open
to the public,
organizes a
variety of
community events
and assists
the Town in
maintaining
the Meetinghouse.
It also maintains
a website,
www.jcvis.org,
and operates
the Melville
Academy Museum,
which opens
its doors on
summer weekends
from 2 pm to
4 pm.
The
nearly 300
members of
the VIS live
in all parts
of Jaffrey,
in other New
Hampshire towns
and in eight
states from
Maine to North
Carolina to
Ohio.
Following
the meeting,
the JCVIS Board
met and voted
to amend the
articles of
agreement–its
charter– to
authorize explicitly
the holding
of easements,
which was an
implict power
in the existing
charter.
Articles
sold by the
VIS include
sets of the
VIS Centennial
Plates by Spode,
depicting old
scenes of the
village and
Mt. Monadnock,
and the VIS
history, “Marshal
the Willing
Forces,” by
Robert B. Stephenson,
an entertaining
record of the
preservation
of the area.
Contact president@jcvis.org.
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PHOTOS
FROM THE MEETING
PLATES
FOR SALE
 |
We
have good
news for
those of
you who
need
gifts
for your
friends
and family.
There are
still a
few sets
of our limited
edition
Spode plates in
cranberry
available
for purchase.
They won't
last long.
Contact
Ken
Campbell for
information.
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PUBLICATIONS
AVAILABLE
THE JAFFREY CENTER Village Improvement
Society is pleased to
announce two
new publications which
have been issued to commemorate
the Centennial of
the VIS. Both are
now available from the Society.
(Marshal
the Willing Forces may be
obtained from the
Jaffrey Chamber of Commerce
and The Toadstool Bookshop
in
Peterborough.) These
companion publications were
researched, written and
produced by VIS member
Robert B. Stephenson and
make use of the minutes,
records, photographs
and ephemera of the Society.
Many of the images included
have never appeared
in print before.
(more
information)
 |
Marshal
the Willing
Forces; A Centennial
History of the
Jaffrey Center
Village Improvement
Society |
 |
100 years; A
Commemorative
Keepsake Celebrating
the Centennial
Year of the
Jaffrey Center
Village Improvement
Society, |
HISTORY:
The Jaffrey Center
Village Improvement
Society was founded
in August 1906
by a group
of nine women
and two men —both year-round and summer residents—…to
improve and to ornament the streets and public grounds of Jaffrey Center
and vicinity.” Since that first annual meeting, it has preserved
and continues to maintain, for the benefit of all, over 16 acres of commons,
parks, lawns and meadows in the village. Since 1919 the VIS has done the
same for Melville Academy—Jaffrey’s
own local history
museum.
The Jaffrey Center Village Improvement Society
is a nonprofit association which includes about 200 individuals and families
from Jaffrey, the Monadnock region, Massachusetts and elsewhere who are
committed to maintaining and sustaining a vibrant and historic New England
village.
Persons
interested in joining
the JCVIS may
write to the Society
at Post Office Box
722, Jaffrey, New
Hampshire 03452. Annual
dues are $10.
Contact:
Ken Campbell, President.
(President@jcvis.org)
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