HAGERSTOWN, Md. – Washington County’s Rural Legacy Program has surpassed 10,000 acres of permanently preserved land following the protection of a 256.6-acre farm near Sharpsburg.
The conservation easement, finalized July 29, covers a farm on Taylors Landing Road that includes farm fields, pasture and woodland. The property also lies within a larger area containing thousands of acres already under permanent preservation.
The new easement brings Washington County’s total preserved land to nearly 44,000 acres, according to the county Division of Planning & Zoning.
The Rural Legacy Program now accounts for more than 22 percent of all permanently preserved land in the county. Funded and administered by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the program is managed locally by the county Land Preservation Office.
The program focuses on agricultural land as well as properties with historic, scenic and environmental value. The Taylors Landing Road farm was selected through the fiscal 2025 application cycle.
Rural Preservation Administrator Chris Boggs has said the county’s preservation programs are designed to protect development rights rather than purchase the farms themselves.
“We’re purchasing the right to ensure the property is not developed in the future,” Boggs told LocalNews1 in a recent interview. “The farm stays a farm. The owner keeps the property. The family can pass it down to the next generation or sell it. But the development rights are gone.”
