HHLT Acquires Land for Permanent Office

HARPSWELL: Concluding an eighteen month search, the Harpswell Heritage Land Trust (HHLT) recently acquired land on which it intends to build a permanent office. The land was a gift from William, Jomay and Alex Barron and is located on the Harpswell Neck Road in North Harpswell.

“The Harpswell Heritage Land Trust has assumed, in its conservation easements on private land and the management of its own properties, obligations ‘in perpetuity’. The trustees believe it is time that the Trust had a permanent place from which to carry out those permanent obligations.” said Keith Brown, President of HHLT’s Board of Trustees. “We are very grateful for the generosity of the Barron family in helping us toward that end.”

Since 1983 the Harpswell Heritage Land Trust has been a membership supported non-profit land trust working in Harpswell. Over the past 20 years the Trust has protected over 1100 acres of farm, woodlands, shorefront, islands and historic properties. The HHLT works on its own and in partnership with individuals, families, and other conservation organizations to protect the important ecological and culturally significant features of Harpswell.

Brown noted “In its first seventeen years of existence, the Trust worked out of the homes of its trustees and volunteers. For the last five years, the Trust has worked from small rented offices and prevailed upon the generosity of the Kellogg Church and others when it needed larger spaces for Board meetings and other activities. Now, not only will we have adequate office and work space for our growing needs, we will, in turn, lend our space for events and meetings of other community organizations.”

“Recently, the Trust co-sponsored, with the Town’s Recreation Department, a fascinating and well received talk about Harpswell’s eagles.” said Mary Ann Nahf, Vice President of the Trust. “We expect that our new space will enable us to sponsor more frequent events about Harpswell’s heritage and natural environment that may be of interest to the public and supporters of the Trust.”

The Trust’s intention is to construct a building patterned after a traditional farmhouse and barn with an office and workspace at one end (the ‘house’), a meeting room capable of hosting 40-50 people at the other end (the ‘barn’), and a connecting building containing an entrance, display space, bathroom, small kitchen and utilities. The building and landscape designs are being contributed by Maroney-Gay Design, LLC of Harpswell. Septic design is being contributed by D.W. Newberg Associates, Inc., also of Harpswell.