Donation of Holly Beach Farm to state Department of Natural Resources approved
The Board of Public Works approved last week the transfer of Annapolis’ Holly Beach Farm to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, making the state’s acceptance of last year’s donation from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation official.
The nearly 300-acre waterfront property, just south of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, is a key staging and wintering area for migratory waterfowl and serves as a nesting site for herons and bald eagles. Accessed by a single-lane road, the land boasts forested areas, open fields, a freshwater pond and beaches along the Chesapeake Bay and Whitehall Bay.
Once the land transfer is finalized, the mostly undeveloped property will be managed as a natural resources management area by the Maryland Park Service.
“This is a remarkable opportunity for all Marylanders to experience the Chesapeake Bay,” Gov. Wes Moore said in a March 13 news release.
While the foundation has owned the property for more than two decades, maintaining it for conservation and environmental education, a search for a new owner with the expertise to manage the land over the long term began last October. The natural resources agency was selected in December.
The department said it plans to engage neighbors and others interested in the future of Holly Beach Farm to create a new operational and management plan for the property, according to a news release. Measured public access, with a focus on increasing water access, is planned.
“Holly Beach Farm is a unique and sensitive natural resource of significant ecological value to the Chesapeake Bay,” Maryland Department of Natural Resources Secretary Josh Kurtz said in a statement. “With more than 90% of the Bay’s shoreline in private ownership, it’s imperative that we offer new ways for people to enjoy the wonders of the Chesapeake.
The property was originally part of a 3,000-acre estate and summer home of New Orleans industrialist Sylvester Labrot Sr., who built a mansion there in 1908, according to a news release. Despite requests from developers to buy the land from former owner Leonie Gately, Labrot’s only daughter, it remained under private ownership and preservation until public funders purchased it for $8 million in the early 2000s, deeding it to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation for conservation and environmental education.
“We are so pleased that the State of Maryland has stepped forward with its tremendous resources to continue the conservation and management of this special natural area,” Hilary Harp Falk, the foundation’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “We thank the Gately family for preserving this jewel of the Chesapeake and the Moore administration for their continued leadership in protecting, and
making accessible, Maryland’s tremendous natural resources.”
However, increased access to the land isn’t universally supported. Residents in the nearby Skidmore neighborhood voiced concerns last summer about increased traffic and other government projects in the area.
In a 2021 letter, Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman and Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley voiced support for making the property part of the Chesapeake National Recreation Area, a proposed collection of parks and public lands along the bay that would be managed by the National Park Service if approved by Congress. But now, that possibility is “highly unlikely,” according to Paul Peditto, the department’s assistant secretary for land resources.
County and city officials also thought the property could serve as a launch site for an electric ferry network. The natural resources department feels that’s a discussion for further down the road, Peditto told The Capital, but through work with stakeholders, a ferry system that allows for “prescriptive” access could be possible.
While work remains to be done with plans for the land, Holly Beach Farm won’t be a high visitation, high infrastructure site like Sandy Point State Park, a popular beachfront spot minutes north of the property and U.S. 50, he said.