(from Chester Town Plan)
Goals:
• To protect and preserve the physical setting and aesthetics of the area within which the historic villages are set.
• To protect and preserve the structures recorded in the state and national registers of historic places.
• To discourage the demolition of historically significant structures.
• To encourage the renovation and preservation of historic buildings in village centers.
• To protect and preserve the cultural resources as they are identified by the residents of Chester.
Chester was one of the first towns in Windsor County to be chartered by New Hampshire's Governor Bennington Wentworth. The grant, dated February 22, 1754, divided 23,040 acres into sixty-four equal parts and named it Flamstead. The conditions of the Charter were forfeited by the original proprietors leading to the Charter of New Flamstead, dated November 3, 1761.
The original proprietors, mostly from Worcester, MA, held their first meeting on the third Tuesday of December 1761 in Worcester. The first town meeting held in Chester occurred in March 1765. This was also the last meeting held under the New Hampshire grant, for in July of 1766, a third charter was executed by Governor Tryon of New York. Under this charter Thomas Chandler and thirty-four of his associates became proprietors of the town, now called Chester. At the present time, these three original charters are displayed in the conference room of the Town Hall. The New York charter also named Chester as the seat of Cumberland County making it the site of the county jail and courthouse with Judge Thomas Chandler presiding.
Click here for a brief history of the historic Stone Village.
Original pen and ink lithographic prints of the Stone Village are available here.
