[MassHistPres] Sales/new owners in LHDs

[Wendy Bawabe]

Hi Everyone,

The Norwell Historical Society (not the Commission) sends out a package to all homeowners who have bought a historic home (older than 75 years) every February. We have two versions: one that references the MHC Form B (we include that in the package) and one that says there is no Form B and the Historical Commission is going to work on creating one. I’m attaching the PDFs of both of those letters from this past year.

We find doing this no only explains to new (historic) home owners about our Town’s demolition delay bylaw and offers up the Commission’s expertise on old homes, but it also encourages them to buy a historic house plaque and learn more about the history of their new home. 

I hope this is helpful!

Wendy Bawabe
Norwell Historical Society



On Oct 7, 2025, at 4:04 PM, Garrett Laws via MassHistPres <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu> wrote:

Michelle,

Aside from the challenges of tracking the sales of your current inventory, mailing (dropping off) a resource pamphlet to existing and new homeowners is a great way to be proactive with the districts and homeowners that you work with to keep a city or town's historic fabric in place. 

Does anyone already distribute something directly to historic property owners?

Many Thanks,
Garrett Laws

The Copper & Slate Company <https://copperandslate.net/>

Instagram <https://www.instagram.com/copperandslatecompany/> 

The Copper & Slate Company, Inc.
Fine Roofing and Historic Carpentry
238 Calvary Street,
Waltham, MA 02453
(781) 893-1916

LEAD FREE SINCE 2008


On Tue, Oct 7, 2025 at 8:05 AM Johnstone, Michelle via MassHistPres <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu <mailto:masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>> wrote:
> Good afternoon, everyone –
> 
>  
> 
> Happy Monday! Reaching out to the greater group to ask: what you all do in your community when a property is sold in a local historic district? Do you monitor for sales and send a welcome letter? If so, do you find that this is helpful? Here in Worcester, we don’t do anything, and sometimes new homeowners find out that they are in a local historic district the first time they pull a permit on the property. Of course, sometimes no permit is pulled (and sometimes isn’t even required), which causes issues when people claim they simply didn’t know/were never told their property is in a local historic district.
> 
>  
> 
> If anyone has a great example of a letter that you send to new historic property owners, please feel free to share!
> 
>  
> 
> Best,
> 
>  
> 
> Michelle H. Johnstone
> 
> Senior Preservation Planner
> 
> Executive Office of Economic Development | Planning & Regulatory Services Division
> 
> City of Worcester | 455 Main Street, Rm 404, Worcester, MA 01608
> 
> P: 508-799-1400 x31410
> 
> C: 774-622-0695
> 
> E: johnstonem at worcesterma.gov <mailto:johnstonem at worcesterma.gov>
> www.worcesterma.gov <http://www.worcesterma.gov/>
>  
> 
> _______________________________________________
> MassHistPres mailing list
> MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu <mailto:MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu>
> https://mailman.cs.umb.edu/listinfo/masshistpres
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