Tuesday, June 18, 2013

By Nelson Sigelman
Published: July 23, 2009

Over 50 years, the Sheriff's Meadow Foundation (SMF), Martha's Vineyard's largest private conservation organization, has grown from a 10-acre holding and one man's vision of preservation to 2,600 acres with more than 2,700 members. Monday night Sheriff's Meadow celebrated its half-century anniversary in elegant style.

Barbara Barre (left) and Trudy Taylor of Chilmark enjoyed the view and conversation at the Sheriff's Meadow fundraiser. Photo by Susan Safford

Some 400 guests, a sellout crowd, gathered under a white tent set up in the Allen Farm sheep pasture overlooking upper Chilmark Pond and the Atlantic Ocean for Sheriff's Meadow's annual summer benefit.

Guests enjoyed a sumptuous dinner built around an "Island grown" menu that included local chicken, seafood, and greens prepared by Tea Lane Caterers.

They also heard stonemason and poet John Maloney read a poem Sanctuary, in memory of Henry Beetle Hough and Elizabeth Bowie Hough

In past years, Sheriff's Meadow relied on a noted conservationist to deliver remarks. In a change, this year they opted to have singer-songwriter Livingston Taylor entertain the crowd, backed up by bluegrass band Ballyhoo. Judging by the enthusiastic applause it was the right choice.

Mr. Taylor ended the evening with a soft rendition of "Over the Rainbow," and asked the audience to join in. As if on the cue their voices rose in unison under the soft glow of paper lanterns swaying in the evening breeze.

Sheriff's Meadow officials kept the speeches short and sweet. The theme of the evening might best be described as new beginnings for an organization that has undergone a significant change in recent years.

Last year the leadership of Sheriff's Meadow passed to Emily Bramhall, president, and Adam Moore, executive director. In June the foundation added new board members Kathy Ham, Chris Alley, and Susanna Bristol.

On Monday night, Mr. Moore thanked all those who had made the evening possible and the assembled guests as a whole. "You are the organization, founded by Henry Beetle Hough and Elizabeth Bowie Hough 50 years ago," Mr. Moore said. "We were founded by the Houghs to save a pond, a meadow, and John Butler's Mudhole, ten small acres tucked into Henry and Elizabeth's Edgartown neighborhood. Henry used the $7,500 advance from his book 'Once More the Thunderer' to buy the property, and created Sheriff's Meadow Foundation to hold the land, as no other conservation organization of the time wished to own it."

SMF president Emily Bramhall greeted Edgartown lawyer Ron Rappaport, a neighbor of the Allen Farm where the foundation marked 50 years of conservation work. Photo by Susan Safford

From those initial 10 acres, said Mr. Moore, the Sheriff's Meadow Foundation grew to become the largest private landowner on Martha's Vineyard with ownership of more than 2,000 acres of land in each of the six Island towns and conservation restrictions on 39 properties comprising more than 600 acres.

Mr. Moore said that the anniversary provided an opportunity to look back and celebrate past accomplishments and a time to look ahead. In describing what the future would bring, Mr. Moore hinted at plans to open new trails and efforts to reintroduce bobwhites, once native to the Island, and restore a long defunct herring run.

"I know some other things that you'll be able to do based on the work that we will do over the next 10 years and the strategic plan that we will write," Mr. Moore said. "You'll see crops growing from our prime agricultural soils. You'll hear the call of the bobwhite quail from the grasslands of the outwash plain. You'll see river herring running upstream in April at Caroline Tuthill Preserve. And I know that you'll be walking trails on our lands, some of them familiar, some of them new, on lands we own now, and on lands we've not yet conserved."

Kirsten Fauteux, director of land stewardship, is responsible for SMF properties. Photos by Susan Safford

Guests, some 400 strong, enjoyed dinner under an enormous tent.