What's in the Town By-laws? Quite a Bit, Actually

Earlier this winter, Town Administrator Bill Gustus reported to selectmen that a consultant will soon begin the process of looking through Lynnfield’s by-laws to look for things that need updating or other changes.

Intrigued, this writer sat down recently at town hall with the by-laws book to see what kind of stuff is in it. Some parts of the town by-laws can indeed read like a journey through time - and yes, much of this stuff probably hasn't been enforced in decades.

Let’s start part 1 of this project with the health-related stuff.

One town by-law governs the use of those old “quarantine” signs on a house that in my day I’ve pretty much only seen in long-ago Sunday comic strips.  One passing mention suggests that these next few by-laws are from around 1938.

“Houses or portions of houses in which there is a person sick shall be placarded for those diseases dangerous to the public health, for which placarding is required under the minimum isolation and quarantine requirements of the State Department of Public Health. This card shall not be removed except on the authority of the board of health."

A sub-section regarding patients with certain communicable diseases in town states that “All eating utensils and linen used by the patient shall be boiled for at least five minutes immediately after being taken from the room. Upon release of the patient, woolen articles shall be exposed to sunlight and air for at least eight hours.” Nurses who handle said patients are required to immediately wash their hands afterward with hot water, soap – and a scrubbing brush.

Regarding the “discharges” of those who are laid up with typhoid fever, paratyphoid fever, or dysentery – said matter is supposed to be mixed with chloride of lime or another disinfectant approved by the board of health – for at least 30 minutes (this one might apply to a time when fewer homes had indoor plumbing). Those with tuberculosis are advised that in general, they should be receiving treatment at a sanatorium.

Business and Property

Back in the old days, ice harvesting businesses existed on Pillings Pond and possibly Suntaug Lake. If anybody ever starts the business back up in these parts, the town still has a fairly vintage-looking state law in place barring the sale of ice with any chemical, bacterial or other pollution, including visible dirt or foreign matter.

So Much for that Beef Jerky Factory… 

The Board of Health also reserves the right to regulate a handful of “offensive trades.” Specifically – “Those of slaughtering animals or rending animal matter, of manufacturing fertilizers and soaps, of mixing or storing refuse or vegetable substances, smoking or dehydrating fish or meat, of refining oils, of making egg dressing varnish, glue, gas, gasoline, or any burning fluid, except at the place or places where such trades or employments are now lawfully established… Such trades, or employments, being nuisances or hurtful to the town, attended by noisome odors or other injurious or dangerous to the public health.”

Regarding Thine Piggery

Shoulde ye set forth to establish a piggery in ye towne of Lynnfield, remember that the town requires you to keep it at least 250 feet away from the high water mark of any drinking water supply or tributary thereof. And be sure to have enough swineherds employed at all times to ensure the proper operation of your piggery.

Speaking of pigs, another part of the town by-laws prohibits people from leaving an animal carcass in a way that causes a stream to be blocked. Hopefully the consultant decides that one stands the test of time.

One must also keep their pigs at least 50 feet from any room where milk is handled – and when manure is spread upon the land, it must be ploughed under within 48 hours. And that wet muck you see in pig pens? It must be replaced regularly with clean sand. And you thought your neighbor who won’t mow his lawn was bad.

If you have a compost pile that includes uneaten garbage, manure and other such refuse – remember that during fly-breeding season you must “spray it daily with a coal tar compound or some other satisfactory insecticide.” Also – keep it at least 500 feet away from dwellings and highways.

Editor's Note: Given the large volume of material to work with here, this project is being split to run in a separate article that will appear on Monday. In part two we'll take a look at the standards of civility that bind all who use a certain town waterway, the only time in which alcohol is permitted to be in a certain place in town, and some other quirky things like that.