About Us
The Association
There are three Board members. We elect one Board members per year at the annual meeting. Board members are the only people who vote at regular meetings. When do residents vote? At the annual meeting when we elect to the Board, when the budget is approved, when bylaw changes are voted upon, and other special occasions that arise from time to time.
Just because residents do not vote at most meetings doesn't mean you should stay away . These meetings are our opportunity to make our concerns and opinions known to the Board and Officers. Otherwise, how can they represent our interests?
In turn, the Board appoints officers to carry out the decisions of the Board. The Board is supposed to appoint officers at the next regularly scheduled meeting following the annual election. There is no prohibition in the bylaws preventing Board members from also serving as officers.
Key points:
- Board members are elected by us
- Board members wield the most power
- Officers are appointed by the Board
A Short History
The Tefft family were farmers and landowners, founded by family patriarch John Tefft in the 1600's. HIs son Joshua played a decisive roles in King Philip's War (1675-6), including the Battle of the Great Swamp. United Puritan Colonial troops from nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut converged on southern Rhode Island, intended to take the land by force. In the celebrated battle of Great Swamp which followed, Joshua Tefft either willingly or because he was kidnapped by the Narragansett Indians (the record is unclear), battled side-by-side with the Indians to fight back the agressors and keep their land. Although the Colonial army failed and retreated, Joshua was captured and executed for his participation.
The Samuel Tefft home ca. 1720, stood onChestnut Hill Road until
December 2000, when it was lost in a fire.
Our charming and hilly neighborhood was once part of the 500-acre dairy farm owned by John Tefft and his descendants from the 1670's to 1909, when it was sold.
In 1999, an adjacent development threatened both our neghborhood, and the sanctity of Tefft ancestral grounds and gravesites. Due to public outcry, including Tefft family descendents from all over the USA, this development was greatly scaled back. The Tefft family gathers here in their historic lands, to meet and preserve it. Efforts like this to preserve history and our connection to our past, and those who came before us, are important and worthwhile.
Information and photos for this section were gleaned from several Tefft family websites, including:
We thank them for their forebearance, and their beautiful land, which we intend to protect and steward carefully. Please visit these Tefft websites if you wish to learn more about the family and history of the area.
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