Sawyer Hall is not the oldest building in Heath’s newly designated National Historic District, but it is the building I am most familiar with. Originally built as a town library, and named after the man who put up the money, it has been added on to and functions have been added. The whole east side of the downstairs is the Heath free Public Library founded in 1894. Across the hall is the Post Office, and an office for our police force. Margo is the Postmistress and the Chief of Police. There are two accessible bathrooms and an elevator that will take you upstairs to the town offices – all in one big room that has been somewhat cubical-ized in a very makeshift way, and a separate assessors office. This is one busy place.
The two town museums were open in honor of this historic day when certificates were handed out to all the homeowners whose houses are in the National Historic District. Grand and humble abodes make up the history of our town.
There was a little bit of speechifying and wonderful reminicences by four of the town elders. We got one of our neighbors to take this family portrait.
As much as we treasure our Heath history and traditions, we are very progressive. The Heath Fair Parade now includes an antique tractor section, and a Prius section. Maybe they will add a Smart Car section. There is more than one in town. Two residents have installed windmills!
In the evening there was a more personal kind of celebration to top off the civic festivities. Our friends BJ and Dan invited us to Rowe Pond for a swim and a barbecue to celebrate their 22nd wedding anniversary. We did not attend the ceremony. We exchanged our house for the weekend with BJ’s mother’s beach house while ours was taken over by various celebrating relatives. We asked how they made it through 22 years together and Dan said, “The vows are strong!” He smiled.
The boys had gone swimming but another storm blew up and we raced over to Dan and BJ’s house in the woods. BJ knows how to take care of shivering boys. Cozy quilts and cookies.
I’ve noticed that a lot of celebrating goes on in the Heathan environs. We are lucky.