CHESHIRE AT 325
Dedicated to the community, these institutions help it thrive By Joy VanderLek The Cheshire Citizen
As 2019 comes to an end, let’s reflect one last time on Cheshire’s 325th anniversary year with a focus on a few of the local entities that have contributed to the life of the town, withstood the test of time and been part of its long, rich history. Cheshire Nursery Documentation supports an origination date of 1860s for Cheshire Nursery. However, current owners, Bill and Rick Beebe, believe the enterprise may have started
Thursday, December 26, 2019
cheshirecitizen.com
Volume 6, Number 11
By Michael Gagne Record-Journal staff
even earlier. What they definitely know is that their Cheshire business has deep roots.
Mismanagement led to the killing of an estimated 150 small fish in gray polluted water in Cuff Brook last summer during a project intended to rehabilitate and extend the use of the aging and decaying culvert that allows the brook’s waters to flow under Marion Road.
Through the years, the names Philo Sherman Beers (a.k.a. P.S. Beers), N.S. Platt, J. Norris and John R. Norris were associated with the nursery. The 1890 catalog, printed by proprietors Platt & Barnes, is quite extensive, showing a wide variety of flowering, shade and fruit trees. The acquisition of the 100acre Pardee farm located on See 325, A7
Project leads to rift between wetlands panel, town officials
Cheshire Garden Club founder Lucy Evans, 1920.
Cheshire’s Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission issued the environmental permits for the project. Leaders of the town’s Public Works & Engineering Department were responsible for ensuring the requirements were being followed. “This is basically almost like a marriage where trust breaks down because one of the parties fail to meet an obligation. It’s going to take a lot of work to gain it back,” said Robert deJongh, who chairs the wetland panel.
Cheshire Nursery.
Public works officials received a notice of viola-
tion from the state Department of Energy and Environment Protection in October, and the town now faces fines of up to $125,000. DEEP spokeswoman Kristina Rozek said in a Dec. 20 email the matter “remains under investigation and review.” But before that state notification came, the town’s environmental planner issued a separate ceaseand-desist order, halting the project for violating wetlands permit stipulations. The permit required controls to prevent soil erosion and the flow of water through the culvert during the project. Photos taken by town engineering technician Michael Caffrey while work was in progress clearly showed contractors spraying a concrete-fiberglass mixture onto the culvert lining while standing in a flowing stream of water. See Cuff Brook, A6
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