A large segment of Chappaquiddick is now ensured of protection for conservation.
The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank and the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation purchased a total of 170 acres that were a part of the Pimpneymouse Farm property on Dec. 30. The Land Bank paid $8 million for 86.8 acres of subdivisions, while the foundation paid $5.73 million for two lots, for a total of 83.2 acres.
James Lengyel, the executive director of the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank, told The Times that the Pimpneymouse Farm was an important acquisition. The cooperative effort means the Land Bank and the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation are now preserving the largest conservation lands on the island’s eastern and western ends, the other being Squibnocket Pond Reservation.
Lengyel also noted that the property belonged to an Islander who was committed to conservation.
The sellers are Polly Glover, Katherine Miller, Harriet Potter, Stephen Potter, and Mary Williamson.
“The latter four are the heirs of Edo Potter, who sat on many Edgartown boards in her lifetime — selectmen, conservation commission, and planning board — in addition to being a Land Bank commissioner from 1990 to 2015, and a member of the Edgartown Land Bank advisory board from 1986 to 2015,” Lengyel said.
The rest of the 221-acre Pimpneymouse Farm will remain in the ownership of the Potter and Slater families, who will also be conserving nine acres abutting Cape Poge.
This isn’t the first time the conservation groups have teamed up to make a large land purchase. In 2020, the two organizations joined forces to acquire 304 acres in Aquinnah from the estate of former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis for $27 million. This would become Squibnocket Pond Reservation, jointly owned by the Land Bank and the foundation.
While each organization owns its Chappaquiddick land separately, they will work together to provide public recreation space.
“We plan to collaborate with the Land Bank on property management and trail management,” Adam Moore, executive director of Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, said in an email. “We will establish an interconnected trail system (most of which is already in place), connecting the SMF portion directly to the abutting Land Bank portions.”
Lengyel said the Land Bank will be dividing its share of the land. The organization will add 56.1 acres of its newly acquired land to its Poucha Pond Reservation, while 30.7 acres will be made into a new property called Trentfield Farm. A lessee will be sought for the farmland.
While Moore estimates the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation will open its new Chappaquiddick area this fall, Lengyel was less sure when the Land Bank properties would be open.
“We have at least a year’s worth of study and species inventory, followed by management plan preparation,” Lengyel said.
