SKOWHEGAN – Similar to the way in which conservation commissions look after natural resources, a heritage council in Skowhegan has become the keeper of the culture and heritage of this shiretown.

Formed just a year ago, the Skowhegan Heritage Council was created by town ordinance, Town Planner Tom Marcotte said Friday, and therefore differs from conventional historical societies.

“It is an actual part of the town government,” he said.

“We have three groups that might be considered historical societies operating in Skowhegan,” Marcotte said, “but not a single formal historical society. There are another half-dozen community or heritage-related groups out there.”

Marcotte said the heritage council networks with the other groups, sharing interests and ideas.

During the creation of the town’s comprehensive plan in the mid-1990s, weaknesses in the town’s history were uncovered, Marcotte said.

“Previously, we had all relied on a local history of the town, written by Louise Coburn in 1949. It was a good beginning, but it also had limitations,” said Marcotte. “We created a heritage profile in 1998 that expanded upon that.”

The profile, he said, is the base of operations for the heritage council.

Already, Marcotte said, the seven-member group has so much work ahead of it that the town planner will be asking voters in March to appoint four more members to the council.

The group has some impressive accomplishments under its belt already, he said.

In 2000, the council applied for, and was awarded, a $9,500 grant from the Maine Arts Commission to document all arts, crafts and heritage-based endeavors in Skowhegan.

“We are building a Web site, creating a directory,” said Marcotte. The project is so popular, he said, that interest has spread beyond Skowhegan. “There may be a spin-off project, a countywide directory,” he said.

Marcotte and heritage council member Louise Foxwell will report on the project at a council meeting Tuesday, Jan. 16.

“No one in Somerset County is doing anything like this,” Marcotte said. “We have been coordinating this all the way to Jackman.”

Marcotte said there also will be an update provided Jan. 16 for efforts to research future uses of the Dudley’s Corner Schoolhouse, which sits just east of the Iron Kettle Restaurant on Route 2. The schoolhouse is estimated to have been built in 1835 and was the site of some of Skowhegan’s first town meetings, he said. The last lessons were taught there in 1921.

It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of only two of Skowhegan’s 17 original schoolhouses still standing.

The building currently is leased from the town by the area Boy Scouts for $1 a year, but Marcotte said the group is having difficulty maintaining the historical site. Future uses could be a living history center or museum.

Marcotte said a progress report also will be provided by members David Larkin and Andre Pied on the Route 210 scenic corridor project.

The meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the municipal building council room.