Conservation Trifecta for Talbot County: 950 acres in Bozman, Miles Point in St. Michaels and Historic Farm Near Longwoods Protected

The Bozman property is a peninsula that runs more than two miles into Broad Creek.

The announcement that St. Michaels businessman and entrepreneur Bob Pascal reached an agreement to donate the development rights of his 950-acre estate in Bozman to the state is just one of three major conservation easements in Talbot County granted yesterday by the state, including Miles Point in St. Michaels. They are widely viewed as significant holiday gifts to area residents.

Joan Murray, owner of Miles Point, confirmed  that 72 acres of farmland on the north side of the village are now protected from development by conservation easements with the Maryland Environmental Trust and the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy. For more than 12 years, St. Michaels and Bay Hundred residents battled an attempt to build more than 200 homes on the property. Murray stepped in early this year and bought the land from the developers.

“Every time I walk out to Miles Point Green, I give thanks to the hundreds of St. Michaels’ residents whose Herculean efforts made it possible for me to purchase this stunning property,” Murray wrote to the Spy in an e-mail.  “Had they not persevered for twelve years to stop the development, I never would have been fortunate enough to be part of the wonderful community of St. Michaels.”

A recent sunset over Miles Point fields.

A third conservation easement limiting development on 439 acres of the historic  farmland on Wye Heights Road near Longwoods owned by Yorktown Farms LLC was also granted.

The  agreements were approved by the state Board of Public Works comprised of Gov. Martin O’Malley, state Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp and Comptroller Peter Franchot.

“What a wonderful day for conservation,” said Beth Jones of the Bay Hundred Foundation. “We’re very grateful to Mr. Pascal for ensuring that the former Audubon site will be preserved intact, and especially grateful to Joan Murray for preserving both the breathtaking views at Miles Point  and the historic character of St. Michaels as well.”

Under Pascal’s agreement with the state Department of Natural Resources, he will retain ownership of the property but gave the state his rights to develop up to 44 building lots on the land. It will also be open to limited public access.

“This is a historic donation and I want to thank Bob Pascal for this legacy to future generations,” O’Malley said. “This land will create new opportunities for Maryland families and visitors to get outside and enjoy the bountiful natural wonders of our Eastern Shore.”

Bob Pascal

Ever since Pascal, owner of the St. Michaels Harbour Inn and Spa, bought the property from the National Audubon Society in 2010, there has been speculation and concern over what would happen to the land because there was no conservation easement on the property that has almost nine-miles of shoreline on Leadenham, Broad and Balls Creeks.

“It is such an unusual piece that it would be a tragedy to see it developed,” Pascal said in an interview with the Spy. “I am just proud and fortunate that I could set it aside so that doesn’t happen.”

He said that he has already hosted women hunters in a program sponsored by the DNR and is preparing one of the houses for use by Wounded Warriors and their families. He said his plans are to refurbish the existing house and not build new structures on the land. He said there are also plans to set up a nature center for school children and establish oyster beds in the surrounding creeks.

Broad Creek view.

“Where else but America could a kid from the corner in New Jersey buy a du Pont place,” he said. “I am a proud capitalist.”

The Baltimore Sun quoted Kopp telling Pascal, “It’s a great Christmas gift for the people of this state.” The Sun also quoted Pascal as saying he did not know the size of any tax breaks he would receive for giving the rights to the state.

Robert J. Etgen, Executive Director of the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy said, “I am delighted Mr. Pascal has chosen to preserve this important property in Talbot County, and I am encouraged by the creative and useful plan developed by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Thanks to Mr. Pascal’s generosity, this property not only will be preserved, but also will be made available for public use. It is quite a holiday gift to the citizens of Maryland.”

According to a DNR announcement, this is the first public access easement given to the state and is a perpetual conservation easement.

“Through coordinated and controlled access, visitors will be able to explore the land by kayak, horseback or on foot. The land will also be available for hunting, camping, fishing and other low-impact recreational activities. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will hold the conservation easement,” the announcement stated.

Miles Point owner Murray wrote in an e-mail that she plans to sell part of her land to allow public access to the Miles River shoreline.

“The 72 acre Miles Point property has now been placed in a conservation easement,” she wrote. “I propose to sell to the town or to a public agency a small parcel of land, wide enough for a walking trail that will begin at Route 33, continue through the field and end at the small bridge between Fogg Cove and the Inn at Perry Cabin. My goal is for the public to be able to walk from the town to the shore where they can view both the Miles River and the Harbor. The public agency will be in charge of maintenance and construction of the trail.  I plan to keep the rest of Miles Point as natural as possible, farming much of the land organically, and placing the rest in wildflowers and natural grasses. The Hunteman property will not be in a conservation easement,as there are only 17 acres. At this time, I am planning to construct a small, sustainably-built house using the current footprint of the white house.”

The property on the east side of the Bozman-Neavitt Road between the two fishing hamlets, is notable because of the chain-link fence that runs along the roadway. The local story goes that the fence was put up to keep in the foxes that du Pont stocked the land with for his hunting. The locals smile when they recall that the first time Leadenham and Balls Creeks froze, the foxes ran away over the ice.

Du Pont held the land through a for-profit company named Reinecke Fuchs, Inc. a puckish play on words. Du Pont was a noted fox hunter and Reinecke Fuchs is a wily fox and shape shifter in German folk lore. The state announcement today thanked Pascal and Reinecke Fuchs, Inc. for the transaction.

Du Pont’s daughter, Jean Ellen du Pont Shehan, inherited Reinecke Fuchs and she and her husband W. Mason Shehan Jr. used the estate as their Eastern Shore residence.

More than 200 species of birds pass through the property.

In 1997, after she moved full-time to Florida, she donated the holding company to Audubon under a complicated transaction that kept the land ownership in Reinecke Fuchs name and kept Mrs. Shehan from having to paying capital gains on the land. As part of her donation, she set up an endowment that would pay Audubon the annual $500,000 needed to maintain the property and pay its $40,000-a-year property tax bill.

But by 2008, Mrs. Shehan was in bad health and the fund she set up had cannibalized itself paying out more than it took in. That’s when her lawyer told Audubon officials that there would be no more support checks coming.

“Audubon is a great organization, but unfortunately we just ran out of money.” Mrs. Shehan’s attorney Bruce Stone said at the time. “I had the unpleasant task of telling Audubon there was not going to be any money.”

Audubon officials said at the time that they could no longer afford to keep it. It was on the market for almost two years before Pascal purchased it for an undisclosed amount. Its tax appraisal over recent years ranged from $6.5 million to $8.2 million.

There are several non-tidal wetlands on the property built with the help of Ducks Unlimited and the Waterfowl Foundation. While Audubon maintained the property, they reported that more than 200 species of birds lived or migrated through its woodlands and open fields.

Hedgerows planted by Willie du Pont to give his horses a jumping challenge during a fox hunt are now 30-foot-high windbreaks that shelter a substantial deer herd.

Mrs. Shehan died Aug. 1. She was 88.

According to the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, the Yorktown Farms pr0perty covers about 245 acres of active farmland and waterfowl impoundments and about 185 acres of woods. The property is home to a large population of the endangered Delmarva Fox Squirrel that will be protected by the easement with a forest management plan.

The easement also permanently retires all of the development rights on 122 acres of the property zoned Village Center for the village of Longwoods, as well as all but two development rights on the remainder of the property. The easement also protects critical habitat for Forest Interior Dwelling bird species (FIDS) and migrating songbirds, as well as the Few-flowered Tick-trefoil, considered endangered in the state of Maryland, and the Log Fern, considered threatened in the state of Maryland.

The property scored an “excellent” rating on the Maryland Green Infrastructure ranking system. The easement was donated to ESLC and Maryland Environmental Trust by Yorktown Farm, LLC.

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to the Yorktown Farms property on Wye Heights Road as Wye Heights Plantation. The Spy regrets the error.

Spy Staff Writer Kathy Bosin contributed to this story.

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