The Huckabee Farm

Ice-skating on Huckabee's farm pond on Horace Greely Road was an Amherst tradition for many years. By 1998 Margery Huckabee wanted to preserve her family's land for future generations to enjoy. With the help of the Amherst Land Trust, she was able to obtain the funds she needed to secure her situation while protecting most of the land.

The Land Trust used seed money appropriated by Town Meeting in 1998 to hold the land and to give Mrs. Huckabee immediate funds she needed to move into assisted living. Then the Board developed a plan for purchasing and protecting the land. They found a private partner for the project, Senator Warren Rudman, who was interested in purchasing the house and barn and willing to invest in and work with the Land Trust to complete the project.

Over the next two years Land Trust Board members worked to design and obtain approval for a four-lot Open Space subdivision on 15 of the remaining acres. The lots in were sold to recoup the cost of the purchase, with a small profit to the private investor and funds returned to the Land Trust's treasury for future projects. The Land Trust donated 37 acres to the Town under the management of the Amherst Conservation Commission.