Edward D. Vock Conservation Area
Property Name – Edward D. Vock Conservation Area
Conservation Management Organization – Burrillville Land Trust
Fee Owner Name – Burrillville Land Trust
Purpose – Habitat protection; wetlands, groundwater and aquifer protection; forest management
Public Access – Guided access during events and hikes.
Tax Assessor’s Plat & Lot ID – 188/003, 188/007, 188/010
Acreage – 86
Date of Acquisition – 10/24/2008
This property has a 1 mile hike that traverses along lowlands of maple and oak and uplands of pine. The trail crosses Leland Brook.
While on the trail look out for the “creature” - a fun challenge throughout the state.
This 86 acre property is owned by the Burrillville Land Trust. The land trust acquired the property on October 24, 2008 from the daughters of Edward D. Vock. Vock was a New York City native who made frequent trips as a child and adult to visit friends in the ‘wilds of Burrillville.’ He was an individual who, like Henry David Thoreau – author of Walden – wanted to live off the land, where nature and the natural world were to be his backyard. As you walk along the edges of the property, you can easily see the foundations of an old sawmill and the remains of a barn and home where the Vock family worked and lived. From 1914 till Vock’s passing in 1971, this area was the home of the Vock family.
Today, stone walls, a lake and pond made by Edward Vock showcase a family that lived among nature. Tall pines, oaks and a healthy, dense understory now stand where open meadows and fields once stood. Edward Vock was a tree farmer and one of the original 5 tree farmers in the state of Rhode Island. Tree farms usually receive a designation when they become official tree farms. Vock’s woods, as they were called back then, received one of the first numbers in Rhode Island. His was number 5 as one of the first five state designated tree farms in the state. The designation became official on September 16, 1949 in a ceremony hosted by then Governor of Rhode Island John O. Pastore.
The Burrillville Land Trust manages the property in accordance with the wishes of the previous owners. Irene Vock Gillis and Louise Vock Schofield, daughters of Edward Vock, wanted a memorial to their late father in celebration of his work as a tree farmer and as a naturalist. Their desire, also, was to make certain that their father’s land would never be developed. The purchase of their property by the land trust meant that their wishes would come true. The land trust maintains an active forest management plan in accordance with the wishes of the previous owners, the natural flow of the land and what is best for the future of the property. Tree thinning, invasive species management, road pollution runoff, erosion control, and trash pickup are just a few of the activities of the management system in place for the conservation area. There is one one-mail loop marked hiking trail with the trail head at the corner of Jackson Schoolhouse Road and Olney Keech Road, Pascoag, RI. Please send us a note before you hike in the woods. Send a text or call (401) 447-1560 or send us an email at info@burrillvillelandtrust.org. Give us a time, date and the number in your party.
These 86 acres are rich in the history of the Town of Burrillville and abundant in local lore and legend. This is the place where the Burrillville High School men’s hockey team practiced long before anyone else in the state. The pond known as Vock’s Pond was one of the first in the state to freeze solid giving the high school hockey team an advantage over all the others. Perhaps this was one of the reasons the hockey team was so successful as state and regional champions for so many years. Much of Edward Vock’s life is warmly remembered through the eyes and memories of his granddaughters. I hope you read the letter from Irene Gillis’ daughter, Laurie Gillis Espinosa, who describes her grandfather in a very heartfelt manner. And read Fran Schofield’s very personal account of her grandfather that was read during the dedication ceremonies of the Vock property on June 12, 2010. Fran is the daughter of Louise Vock Schofield. Both granddaughters provide a glimpse and insight into the man and how he lived.
All of us at the Burrillville Land Trust are so proud to become part of the rich history of this place. The Edward D. Vock Conservation Area is our shining example of a cooperative effort to make the land a working memorial and a place for all to love and learn.
Here is a complete list of all our partners who helped make this purchase a reality:
The State of Rhode Island Natural Heritage Preservation Commission – Open Space Conservation & Acquisition Grant
The Champlin Foundation
The June Rockwell Levy Foundation
The Rhode Island Foundation
The Rhode Island Chapter of The Nature Conservancy
Ocean State Power/Burrillville Community Foundation
The Gillis Family
The Schofield Family
Members of the Burrillville Land Trust
Letter from Fran Vock Schofield – read during the dedication of the Edward D. Vock Conservation Area on June 12, 2010
I am writing on behalf of my mother, Louise Vock Schofield, father Arden Schofield, and myself to thank you for coming to this spot today to commemorate the memory of my grandfather, Edward D. Vock by the dedication of his beloved tree farm as conservation land. I regret that we are unable to attend this event as my parents are too ill to travel and I am called to the funeral of a friend who died earlier this week.
There is no better, more fitting use of the land that my grandfather so loved and cared for than as the use to which it is being dedicated today: as conservation and open space for this and future generation, and in perpetuity. My grandfather—“Papa” as he was known to our family and friends—was a Thoreau-like character who led his life quietly and with determination and character. He loved the trees, solitude, books and his music. When visiting RI, we would pull up in the driveway to hear Papa at the piano, the sounds of his voice singing, carrying through the trees. And when he came to visit us in the winter, my mother would recall that his suitcase would contain nothing but books!
My earliest, happiest, and most profound childhood memories are rooted in this land, and with Papa: walking barefoot along the dirt road (that he was careful to make sure remained dirt and not paved by the town), learning to swim in the pond, traipsing through the woods with a tin can slung around my neck in search of blueberries, having my own ax at age 5 and learning to chop wood, climbing trees, going on nature walks and learning about different leaves and trees, meeting up with the fearsome Guwampuwampus (as Papa had so dubbed a tree with a large growth on which he’d painted a face), sleeping out under the stars in the little cabin (an old table) that my grandfather had set up for me, learning to skate on the pond..and I could go on. Today, the scent of pine trees immediately transports me to these, the woods of my childhood.
Orphaned at a young age and raised in New York City, Edward D. Vock grew up to become a “pugnacious American,” a phrase he often employed and which describes him aptly. My mother used to recount that when she and her sister Irene were small children, he would place them on tree stumps so they could practice their oratorical skills. These lessons about caring for the environment and standing up for one’s beliefs carried into my mother and aunt’s lives, who were ardent advocates of various environmental causes. They continued in my own life as I went on to study landscape architecture and work in various environmental affair capacities as an adult. Even today, in my own community on Cape Cod, I find myself the chairperson of a 100-citizen neighborhood group that opposes the so-called “progress” proposed by town DPW officials who would widen, pave, and deforest scenic roads in my community. All that we have done and become can be directly linked to Papa and these woods.
On behalf of my mother, father, grandfather and myself, I would like to express heartfelt thanks to Paul Roselli for his unceasing labors to ensure that this land remains forever protected and open to the public. I met Paul only relatively recently as my mother’s health underwent a significant decline and Paul was immersed in what was, I fear, an often lonely and frustrating campaign to effect the sale of this property to the Burrillville Land Trust. Paul, however, along with other individuals and conservation groups, persisted and was ultimately successful in ensuring that the land would remain undeveloped and enjoyed by generations of nature lovers to come.
Edward D. Vock is somewhere looking down on this all and, I’m quite sure, would be proud to call Paul Roselli his friend. He would also want to thank you all who are here today and who find this land as sacred as did he.
Sincerely, Fran Schofield
Fran Schofield
Letter From Laurie Gillis Espinosa
This letter is from Laurie Esponosa, one of the granddaughters of Edward D. Vock. The Edward D. Vock property along Jackson Schoolhouse Road is named for an individual few of us knew or knew well. Here, in this letter from one of his grand-daughters, we gain new insight to the man and the land he loved.
“I always have to start by saying that my grandfather Edward D. Vock died when I was eight. I remember the funeral at 420 Jackson School House Rd. It was outside, my Uncle played the piano, it was a beautiful day and the birds were singing. And then at the end of the ceremony, there was a deep silence as if the birds and nature stood still in respect for the man of the woods. My grandfather was of humble beginning. He was an orphan, living in an orphanage in NYC. During the summers the orphanage would come up to Burrillville and go camping. Years later he bought the land from Father Holland. At the time my grandfather thought he purchased 180 acres of land, mostly open farmland. He happily set out to turn the land into a forest…this later became one of the first Tree Farms in Rhode Island.
My grandfather had little formal education but he had learned what was essential: the ability to learn. He submerged himself in books and worked to grow the forest and set about to make the farm work for him. He damned up the Leeland Brook and created the pond. He built a strong dam in order to create a powerful waterfall. He harnessed this water with a water wheel and built a building to house his water powered generator and then built a sturdy small two-story stucco home that used the generator for power. Even in 1971, when my grandfather passed away, the simple house stood proudly across from the pond. Out front was the pump that fed the home. Beside the house was the outhouse. My mother had had plans drawn up by an architect to restore the home. Later the house was burned down It was a magical setting by the brook. You could hear the rushing water throughout the home and the woods, now mature, sheltered the home. It’s not hard to say what made my grandfather unforgettable: he was a charming character, a free thinker, a deep thinker, and that man loved to talk. He enjoyed his life – from playing the piano and singing out strongly, to debating issues of the day, to teaching others to appreciate the woods. He would take you for a walk and the woods would come alive. He would teach you to use an ax, to chew a mint leaf, to find the best blueberries, to drain the pond and clean it out while experiencing an adventure with quicksand. He could see ahead into the world and worried about the dangers of smoking, water quality, air quality, land fills. He always followed the town politics and never failed to speak up and share his opinions. He taught all of us, to speak, to be well prepared.
My mother has memories of him getting her and her sister on top of a stump and having them practice speeches. It is no surprise that his daughters became teachers, and journalists, and political activists. We learned from the best. We learned to respect nature, preserve nature, to try to recycle, to value our beliefs beyond material gain. My grandfather worked to live, but never lived to work. He was a steam fitter at the Shipyards in Quincy. If need be he would sell off pieces of the land. He had a small lumber mill on the property and milled the tongue and grove pine boards that were later used in one of his homes. He sold gravel from the gravel pits, but mostly he farmed the woods and as a child those woods were as clean and beautiful as a park. I wish I had more time with my grandfather. Look for him, his spirit still lives in the woods…the Vock woods…forever.”