Monday, August 3, 2009

National Park Service Evaluation and ENHC Newsletter

ENHC Senior Staff Visit to Washington
In an earlier posting I noted that the ENHC senior staff had made a trip to Washington to meet with National Park Service staff regarding the evaluation that had been conducted late last year. The meetings over a two day period were most positive and it has been decided that the report on Essex Heritage that will be delivered to Congress will now be delayed and sent as a package with two other Heritage Areas. Those Heritage Areas will have their evaluations completed in the coming months. We wish that we were able to report more on the findings at this time, but when completed and delivered to Washington by the Park Service the results will certainly be shared with our many "friends". So many of you shared valuable time with the evaluation team during the process, and we look forward to sharing the results with you when assembled as part of the total package. It appears that combining the three reports as a single presentation will be more revealing and comparisons between the three examined Heritage Areas might shed light on the importance of Heritage Areas to the work of the National Park Service.

Essex National Heritage Commission Electronic Newsletter

I suspect that it is very possible that when I brag about and promote the Essex Heritage Electronic Newsletter that I am "preaching to the choir", as many who are reading this report also read that newsletter. This most current edition of the Essex Heritage newsletter just arrived in my mailbox and if any of you, and I suspect that will not be many of you who read these postings, do not receive this message from Essex Heritage please take the time to sign up. It is so well done and full of important information about current activities of Essex Heritage. This months edition focuses on maritime issues, such as the National ParK Service Maritime Festival, the new Essex Heritage Maritime Brochure and some of the most prominent maritime resources in the region are highlighted. Ms. Elizabeth Rankin of our staff is the Editor in Chief of this monthly newsletter and does such a wonderful job of organizing the material each month. We are so fortunate to have Elizabeth on staff as in addition to her editorial duties she also manages, plans and implements the wildly successful Essex Heritage Explorers Program. For mare information about the newsletter and or the Explorers Program contact Elizabeth Rankin atelizabethr@essexheritage.org.


National Park Service Maritime Lecture Series
On Wednesday evening, August 5, 2009 Captain Mike Rutstein, the owner and Captain of the Schooner Fame will present the August Maritime Lecture at St. Joseph's Polish Club on Derby Street in Salem. The sessions each month are jointly sponsored by the Schooner Fame and the National Park service. This month's free lecture will highlight the participation of the Fame in the Gloucester Schooner Festival over the last six years. A lecture is presented each month and future lectures will focus on restoration work on the Ships Earnestine and Friendship. It is not too late to sign up for the August lecture and remember the sessions are all free. Contact the Salem Maritime National Historic Site in Salem for more information

One Personal Note.

As many of you know who have regular contact with Essex Heritage, for the last ten weeks, my wife Marge has been undergoing treatment for a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma that settled in her leg. Those treatments were provided at the Cancer Center at Massachusetts General Hospital and that phase of treatments is now complete and is considered successful. The work done by the medical staff at MGH was extraordinary and what is left for her now is a series of radiation treatments that will be provided at the new MGH/NSMC facility just recently opened on Endicott Street in Danvers. Marge has done wonderfully through all of these difficult treatments, and all of her friends and family are proud of her courage to face this issue head on and to effectively deal with the treatments. We are most appreciative of all of the positive thoughts and prayers she has received these last ten weeks and we say thanks to all of you who extended her your well wishes.

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