You can be forgiven for thinking that, as a conservation organization, WLCT has a singular focus on the natural world–and the seemingly endless marvels it presents. In truth, we are equally as intrigued by the folk heroes of a landscape’s past!
Old timers relay family stories that take us back to the time of active dairy farms, wild river escapades, and rum runners. Those oral histories and the artifacts that support them are cared for by the Westport Historical Society. Westport’s cultural stories and historical figures have become a part of our value system as WLCT seeks to preserve what the community loves.
Naturalist Legend
One of Westport’s most popular folk heroes is Herb Hadfield, a naturalist legend. Herb explored and recorded Westport’s iconic landscapes through his photography and sketches. WLCT sought to honor Herb and his conservation ethic when we preserved the property where he constructed a cabin in old-world style and fostered companion owls. We might not all choose to live “off the grid,” but we can all seek to emulate Herb’s curiosity of the world around him.
Naturalist, builder, and artist, Herb sketched this rendering of the house that was once on Cory’s Island, which WLCT will soon be preserving. According to some accounts, this house may have sat on top of Captain Kidd’s buried treasure!
Growing Heroes
Other real figures of mythical stature have been a part of our work as well. Westport celebrates countless farmers who were the real salt from the Westport earth, producing food for their communities to enjoy, while stewarding a one-of-a-kind landscape here in southeastern Massachusetts. Managing dairy farms, cultivating the famed Macomber turnip, growing potatoes for crispy chips, harvesting blueberries, and creating a fine mash of apples for great cider–Westport farmers have done it all. Today, we are lucky to still have farmers and other conservation figures who I am sure we will look back on as heroes of our time.
More Stories to Conserve
This past year we have invested more and more time into adding interpretive panels at properties and will add more in the coming year to tell these stories.
Do you have a story to tell about a special landscape here in Town? I would love to buy you lunch and hear more about it–give us a call!
