It’s customary to use the terms “voter” and “taxpayer” interchangeably, and in most towns that’s reasonably accurate.  Not so in Wolfeboro,bat least in terms of dollars contributed to the operation of the town and school district.  A large part of the tax base comes from waterfront second homes where the owners vote in their home towns.

So how important is historic preservation to them?  All I can go by is the obvious fact that they have torn down virtually every historic waterfront home in town to replace with a new, eyebrow-windowed, granite countered, air conditioned, 20th century dream home. One of the last 19th century homes on Wolfeboro bay was torn down last year and is being replaced with a spectacular modern “lake-house”.

When it comes to historic waterfront properties, it’s definitely NIMBY.