NAHANT — Jeffrey Musman made news this year in helping to halt the expansion of a Northeastern University project in town, but he said he’s been doing work for the community for more than 40 years. For his efforts, Musman has been named Essex Media Group’s “Person of the Year” for Nahant.
Musman, an attorney and partner in the Seyfarth Shaw LLP law firm, is the founder and board member of The Nahant Preservation Trust, a nonprofit organization that aims to preserve Nahant open spaces, public conservation lands and historically-significant properties with an all-volunteer team.
When Musman found out about Northeastern University’s plan to seize unused land in Nahant for an expansion of its Marine Science Center, he was appalled, saying it would damage the public space of the town.
“They’re planning a 55,000-square-foot building, which is twice as large as any building in Nahant,” he said.
Musman, along with others in the town, filed a lawsuit against the university in 2019, saying that the property the university wanted to seize is conservation land. This year, he helped raise support for the town to use eminent domain to seize the land for themselves. The town must have a two-thirds approval vote to use eminent domain — the town voted 70-percent approval. The lawsuit is now pending in court.
“I spent my time knocking on doors throughout this whole year to raise support,” Musman said. “This is conservation land and is honestly one of the most beautiful places in eastern Massachusetts.”
Musman founded the Nahant Preservation Trust in 1996. The trust was established after he heard that a historic school building was getting demolished by a contractor. The trust raised money to match the contractor and saved the building. Musman said that the trust only had a week before the demolition to raise the money, but they were able to gain enough support and awareness during that time.
“We were only given a week’s notice by the Nahant Select Board about this,” said Musman. “We were able to save the school just in time.”
Before founding the trust, Musman was appointed to Nahant’s advisory and finance board in 1980, where he first found his interest in town matters.
Musman has been honored for his involvement in humanities as well. In 2017, he was awarded the Changing Lives Award by Northeast Arc and, in 2019, he received the Governor’s Award in the Humanities.
Regardless of whether he is protecting public spaces or working for the humanities, Musman said he sees himself as just “a nice guy” who hopes his children will be instilled with the love for municipal civics like he has.
“I have three kids and you know, I hope they get some sort of interest in municipal civics someday, maybe from me,” he said.
