Adams Presents Town Common Renovation Design

iBerkshires.com  reports the proposed design for the Adams Town Common rehabilitation project was presented Tuesday night at a public meeting.

Becky Ferguson of the town's Community Development Office and Tighe & Bond engineer Brandee Nelson facilitated the meeting at Town Hall to go over the proposed design of the park overhaul as well as solicit input and field questions from the public.

The Suffrage Centennial Celebration Committee was created more than two years ago to organize a yearlong celebration in 2020 to mark the 100th anniversary of the passing the 19th Amendment that gave women the right to vote and the 200th birthday of civil rights activist Susan B. Anthony, who was born in the family homestead on East Road.

Plans include a parade, a festival and the bronze statue that will depict both the adult Anthony and her as a child that sculptor Brian Hanlon was hired to create.

The committee chose to place the statue on the Town Common but committee members and town officials thought the public park needed to be updated and renovated.

One change, however, is the interior circulation of the park to a more triangular shape and the gazebo will be moved to the upper-most portion of the park.

Nelson said the gazebo will be replaced with a period appropriate structure to Anthony's lifetime -- hopefully a metal one. It will be ADA compliant and will have electricity.

The statue itself will be placed on a plaza off Center Street with seating around it.

The plans also include a new tree to be used as the town's holiday tree.