FINAL WEEK, Saturday's "Medfield Historical Minute"

For the final week of the year-long Medfield Historical Minutes, each of the days will represent an important event in Medfield history that had a major and “game changing” impact on the town.

A Medfield Historical Minute...

This is the final week of "Medfield Historical Minutes" brought to you by town historian, Richard DeSorgher.

Although the Coronavirus is still part of our daily lives, there is hope on the horizon that we will not be isolated too much longer as vaccinations are now taking place. Medfield Historical
Minutes were Richard's way of "giving you a little break during this time of boredom during
isolation" by sharing his knowledge of Medfield history. A huge thank you to Richard for his time and dedication to sharing the history of Medfield with our community for one full year.

"In 1975 Selectmen, the Conservation Commission, and civic-minded residents pushed to preserve Noon Hill as open space and voters at Town Meeting then supported the purchase of some 260 acres of land on and around Noon Hill. Noon Hill today is a vast area of conservation land, forest, ponds and streams. It is a hiker’s paradise; an invaluable resource for the Town of Medfield. Thanks to the voters of Town Meeting, the town saved ten-fold the cost of that land against what the cost of town services and houses would have been. That coupled with the conservation commission and town voters supporting Congressional action turning over the wetlands all along the Charles River to the U.S. Government for a Natural Valley Storage as a way to ensure that our major wetlands are never filled in and guaranteed the town direct control over its recreational use, impacted the town greatly. The protected area includes 75 percent of all existing wetlands in the Charles River watershed. Without protection, the Army Corps of Engineer’s estimated that 40 percent of all existing wetlands at the time would have been lost to development by 1990. That and the purchase of conservation lands including the Holmquest property, Red Gate Farm, Saw Mill Brook land and many others, has given Medfield vast open space and positively impacted the very nature of the town and the quality of life of its citizens."