Retiree gives wooded land to Belfast

BELFAST – The city received a Christmas gift this week, wrapped in rocks, trees and a babbling brook.

In what some hope will be a seed that will flower into similar gifts, a retired banker and Waldo County official has donated a pristine wooded hillside overlooking the Passagassawaukeag River to a local land trust to preserve it for all time.

Ralph Stephenson will make the official presentation to the Coastal Mountains Land Trust at City Hall on Thursday. The Rockport-based land trust is steward of hundreds of acres of distinctive natural sites in Knox and Waldo counties.

Stephenson has owned the 7-acre parcel near the Beavertail – a point of land on the west side of the river – for decades. He said he still remembers those first years when he would walk beneath its canopy of fragrant hemlock and turn to see the river, shimmering in the distance.

“It’s something I started thinking about pretty early; to not sell it, to not develop it, to have it remain as it is,” Stephenson said Monday of his decision to put the land in trust. “I’m hoping my gift will be something of an example to others, that it’s not a bad idea to put land aside for protection.”

The land is on outer High Street, across the road from the old bridge site and the public right of way to the river. Stephenson bought the land 30 years ago from Robert Knowlton and can still recall the day he approached Knowlton about buying the piece.

“He had a place on the east side and he was mowing with a hand scythe when I told him who I was and what I was there for,” Stephenson said. “I told him I wanted it as a place to go, to get away from the world, and he said, ‘That’s what I do there. Do you want to see it?’ Well, he dropped that scythe and took me right over.”

Although he flirted with the idea of building a camp on the property, Stephenson decided it was better to leave it alone. Over the years he would use it as a respite from his activities. He recalled enjoying the stillness of many an afternoon beneath the trees, tenting with his three children there in summer and taking them sliding in winter. He worked on his dissertation beside the cascading waterfall.

“It’s been a wonderful place for my kids. I’ve gone up to that land at various times to gather my thoughts,” he said.

Stephenson approached the land trust with his thoughts a few years ago, but it was not prepared to take on a Belfast project at the time. He made his offer again this summer, and this time the trust was ready.

Belfast Mayor Michael Hurley became involved and pledged to work with the trust to develop trails.

Hurley has walked the site many times over the years and is enthusiastic about its potential.

“The people of Belfast will greatly benefit from this gift,” Hurley said. “I see this as the first of many such gifts that will help ensure that portions of the city’s scenic areas will be set aside for everyone.”

Stephenson said he hopes the site will become part of an extended greenbelt of protected land in the city. He said the city is being pressured by growth and that prime land could disappear more quickly than people imagine.

“I think we could have quite a stretch of walking, biking and hiking trails in this city if we work at it. But we’ll need people to donate land, because in the future, when it’s built up, it will be premium,” Stephenson said.

Along with his family, Stephenson said, the gift will honor his late wife and the land’s former owner. It will be known as the Knowlton-Swanson-Stephenson Gift.

“I hope others will give it some thought, too,” Stephenson said. “I don’t have a lot of money, but I had that piece of land.”