Preservation Trust of Vermont
Tunbridge, Vermont
Preservation Group Places Small Vermont Towns on 'Watch Status'

Excerpted from The Boston Globe
By Brian MacQuarrie  GLOBE STAFF  

"Four small towns in central Vermont have been placed on "watch status" by the National Trust for Historic Preservation because of what the organization calls a growing threat from a proposal by a Utah businessman to build a vast, planned community there.

The NewVistas proposal by David Hall, who wants to create a futuristic development near the birthplace of the founder of the Mormon church, threatens the character of the Upper Valley towns of Royalton, Sharon, Strafford, and Tunbridge, according to the National Trust.

The four towns "and the historic districts and landscapes in and around their borders are quintessential New England," said Stephanie Meeks, president of the trust, which is based in Washington. "From the stone walls that mark property lines to the scenic barns, fields, homesteads, and landscapes that define Vermont, there are countless elements of New England history within this region that could be negatively impacted by the NewVistas project."

Hall has bought at least 1,600 acres for approximately $6 million near and adjacent to the Sharon birthplace of Joseph Smith, the 19th-century founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints..."


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Preservation Trust of Vermont
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