Trustees of Reservations

The Trustees of Reservations (TTOR) is a non-profit land conservation and historic preservation organization dedicated to preserving natural and historical places in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Trustees are the oldest regional land trust in the world and have more than 44,000 dues-paying members.

The Trustees have 100 properties in Massachusetts, all of which are open to the public. Three of its best know reservations are Crane Beach in Ipswich, Cape Poge Wildlife Refuge on Martha's Vineyard and World's End in Hingham. East Over Reservation in Rochester and Little Tom Mountain in Holyoke are some of its most recent acquisitions.

The organization has offices in Beverly, Leominster and Sharon. In June 2006, The Trustees received a gold-level certification from the "US Green Building Council" for its Doyle Conservation Center in Leominster.

On September 16, 2006, The Trustees of Reservations announced its permanent affiliation with the Boston Natural Areas Network.

Mission

The mission statement of The Trustees is to "preserve, for public use and enjoyment, properties of exceptional scenic, historic, and ecological value in Massachusetts."

Properties

As of September 2008, The Trustees own and care for 100 sites outright with 24,060 acres (96 km²), and aided by other means in the conservation of a further 431 sites with approximately 30,000 acres (121 km²). Many properties contain historic buildings, including nine historic house museums and two lighthouses open to the public. The Trustees manage five National Historic Landmarks, including Naumkeag in Stockbridge; one National Natural Landmark, and several properties that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In addition, The Trustees of Reservations manage the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Tully Lake Campground in Royalston. They also manage the Norton Point Beach in Edgartown, which is owned by the county government of Dukes County.

History

The history of the Trustees is traced to 1890 when the New England periodical "Garden and Forest" published a letter by young landscape architect Charles Eliot entitled "The Waverly Oaks." Eliot's letter proposed the immediate preservation of "special bits of scenery" still remaining "within ten miles (16 km) of the State House which possess uncommon beauty and more than usual refreshing power." To this end, Eliot proposed that legislation be enacted to create a nonprofit corporation to hold land for the public to enjoy "just as a Public Library holds books and an Art Museum holds pictures."

In the spring of 1891, the Massachusetts Legislature established The Trustees of Public Reservations "for the purposes of acquiring, holding, maintaining and opening to the public beautiful and historic places within the Commonwealth." The act was signed into law by Governor William E. Russell on May 21, 1891. The word "Public" was dropped from the organization's name in 1954 to avoid confusion with government-owned land.

Virginia Woods in Stoneham was the first property acquired by The Trustees. This property was conveyed to the Metropolitan District Commission in 1923 and is now a part of the Middlesex Fells Reservation. Waverly Oaks itself was included in the Beaver Brook Reservation, in Belmont, established in 1893.

In 1925, The Trustees joined with the Appalachian Mountain Club, Massachusetts Audubon Society, and the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities to organize a conference on "The Needs and Uses of Open Spaces." This conference led to a 1929 report emphasizing the need to protect the state's rural character and countryside and the importance of identifying and describing the qualities and characteristics of specific sites that should be preserved. Today, nearly every site listed in the report is protected by a government or nonprofit conservation agency.

ee also

* Historic New England
* National Trust for Historic Preservation

References

* http://www.thetrustees.org/ Accessed September 4, 2008.

External links

* [http://www.thetrustees.org/ The Trustees of Reservations official website]