Mention piping plovers in some circles around here and people might give you the bird. For two decades, the town has been compelled by the state to monitor vehicle access to the outer stretch of Plymouth’s Long Beach because plovers are protected under the Endangered Species Act. The three-mile barrier strip is one of their […]
Author Archives: Mark Pothier - Independent Staff
Posted inCommentary
Re-examining Plymouth’s fraught relationship with nuclear energy
This is the first of a two-part column on nuclear power in Plymouth. The 1972 opening of the Pilgrim nuclear power plant might have been the worst thing to happen in Plymouth’s long history. It ushered in an era of fool’s gold prosperity that, over time, exacted a steep price on what was a quintessential […]
Posted inEducation
Plan to replace Cold Spring, Hedge schools graduates to next level
Cold Spring Elementary School was a fitting setting for last week’s Select Board meeting – the building itself was the subject of an update from Town Manager Derek Brindisi on the building’s uncertain future. A study is underway to explore the feasibility of replacing it and the nearby Hedge Elementary School on the corner of […]
Posted inBusiness
‘The restaurant is just a path’
To hear Jim Doyle describe it, experiencing the subtlety of Nepali curry for the first time was revelatory. That was five years ago. Today, the restaurant that serves the dish has served him something more sustaining: A rebirth of sorts. Doyle, 58, manages The Himalaya, which recently opened on Court Street. He’s running it for […]
Posted inReal Estate Sales
More homes were sold in town last month, but inventory remains slim
The summer heat seems to have raised the temperature of Plymouth’s real estate market. Last month, 137 homes sold across town, a significant bump up from the 86 closings in May. That’s according to data from the Warren Group, a Boston-based real estate tracking firm. It’s difficult to pinpoint why so many more homes exchanged […]
Posted inBusiness
‘We were in the middle of the Big Dig’
Jimmy and Brendan Gillis have been run through the mill. Or, more accurately, run out of the mill building. Gillis Family Tavern, their four-year-old restaurant in the Jenney Grist Mill complex along Town Brook, was doing well until 2024. That’s when an ambitious $20.9 million project to remake the Jenney Pond area began. The result […]
Posted inEnvironment & Health
It’s the heat and the humidity, to the extreme
You don’t need us to tell you how oppressive the weather is going to be deep into the holiday weekend – TV news stations have been hyping the heatwave nonstop since Sunday. Nonetheless, a quick review: Thursday and Friday are expected to be the worst days of this sweltering stretch, with temperatures in Plymouth reaching […]
Posted inCommentary
Plans for Salvation Army building are a perfect pitch for downtown
The Salvation Army building atop Coles Hill is a small piece of Plymouth’s housing puzzle. But it matters. I don’t mean to leave you hanging, but a bit of backstory is needed before we get to “here’s why.” The Carver Street building has sat empty for nearly a decade – through and beyond a red-hot […]
Posted inGovernment
Repaving to start along stretch of Samoset St., Carver Road
A stretch of one of the town’s most traveled roadways is getting a makeover just as the summer season kicks into gear. Starting Monday the town and its outside vendor will begin repaving about three quarters of a mile of Samoset Street from Sixteen Twenty Drive – past Walgreens, just before Marc Drive – to […]
Posted inReal Estate Sales
Plymouth home sales held steady in May
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: The Plymouth real estate market last month yielded a modest number of sales while prices remained high. The May numbers are the latest in an extended low-inventory cycle partly caused by existing homeowners’ reluctance to part with historically low fixed-rate mortgages, as well as general jitters about […]