Acreage Added to County Road Legacy

The original east/west passage in North Guilford, prior to Route 80, County Road is home to historic homes and sweeping views. The eastern side of the road is home to the former Baldwin Dudley Grist and Saw Mill, which is now a private residence. Closer to Route 77, the building currently used as the Shoreline Outdoor Education Center, 730 County Road, was built in 1913 for use as the North Guilford Consolidated School. This school consolidated what had been four single-room schoolhouses, in four districts of North Guilford, into a single two-room school. This was the school in which the beloved teacher Melissa Jones taught.

In 1991, Clarence Potter gave the town five acres of land next door to the school so that it could remain open space. Then, in 1991, GLCT received four acres on the south side of County Road from the estate of Charles M. Fenner. Mr. Fenner, an original member of the GLCT Board of Directors, lived with his wife Elinor on County Road for many years.

The neighborhood legacy of conservation continued in 2004 with one of the most creative arrangements GLCT has ever been a part of. When a 13-acre property came up for sale, Caroline and Knox Chandler knew that it would fundamentally alter this scenic area if it were to be developed. Along with other neighbors, they met with Carolie Evans and Bill Bloss from GLCT to explore options. Neither the town nor the land trust could simply purchase the land outright as resources were also needed for properties of high conservation value elsewhere in Guilford. Undeterred, Caroline acted as the catalyst to bring adjacent landowners and other neighbors together to strategize. In the end, the Town of Guilford purchased the properties that had been for sale and GLCT contributed by purchasing conservation easements on them. The Chandlers donated conservation easements across their two smaller parcels along County Road. Then, at no cost to the land trust, their next-door neighbors, Sandy and Eric Glover conveyed to GLCT the right to place a conservation easement across their 5-acre property on or after September 1, 2020. GLCT acted on this option with the new owners of the Glover property, Rebecca and Lewis Bower in 2021. The end result is 24 acres of conserved land, much of it managed as open field habitat. The cost was divided roughly in thirds between the Town of Guilford, GLCT, and neighbors both adjacent and farther away who contributed more than $120,000.

In addition to the impressive neighborhood coordination, the County Road effort also highlights the strong working relationship that exists between the Town of Guilford and GLCT and, critically, the kind of work that a small local land trust can do when it is supported by its members and its community.