The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • Z1

Globe South THE BOSTON GLOBE THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 2014 BOSTONGLOBE.COMSOUTH WALPOLE S2 Town in talks to buy camp Chief aim to protect local water supply By Johanna Seltz GLOBE CORRESPONDENT The town of Walpole is negotiating to buy a closed summer camp that sits on top of the aquifer providing the water for its municipal water system, says the head of the Walpole Water and Sewer Commission. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," commission chairman John Spillane said of the potential purchase, which he estimated would cost the town "between $1 million and $5 million." Spillane said the commission wants to buy the former Sharon Country Day Camp to protect the town's water supply by preventing other development of the 31-acre site, located on Common Street at the Walpole-Sharon line. "If it were developed, there's always a chance of pollution," he said. "The location is critical because it's only about 600 feet from our biggest well." The municipal water system serves the entire town about 8,000 customers with seven wells pumping water from an underground aquifer, Spillane said. Walpole opened its water system in 1895 with 15 miles of water main and 110 customers.

The current system has more than 145 miles of water mains, seven large water storage tanks, and two water treatment WALPOLE, Page 5 PHOTOS BY DAVID RYANGLOBE STAFF HULL The only public cemetery in town is down to a handful of available gravesites. Town Meeting authorized VILLAGE $500,000 in the spring to expand the cemetery, which was first used in the 1600s and includes the CEMETERY grave of famed lifesaver Joshua James and opera singer Bernice James De Pasquali. Concerns grow as West Nile, EEE detected WASHINGTON Fifteen years after it was first proposed, the town broke ground STREET this summer on a new cemetery, Stetson Meadows, to replace the CEMETERY, at-capacity Washington Street Cemetery (above), which has about NORWELL 25 spaces left. The plan was stalled by the discovery of protected Eastern box turtles on the site; the town had to build them a sanctuary before cemetery construction could start. NEARING EARTHLY LIMITS Some local cemeteries running out of space, and look to expand By Johanna Seltz GLOBE CORRESPONDENT HULL Joseph Stigliani has more than a morbid interest in the health of the residents of this peninsula town: He operates the municipal Hull Village Cemetery, and he's running out of space.

"Unfortunately, we're getting low on graves we have probably less than 20, and we average between 40 and 50 burials per year," said Stigliani, director of Hull's Department of Public Works. "I'm just scrambling to find space on the edges. We're under the gun" to expand. It's a scenario playing out across the region from Dedham to Norwell, and Westwood to Plymouth as public cemeteries grapple with accommodating the needs of the dead. By state law, every Massachusetts town must "provide one or more suitable places for the interment of persons dying within its limits." "We're not running out of cemetery space per se; we're running out in specific locations," said David Walkinshaw, spokesman for the Massachusetts Funeral Directors Association.

The task of creating more space can be daunting, with communities dealing with everything from the high cost of land to the complicated demands of environmental rules. In Norwell, the quest to build a new cemetery Stetson Meadows on 21 acres of conservation land off Stetson Shrine Lane took about 15 years, according to Norwell Cemetery Commission chairwoman Lynne Rose. The town's existing Washington Street Cemetery has about 25 spaces left, enough to last until spring 2015, she said. The pace to build a new one was slowed, ironically, by the presence of protected Eastern box turtles at the new cemetery site. The town had to buy land elsewhere and build the turtles a new habitat before work could start this summer on the cemetery, which is scheduled to open next spring, Rose said.

"Hopefully, all the residents, including the turtles and deer, will be happy," she said. "This should give the town about 10 CEMETERIES, Page 6 By Michele Morgan Bolton GLOBE CORRESPONDENT Discovery of the state's first cases of mosquito-borne illnesses in a human and animal has increased the likelihood that, like last year, curfews and other restrictions of outdoor activities could soon be imposed in the suburbs south of Boston. State public health officials have consistently been issuing warnings to avoid exposure to mosquitoes that could be infected with West Nile virus or Eastern equine encephalitis, diseases that have been discovered in a few dozen mosquito pools locally. Earlier this month, state public health veterinarian Catherine Brown said the mosquito season was off to a relatively slow start, thanks to unseasonably cool temperatures and heavy rains. But that changed on Aug.

15 when a deer in Freetown was found to be infected with EEE and Brown urged officials in that Bristol County community to curtail outdoor activities. Concern grew last week after she revealed MOSQUITOES, Page 5 BROOKDALE Dedham plans to open a new section of its Brookdale Cemetery CEMETERY, soon. The Village Cemetery and Baby Cemetery are inactive; the DEDHAM latter was used to bury the infants of pauper families. 3 years later, Emery Estate awaiting role for Weymouth Price paid three years ago by Weymouth for the century-old Emery Estate on King Oak Hill Estimated cost of restoring the estate's mansion Cautionary tale Plimoth Plantation will host a film screening and panel discussion Sept. 5 on the extinction of passenger pigeons, which in the 19th century numbered in the billions.

Page 3 League champs Thanks to a core group of players, the Duxbury High girls volleyball team has earned a spot in the postseason for three straight years. Page 4 vations. He said he expected the project would take time, and "we want to do things right." However, Clarke added, "We can't take too long, and we need to have some progress moving forward." Becky Haugh, the Town Council member for District 1, said that when Weymouth bought the estate, it was known there wouldn't be an immediate use for it. She would like to see the town partner with a business for the restoration project. "It would be thinking outside the box to get something going," she said.

The property was acquired using money from the town's Community Preservation Act fund, which comes from a 1 percent surtax on real estate WEYMOUTH, Page 6 By Katherine Landergan GLOBE CORRESPONDENT WEYMOUTH Modeled after George Washington's Mount Vernon, the century-old Emery Estate mansion on King Oak Hill in Weymouth is reminiscent of a real-life doll house, with heart shapes carved into its shutters and pint-sized copper lanterns decorating the entrance. But the columns on the stately home are splintered, the bricks fragmented, and the emerald-colored shutters stained from weathering. Three years after the town bought the estate for $1.9 million, local officials are still struggling to find a use for it. James Clarke, planning director for the town, said the property is estimated to need about $3.1 million in reno KATHERINE LANDERGAN FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE Peeling paint and cracked foundations on the Emery Estate's pillars are just the starting point for repairs needed to restore the mansion..