One room schoolhouse at eagle Peak road

The property at 310 Eagle Peak Road reminds me of why I joined the Burrillville Land Trust many years go: flowing streams; stone walls; trees reaching 50 to 100 feet into the sky; a pond; and life of all kinds everywhere. The forest and wetlands contained within these acres is also the home to a time when resource extraction built a region and nation that helped spur economic growth. Immigrants displaced natives who lived there for centuries. The settlers mined granite for foundations, buildings and steps. Cut timber for houses, barns and ships keels. Harvested chestnuts and grew crops. They raised sheep, chickens and cows. And they went to school. The one room schoolhouse on the property is emblematic of the New England renaissance bringing public education to local neighborhoods. This community learning became an opportunity to teach a younger generation about the greater world.

The mission of the Burrillville Land Trust is to preserve and protect the rural character of the Town of Burrillville through acquisition, education and advocacy. All three of these noble goals are part of the reason the land trust accepted a Conservation Easement and the reason that we value this property.  Privately owned land and home, a conservation easement on this property is no small matter for the owners. Future property owners must adhere to this restrictive covenant. In pages within the conservation easement there is strength, opportunity and the promise of a future for all that live on this land. As this schoolhouse helped educate a community, the land trust will help teach all who continue to live on this land. Teaching new owners of the natural world and the values in their own backyard. The land trust also becomes a de facto advocate, a voice, for the land, speaking when necessary to help preserve and protect the importance of this property. The stone one-room schoolhouse, the sugar maple outside that schoolhouse door, the stone walls must have witnessed hundreds of school age children and parents moving from and to the fields to work, to play and to live. Life thrived here.

The land trust strives to protect the values that are there and helps each new owner make sure life continues to flourish on this land. That is our promise.