FREEPORT — The Freeport Conservation Trust received 13 acres of land on Thursday, Dec. 3, donated by Aqua Maine.

FCT board member Bob Santomenna said the undeveloped land off Durham Road is mostly woodlands and has two ponds and Frost Gully Brook running across the property.

“We have had discussions with abutters about gaining public access,” he said. “But there is no public access at the moment.”

According to a press release from the FCT, the land has been owned by the Freeport water system for the past 118 years. It was the original source of the public water system in Frost Gully. A Freeport businessman, Edmund B. Mallet Jr., started the Freeport water system in 1891 and was the original owner of the land before it became part of the Freeport Water Co.

Santomenna said while there are no trails in the immediate area, this parcel could be a location from which to develop a trail network.

FCT President Katrina Van Dusen said the group is happy to acquire the parcel. “The area around Frost Gully Brook is magical,” she said.

Van Dusen said the land could be released from Aqua Maine because it is not needed for the water system.

The FCT has protected 54 properties – nearly 1,500 acres of farmland, woodland and shoreland within Freeport – since 1977.

 

Undeveloped land off of Durham Road has been donated to the Freeport Conservation Trust by Aqua Maine. The 13-acre parcel includes two ponds and Frost Gully Brook, seen here.