A centuries-old former dairy farm in Dunbarton will remain unchanged after conservationists finalized a deal to put the land into an easement.
Stone Farm, located at Stone and Guinea Roads in Dunbarton, has been owned by the Stone family for at least 200 years; earlier this week, owner Judy Stone officially signed over the 237 acres of land to the Five Rivers Conservation Trust. The deal means the farm will never be subdivided or developed, according to a press release.
The Five Rivers Conservation Trust finished fundraising efforts to secure the easement for Stone Farm in November, according to executive director Beth McGuinn. The easement cost $293,000, and more than $58,000 of that money was raised by community donations. The rest was acquired through grants and donations from programs such as The Land and Community Heritage Investment Program, the Thomas W. Hass Fund of the N.H. Charitable Foundation, the Dunbarton Conservation Commission, the Russell Farm and Forest Conservation Foundation, the N.H. State Conservation Committee’s Moose Plate Program, the Merrimack Conservation Partnership, and the Davis Foundation.
The property’s history is visible in the foundations of buildings that are long gone, fields named for their former crops and owners, and stone walls that still stand in fields that now produce hay for beef cattle.
According to the press release, the Dunbarton Conservation Commission plans to create a public trail on the property in the near future.