Half off
Shelburne Day
CCV offers half-priced tuition to Vermonters
Town celebrates community Saturday
Page 3
Page 8
Volume 52 Number 33
POSTAL CUSTOMER
PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT #217 CONCORD, NH ECRWSSEDDM
shelburnenews.com
August 17, 2023
Near Shipyard
Salamandering along
Harbor Road raises resident concerns LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
and I was always bringing animals home. I’m not really like Doctor Doolittle, but sort of,” she joked as she put out her hand toward a pig named Eli. “I really am a stray magnet.” The mission of the animal sanctuary is to provide abandoned animals with permanent, healthy homes where they can live free of abuse or cruelty, while also providing education for the local and broader communities
The year-long debate over who owns a portion of Harbor Road near the Shelburne Shipyard resurfaced at a recent selectboard meeting, leaving some residents to fear what might happen if it’s turned into a private road. The issue began over a year ago when Safe Harbor Marina, the Texas-based company that owns the historic Shelburne Shipyard, proposed a multimillion-dollar expansion that would increase its boat and dock capacity by 20 percent. According to development review board meeting minutes, plans would create multiple improvements to the company’s 15.4acre property, including a relocation of the access road to the property’s southern end and the reconstruction of a clubhouse and administration building.
See MERRYMAC FARM on page 12
See HARBOR ROAD on page 13
PHOTO BY LEE KROHN
An eastern newt enjoys a rain-soaked rock on Mt. Philo in Charlotte.
Merrymac Farm, a sanctuary for all LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
“I don’t really half-ass anything and I don’t think my team does either,” Era MacDonald, owner and operator of Merrymac Farm Sanctuary, said as she leaned against a pile of hay, her warm voice and laughter lulling the nearby goats into a peaceful sleep. The farm on Lime Kiln Road, a rural dirt road in Charlotte, is home to nearly 80 animals of all different varieties and breeds
— pigs, sheep, horses, ducks, goats, chickens, donkeys and bunnies — each carrying with them their own unique story of how they reached the sanctuary. For MacDonald, Merrymac Farm is an extension of her natural born instinct to help animals and her sixth sense ability to communicate with them. Wherever MacDonald goes, there is sure to be a long line of farm animals following behind her, weaving in and out of her legs, waiting for a loving pat on the head. “I’ve always been a huge animal lover