To the Editor:
On the afternoon of Jan. 6 of this year, I decided to take a walk/jog from my house around Hull Village. I passed the library, the beautiful old Methodist church, and the Hull Lifesaving Museum. Midway, I stopped up at Fort Revere. I took a moment to look out back to Boston Light and Allerton Hill. There were a couple other people there with dogs roaming the bunkers. I snapped a quick photo of the water tower against the midday light.
Shortly after returning home, my neighbor and friend Bob stopped by to drop off an architectural drawing he did of our house. He also told me to turn on the TV to see what was happening at the U.S. Capitol.
Monuments hold a lot of meaning, especially in American history and culture. We look to them, and we remember our family histories and what ties us together as American citizens. When I’m out in town and I see the Fort Revere Water Tower rising above the tree line overlooking the historic fortification and cemetery, I think of people like my grandfather who served in World War II and the love letters he wrote to my grandmother. Or my husband’s uncle who fought in the Vietnam War. I also think about my neighbors.
What do our youth think about when they stare out the bus on their way to the high school and see the tower every day? What do longtime residents think when they are visiting a burial site in the cemetery and they look up to the tower on the hill? What do commuters think when they’re driving home late from work from the ferry and they drive past the tower illuminated by the sunset?
There is no perfect time for the historic preservation of our precious monuments; there are so many community needs, with so little time and money. But right now, we have a moment. We have the town-commissioned engineering study completed. We have competitive bond rates. And, after attending a well-attended online forum dedicated to the tower last week, I believe we also have the community will.
I kindly ask our Board of Selectmen to place an article on the 2021 town meeting warrant to fund the restoration of the Fort Revere Water Tower.
– Jason McCann
