Goal Met, Acquisition Completed!

GLCT is thrilled to announce that we have completed the acquisition and met our fundraising goal for the purchase of the 25-acre field and wooded area on Great Hill Road across from the North Guilford churches and Melissa Jones School. We are so grateful for the many friends and neighbors, particularly the hundreds of individual Guilford donors who contributed have contributed since the project was announced. These donations, combined with support from the Town of Guilford, who will hold an easement across the property, and a United States Department of Agriculture grant, made the $592,000 purchase possible. The property is connected to this scenic hilltop both visually and historically. The area next to Melissa Jones school, including the churches, the cemetery and the small green, is called the Meeting House Hill National Historic District and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The area represents a time in Guilford’s history when the town was a majority agrarian community that was establishing itself culturally and religiously as separate from England. The hilltop was the North Guilford community gathering place. See the detail of the application for the National Register.

Today, as we have seen elsewhere in town, fields can be lost to development in the blink of an eye. We have been most honored to work with the Rusconi family who, led by Janet Rusconi, approached GLCT for help protecting this property, which has been in her husband James’s family for generations. The field, which includes some wet areas and a small former cranberry bog, will be maintained as such going forward but will likely move to a different mowing schedule to enhance the ecological benefits for nesting birds, pollinators, turtles, etc.

In this time of increased awareness about the importance of pollinators and the decline of field nesting birds and other species, we know that the Guilford community will appreciate the ecological richness of this place in addition to the scenic and historical significance. Thank you in advance for your support of this major project. Without support from our community, GLCT could not take on a project of this scale.