By Rod Hansen
Staff Writer

The area soon to be known as the Charles and Ethel Eastman Conservation Area was in line to become developed property last October.

That’s when Frank Ferrante first came before the Weare Conservation Commission, asking members to consider a subdivision plan for more than 600 acres of property he owned in town, most of it pristine wilderness.

The ensuing months brought forth a heated attempt to save the land, spearheaded by local conservation groups and residents concerned with halting development.

Their efforts paid off in March, when Town Meeting voters cast ballots 1,234-456 in favor of purchasing the land through donations and bonding.

The end result will come two months from now, when most of the former Ferrante property will officially become town land forever protected against development.

“The short amount of time this has all happened in has been incredible,” said Steve Najjar, chairman of the Weare Open Spaces Committee.

The naming of the property came at the request of members of the Mildred Hall Trust Advisory Committee, the largest private contributor to the purchase of the land.

An $800,000 donation from the Mildred Hall Trust Advisory Committee and $700,000 in bonding approved at Town Meeting are the two cornerstones in the $1.8 million purchase price of the property.

Other contributors to the land purchase include $50,000 from the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department and $1,000 from Goffstown Fish and Game, with the remaining funds coming from the conservation fund.

The town expects to close on the land, still owned by Ferrante, in June, Najjar said.

Naming the conservation area after the Eastmans holds a special significance, said one longtime resident and guardian of the town’s history.

“The Eastmans were great landowners in their time, and this is the last big piece of land in town that can be dedicated toward conservation,” said Betty Straw, president of the Weare Historical Society and member of the Mildred Hall Trust Advisory Committee. Straw suggested the naming to the unanimous approval of the Weare Open Spaces Committee.

The Eastmans were longtime residents and prominent citizens of Weare, Straw said.

Charles Eastman served the town in several capacities, including as a state representative in 1923, as the school district moderator from 1931-50, and as a state senator in 1937, Straw said.

The Eastmans’ daughter, Mildred Hall, dedicated that part of the money from her estate be used to benefit the town of Weare, and that any resulting projects be named to honor her parents, Straw said.

The property to be named in the Eastmans’ honor extends from Route 77 in Weare to Henniker, and includes Pine Hill and Rattlesnake Hill, totaling 608 acres of land that will be owned by the town and 20 acres of Ferrante private property protected from further subdivision.

The conservation area will connect with 12,000 other acres of undeveloped land, leaving the area open to the innumerable species of flora, fauna and geological occurrences members of the Open Space Committee say makes the location so desirable.

Most of the work has been completed for closing on the property, Najjar said.

Steps completed thus far include selection of the Piscataquog Watershed Association as the conservation easement holder, completion of a title search on the land, and planning board approval for Ferrante to remove 20 more acres of his private property for use in the conservation area.

There will be a public hearing on Wednesday, May 10, at the Weare Town Offices, at 7 p.m., on the subject of allowing the town to spend money from the conservation fund on the purchase of the land.