Georgetown’s Wheeler Brook Farm
To preserve the land we love as a farm ... that is the legacy we want to leave to the next generation.
~The late Bob Morehouse
Bob and Barbara Morehouse spent more than 40 years growing Wheeler Brook Farm in Georgetown into a favorite destination where locals could pick berries and buy vegetables from the honor-system farm stand.
Declining health meant the Morehouses could no longer run the farm, prompting them to meet with Greenbelt to explore conservation options. They wanted to make sure it stayed a farm, but they also needed retirement income and to leave their children a meaningful inheritance.
Despite offers from developers, they held firm to the hope that they could find a way to keep their land a working farm.
An appraisal determined that the farm could be subdivided into four house lots.
Bob and Barb did not want that to happen, but they needed some compensation for giving up these development rights. Greenbelt suggested that the Morehouses grant a CR that would eliminate non-agricultural development rights, but include the flexibility for the farm to expand and prosper into the future. Greenbelt would buy the CR for less than its fair market value, a “charitable sale”, allowing the Morehouses to qualify for federal and state tax benefits in addition to income from the sale. In the end, the Morehouses were able to remove a significant amount of value from their estate, which helps their heirs avoid estate taxes. Further, with the development rights removed, the land will be more affordable for a future farmer to buy.
