From the Falmouth Enterprise · April 11, 1975
On the night of April 9, 1975, Falmouth Town Meeting voted 136 to 67 to buy Washburn Island, a triangle of more than 300 acres of uplands, marsh and ponds bounded by Vineyard Sound, Waquoit Bay, the Seapit River and Eel Pond. The motion needed two-thirds and passed with one vote to spare. Half of the $2,750,000 price would be borrowed on 20-year bonds and half on short-term notes, to be repaid with expected state or federal aid. Moderator George L. Moses stepped down to speak in favor, a first since 1959.
The price drove most of the objections: the town’s two appraisers had valued the island at $1.5 million and $1.75 million. Town counsel Edward W. Farrell warned that a taking without an agreed price could cost far more once a court set it. Opponents started a referendum petition at once, and on May 13 voters reversed the purchase. The island stayed private until a 1981 development plan brought neighbors together as CPWB and the state took it in June 1983.
This is CPWB’s summary of a news article. The full article and its photos are published by the Falmouth Enterprise. The page is in the Falmouth Public Library’s digital archive of the Enterprise.
Drafted with AI assistance from the linked source.
