2020

The widely respected Boston trial attorney whose work on Martha’s Vineyard spanned more than four decades, died March 4 at Massachusetts General Hospital.

2005

An investigation by the Committee on Finance for the United States Senate has thrust The Nature Conservancy and its conservation buyer program under a spotlight, and along with it the record $64 million sale of the Herring Creek Farm in Edgartown.

2003

FARM Institute, the novice non-profit dedicated to bolstering the
Vineyard's agricultural heritage, is putting its first Island home
up for sale, planning to surrender a foothold in the storied Herring
Creek Farm.

The transaction will help bankroll the institute's vision for
neighboring Katama Farm - a 190-acre spread that the town of
Edgartown turned over to FARM Institute this spring.

2001


It began with a suburban-style subdivision plan, polished
like a shiny apple: Maximum density, 54 luxury homes, two beach clubs
with swimming pools.


It ended last week with a record real estate sale and a
subdivision plan of a markedly different color: Six new luxury homes
added to five existing homes and a vast sweep of farmland saved
forever.


But between the beginning and the end of the Herring Creek
Farm story there is another story.

When Steven McCormick was a law student, he asked a professor
to explain the exact meaning of the word perpetuity. The law
professor's reply to the young student was simple and direct. "It
means forever - and a day," the professor said.


Forever and a day is exactly how long the farm fields will
now be preserved at the Herring Creek Farm in Edgartown, and on the
Vineyard this week Mr.

Ending months of speculation and more than a decade of bitter warring over development plans - both in and out of court - the 215-acre, ecologically rare Herring Creek Farm in Edgartown was sold this week for a record $64 Million.

The new owners of the storied Great Plains farm include The Nature Conservancy, the FARM Institute and three private buyers.

Pages