BURRILLVILLE – The Burrillville Land Trust has purchased a 65-acre cornfield in Pascoag that once held a cabin belonging to a man dubbed, “the second best poet in America,” and state officials and conservation advocates will gather next week to celebrate the family that helped to make it happen.
The purchase, hailed as a first for northwestern Rhode Island, included two parcels that abut the 2,245 acre Buck Hill Management Area. The trust acquired the property for $250,000 earlier this year from Norma O’Leary, who worked with the organization to fulfill her late husband Ernie O’Leary’s wish to see the lot permanently preserved and saved from the prospect of future development.
The couple grew corn for the family’s dairy herd on the land for more than 40 years, before Ernie died in 2021.
Now, thanks to an arrangement with the trust, the family will continue to utilize a 22 acre portion of the property for agriculture through a lease agreement.
“The land will continue to be farmed as Ernie wanted,” said Norma O’Leary in a statement on the acquisition. “I am very pleased with how this worked out and know that Ernie would have felt the same.”
The land once held a cabin that belonged to a famed American poet who studied under Robert Frost. According to the deed for the land, E. Merrill and Alsa Root purchased 35 acres off Croff Road from Orin and Marion Whiting in 1935.
E. Merrill Root was one of the founders and original contributors to National Review, and published 11 books of poetry, which were praised by his former teacher Frost, who called him, “the second best poet in America.”
At an event next weekend, the lot will officially be dubbed the “Ernie and Norma O’Leary Agricultural and Conservation Land,” in a celebration with federal and state officials from both Rhode Island and Connecticut, along with representatives from environmental and land conservation organizations from around the region.
The land trust purchased the property, known for its prime agricultural soils, with funding from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management through voter-approved green economy bonds; The Nature Conservancy from their Ginty Fund; the Bafflin Foundation; the June Rockwell Levy Foundation; and private donations from BLT members.
The O’Learys will continue to grow corn on the leased area, which will be closed off for any and all public use.
“Agriculture and agricultural soils in Rhode Island are under threat,” said Burrillville Land Trust President Paul Roselli. “Rhode Islanders are losing much of their healthy, produce-producing soils to the bulldozer. We are extremely happy to save this property for agriculture in perpetuity.”
“The O’Learys’ farm is another key piece in the natural corridor that runs down the Rhode Island-Connecticut border,” said Scott Comings,
TNC associate state director. “By keeping the forest and farms connected, the area stays resilient to climate change and continues to sustain migratory birds and other wildlife in two states.”
The celebration will include a brief speaking program, cold lemonade and a meet and greet with the O’Leary family, along with a poetry reading during a visit to the site of Root’s cabin.
The public is invited to attend the event, to be held Saturday, August 24 from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Visitors are instructed to access the property using Croff Road from Buck Hill Road just before the Connecticut border, using “265 Croff Road,” in GPS. The gathering will be on the left around 3/4 of a mile down the road, with parking also to the left.
There is a 0.2 mile walk into the woods to the event site and visitors are advised to wear sturdy shoes.
For more information call (401) 447-1560 or email to [email protected].
I stand corrected, Paul. That is an interesting situation, “no owner of record.”
If only the stones could talk.
Hi everyone. Paul Roselli, president of the Burrillville Land Trust. Yes. The sign on the road reads Croff Road. On many of the maps apps the road will come up as Cruff Road. They are the same. The Croff-Lewis Cemetery is not part of the Burrillville Land Trust’s property and remains a property with no current owner of record. The dedication takes place on August 24th starting at 1pm. We hope you join us.
Yes, it’s Croff Road. The Croff cemetery is part of the Land Trust’s property now. The whole property is significant for other aspects of history beside the poet’s presence. The cemetery holds several burials of the 19th century Vickers and Lewis families, both of African and Native American ancestry. Prince Lewis and Jacob Lewis were farmers, each owning substantial properties, perhaps parts of the Land Trust’s new property. There was a “Buck Hill” district school in this neighborhood as well and Jacob’s daughter Mary was one of its teachers.
265 Cruff Road not 265 Croff RoaD
Information released by the Land Trust definitely says Croff.