Swampscott Historical Commission receives $10,000 grant from state

SWAMPSCOTT – The historical commission has received a $10,000 matching grant from the state to identify and evaluate potential historic properties along Humphrey Street and on Little’s Point.”Humphrey Street is what people drive to Swampscott and see,” Sylvia Belkin, Swampscott Historical Commission member and the local coordinator for the project, said Thursday. “It’s a beautiful avenue with the ocean right next to it, and I feel it’s very important, and I’m thrilled we got the money.”The Massachusetts Historical Commission announced last week that it had approved the Swampscott Historical Commission’s application for a survey and planning grant in the amount of $10,000.The town undertook a Historic Property Survey, which was also partially paid for by the Massachusetts Historical Commission, in 1992. The new grant will be used to hire a preservation consultant to help continue that effort by focusing specifically on two areas – along Humphrey Street and Little’s Point.The historical commission said the survey will be helpful for town projects, including the upcoming master plan, a reconnaissance report, an open space and recreation plan, and other zoning and planning studies.Belkin said that the commission would hire a consultant in the next few months, and the survey itself should be an approximately six-month effort.The commission has already received the matching portion of the project with $5,000 approved by Town Meeting in 2014 and a $5,000 donation from the production company of “Grown Ups 2,” which filmed in Swampscott and Marblehead during the summer of 2012.