About NMH Northfield

Northfield expresses interest in NMH land

June 23, 2005
By JANET BOND, Recorder Staff

NORTHFIELD - The town will be working to secure specific pieces of land owned by Northfield Mount Hermon School.

The Northfield Transition Committee met with Carol Lebo, NMH transition coordinator, and two Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust officials to establish a path toward protecting the town's open space interests as regards NMH's more than 2,000 acres of open land within the town borders.

Lebo told the committee that the school had more than 30 interested responses to the Northfield campus marketing brochure that was sent to 2,000 schools and institutions in New England.

The interest has come from "the world of education" said Lebo and has included a dozen tours that began in March, before the brochure was sent in April. Some interested parties have returned for a second look, but there have been no offers on the Northfield campus, she emphasized.

Lebo also clarified for the committee that the school and its board of trustees is looking first to settle the main campus in Northfield before it looks to outlying areas that it owns.

In March, the town sent a letter to NMH stating the four parcels it had an interest in the handling of.

Wednesday night, the town got its first response to the letter. Lebo, reiterated that the school wanted to settle the main campus first and she also said that the school was not likely to part with its founder D.L. Moody's legacy pieces.

The Moody pieces on the main campus, his birthplace, the family home, and the burial site, were third on the town's list.

Mount Grace Executive Director Leigh Youngblood said the town Transition Committee needed to prepare itself for an opportunity by listing the conservation values of each area - "What is it (the town) trying to protect? … It's hard to come up with the best way (to preserve open space) without knowing what you are trying to protect."

Transition Committee Chairman John Spanbauer asked Lebo if someone from the school would be interested in talking with the town about acquiring some property, for instance the Schell Pond area.

"Sure we can talk," said Lebo sitting forward in her chair, to chuckles from the committee.

Spanbauer continued that in the past the town had been interested in what the school could give it, now, however, the town is interested in purchasing some property.

The land Spanbauer was referring to is remembered by longtime residents as the Northfield Inn swimming hole, explained resident Ed Finch. That land with the golf course and the Mill River area bounded by Main Street would be valuable to the town, said Spanbauer, who asked if the committee could meet again with School Headmaster Tom Sturtevant, Lebo "and talk."

Among the possibilities for funding purchases, committee member Nathan Tufts suggested a limited liability corporation in which town residents could purchase shares to raise money, also proposed were grants, especially with the help from Mount Grace.

For its part, Mount Grace said it would serve in an advisory role during the early part of the discussions.

Lebo, who stressed that NMH was at least a year from deciding the fate of any of its off campus land, said the school was interested in working with the town as it inventoried what was actually on the open land.

The committee, which includes all three selectmen, decided to work with interested members of the Open Space Committee to follow the Mount Grace guidelines in listing what's on the land, and setting priorities for the town to consider in approaching the school.

You can reach Janet Bond at: jbond@recorder.com or (413) 772-0261 Ext.263.

Top of Page