Weston Historical Commission Backs Eagle Scout Project and Farm Preservation Push

WESTON -- March 20, 2023, Weston Historical Commission voted unanimously to back an Eagle Scout's effort to mark a historic mill site and to launch a preservation study of a three-century barn at 487 Wellesley Street. At the March 20 Zoom meeting, the seven-member body voted 7-0 to support 16-year-old Kieran Gavin of Troop 157, who plans to clear the overgrown foundation of a grist mill and chair and desk factory behind Crescent Street and install interpretive signs, with graphic design assistance from commission member Ford Curran. The commission then voted 6-0, with Henry S. Stone, Jr. recusing due to a family connection, to form a small working group to pursue a fair-market appraisal of the Hide family homestead, a multi-period barn and seven-acre Chapter 61A parcel whose owners said they "can't stay" after 53 years. The commission also endorsed moving directly to full design and bid documents for restoring the 1937 Central Cemetery entrance gate on Boston Post Road, using $120,000 in existing Community Preservation Committee funds, with construction requiring a separate town meeting appropriation.