Kent County Farm Permanently Protected From Development

Kent County, MD - Eastern Shore Land Conservancy and the Galt family have permanently protected more than 231 acres of farmland in Kent County, Maryland. The land sits along the East Fork of Langford Creek. It is known as Heaven's View Farm.

The easement was made possible through the U.S. Department of Defense's Army Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration program. This addition brings ESLC's total to 347 conservation easements across the Eastern Shore. Those easements now cover more than 60,178 acres of land.

ESLC President and CEO Steve Kline said the Galt farm is a good example of why this kind of protection matters. "From the abundant working woodlands to productive agricultural land, livestock pastures, wetlands, and creek buffers-this farm is a prime example of the working lands that we protect across our entire six-county area," he said.

The property includes 162 acres of cropland and pasture, along with historic waterfowl habitat. It has frontage on Langford Road and more than 9,300 feet of shoreline along the East Fork of Langford Creek. Another 54 acres of hardwood forest support timber harvests of poplar and oak, along with habitat for forest birds and shade for the farm's small herd of Hereford cattle.

Brothers Jeff and Doug Galt run the farm. They grow corn, beans, wheat, barley, hay, and straw, in rotation with cover crops.

Jeff Galt has watched the farmland around him change over the years. "A lot of people don't realize the beauty. It's peaceful when you get out there when you're working the ground," he said. "When we moved here our road was full of farmers. Now there's only two farmers left. Every farm used to milk cows in the 1970s. We were the last dairy farm south of Chestertown and we stopped dairy eight years ago. We were getting older so we started doing hay and straw. There's not many of us left."

Jeff's grandson, Blake Kohl, grew up working the land alongside his grandfather and great uncle. He said knowing the farm will stay farmland means a lot to him. "It makes me feel amazing that this will never be turned into a development," he said, "and that it will always be protected."

ESLC has worked since 1990 to conserve farmland, forests, and waterways across Maryland's Eastern Shore. The Galt family's decision adds another piece to that long-term effort in Kent County.

Photo Credit: Eastern Shore Land Conservancy