Poe Burling Property
Talbot County, Maryland 

The Property

The landowner came from a family that for generations had owned an early landgrant plantation on Maryland's Eastern Shore.  The farm, known as Rich Neck, comprise 790 acres, including more than five miles of Chesapeake Bay waterfront, and many historic buildings, including a private Gothic-revival chapel.  The farm includes an entire peninsula that juts several miles into the Chesapeake Bay.

The Land Trust 

The Maryland Environmental Trust (MET) negotiated the easement.  MET is a statewide land trust governed by a citizen board of trustees.  A quasi-public agency, funded by the State of Maryland but with its own endownment, the Trust focuses on preserving natural resources, open space, and agricultural lands through the use of conservation easements.  The Trust also helps local land trusts and provides grants for environmental education programs.

The Easement

A trusted family lawyer introduced the landowner to the idea of placing a general purpose conservation easement on the property.  The landowner decided to include restrictions on subdivision, new construction, timbering, and internal and external changes to the eighteenth-century manor house.  The landowner believed that multiple easement holders made it more likely that easement would survive in perpetuity.  Three organizations -- the Maryland Environmental Trust, the Maryland Historical Trust, and the Nature Conservancy -- jointly hold the easement that went into effect in 1988.

The Maryland Historical Trust is responsible for monitoring and enforcing the historic and archaeological provisions of the easement; the MET responsible for compliance with other terms.

The easement specifically references a goal of hte general plan of Talbot County, Maryland: Protecting the beauty of the Chesapeake Bay waterfront.  By protecting several miles of waterfront, the easement serves this goal.

The easement contains several key provisions related to the protection of watersheds, farming practices, and design protection for the many significant structures.  The easement requires the establishment and maintenance of vegetative buffers between agricultural operations and streams, thus protecting water quality and supply while offering scenic enhancements to the property.

An appendix to the easement lists all the structures on the property and refers to their dates of construction and protection status under the easement.  The exteriors of the Rich Neck Farm Main House, the chapel, a guest house, and several farm structures are protected under the easement.

Like most easements, this one prohibits billboards and limits the size of all signs, in this case, to four feet by four feet.  The easement balances the desires of the landowners to keep farming, protect historic structures, and conserve scenic views of the waterfront.