285-Acre Windy Hill Farm Near Trappe Protected Forever
Easton, MD - A 285-acre farm near Trappe will stay farmland and forest for good. Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC) announced on November 2, 2026, that it has worked with landowners J. L. and Annette Gannon and Alexis Brooks to place a permanent conservation easement on the property.
The land sits in Windy Hill, a small community just east of Trappe in Talbot County. The easement was paid for through the Maryland Department of Natural Resources' Rural Legacy Program, which is funded by Program Open Space.
About half of the property is farmland. The easement covers 140 acres of prime farmland, including conservation reserve program (CRP) buffer strips.
Another 139 acres is deciduous forest that's managed under a forest stewardship plan. Those woods wrap around the grain fields and create 100-foot-wide buffers along 3,900 feet of Ash Bridge Branch. The stream feeds into Miles Creek and the Choptank River.
A lot of the trees on the farm are more than 100 years old. They give a home to the Delmarva fox squirrel and to forest interior dwelling birds, which are vulnerable species. The farm also has six acres of impoundments where migrating waterfowl can stop to rest and feed.
Roughly 122 acres of Windy Hill Farms falls inside the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area. Because of that, the easement will also help protect water quality in the Chesapeake Bay, along with habitat for the plants, fish and wildlife that live there. The farm's open space and scenic views are protected too.
ESLC President and CEO Steve Kline said the farm's spot close to other preserved land gives it even more value. "Windy Hill Farms provides these many ecological benefits in concert with more than 2,039 acres of protected lands that all lie less than one mile away," Kline said. "Connectivity like this is critical in order for easements to have the greatest possible impact on wildlife, cultural preservation, healthy agricultural and economic systems, and community climate resilience."
J. L. Gannon said the family picked ESLC because of the group's track record with nearby landowners. "We chose to work with ESLC because they had worked with other local landowners and because of their attention to detailed calculations for the environmental value the easement represented," Gannon said. "There is a wealth of knowledge with the office staff and personnel that helps enlighten you on the easement's value for the environment."
The easement also protects almost 8,000 feet of scenic road frontage and 3,100 feet of scenic water frontage. Gannon said the autumn and winter sunsets on the farm are something special. Those sunsets light up "pretty much every species of waterfowl common to Maryland and some rather uncommon, as well," Gannon said.
Some of the country's top plein air painters have already put those fall views on canvas. They painted the farm during ESLC's 2026 Forever the Forest alumni invitational at the Avalon Foundation's Plein Air Easton Festival.
ESLC was founded in 1990. The group works to conserve, care for and speak up for the rural land of Maryland's Eastern Shore, along with its natural resources and farm communities.
Photo Credit: ESLC
