Chestertown Farm Protected Forever Through New Conservation Easement
Kent County, MD - A piece of Kent County farmland with deep family roots is now permanently protected, thanks to a nearly 30-year promise finally coming full circle.
Back in 1988, Lee Davis wrote a letter to the owners of a farm bordering his father's 300-acre property near Chestertown. In it, he asked for first right of refusal if they ever decided to sell. Nearly three decades later, that call finally came.
This July, the 29-acre property west of Chestertown officially joined the Davis family's larger farm in permanent conservation. The land is now protected forever through Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, funded as part of a Maryland DNR Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) Permanent Easement.
The newly protected acreage includes more than eight acres of farmland still in production, six acres of wooded land filled with ferns, and over 11 acres of grassland buffers. Those buffers help protect the East Fork of Langford Creek, which flows through the farm's woods.
The land connects to the Davis family's larger Bell Rose Farm, a 300-acre property originally conserved by Lee Davis's father through the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation. Over the years, the family has restored wetlands and planted more than 1,400 trees, including pine, oak, and American persimmon.
That work has paid off in the form of wildlife. The farm is now home to deer, doves, owls, hawks, bald eagles, waterfowl, muskrats, and beavers.
"The Davis's Kent County easement brings ESLC's conservation in Kent County to more than 14,713 acres," said ESLC President and CEO Steve Kline. He noted that Bell Rose Farm is now one of 78 permanent ESLC easements in the county working to protect open space and farmland from development pressure.
The property also includes 1,175 feet of road frontage along Bell Rose Lane, land Davis says could have easily been sold for development. "If we wanted to sell it, I could make one phone call and sell it for four times what we're getting for the easement," Davis said.
But for Davis, who has worked in real estate and development himself, the decision came down to something bigger than money. "There's only so much farmland," he said. "We want to preserve this for the future. I have grandchildren coming along. And we'd like to keep it as it is."
The family also considered leasing the land for solar panels before ultimately deciding to conserve it instead. "Life isn't all about money," Davis said. "Money can't buy you health and happiness. ESLC has helped us to restore something forever."
