Land Trust – History Continued

LAND TRUST

Other donors and landowners worked in concert with the Land Trust during its early years to help protect critical scenic views and ecological areas. Unable to name all contributors in this website, some of the more significant parcels conserved included:

Ben Belcher donated conservation easements covering over 300 acres of agricultural lands in the Town Hill area. Other neighbors followed suit, including Dorrance Sexton and Robert Noble. The Blum family sold development rights to the State of Connecticut, adding to the large swath of contiguous conserved prime farmland and scenic views.

Conservation easements along Moore Brook were donated by Dr. Mary Alice White and several of her neighbors, preserving what has been described as “one of the true ecological treasures of the region.” Dr. White was chair of the Land Trust in 1985 and later became Association president. Dr. White also led a fundraising effort to protect the rugged and scenic Sages Ravine from development in 1990.

The Land Trust, together with other conservancy groups and the National Park Service, was instrumental in protecting large areas of farmland and forest from Hamlet Hill Farm across the ridges east to Prospect Mountain. Major donors involved included Peter Findlay, John Herndon, and the Mitchell, McClintock and Forsyth families.