Dighton Historical Commission Approves Walking Tour Brochure, Faces $600 Budget Year

DIGHTON — June 10, 2025 — Dighton Historical Commission approves walking tour brochure and confronts a $600 annual budget for FY26. The commission voted unanimously at its June 10 meeting to approve a finished brochure for the town's wharf National Historic District walking tour, with a companion Corum shipyard brochure still in progress pending additional content about the Taunton Yacht Club building and Charles White Wharf history. Chair Patricia Gails said the FY26 budget — approved the prior evening at Annual Town Meeting — reflects the town's view of the commission's spending patterns, but argued that project-based costs like a pending mapping invoice from contractor CI, estimated between $350 and $550, can skew those patterns. The commission also discussed the recent demolition of the Hathaway House at 2120 Water Street, a property within the National Register Historic District, with Gails noting the commission has no authority to regulate demolitions or new construction absent a local historic district bylaw — "there are no guidelines that can tell the homeowner what they can do with their property."