Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust and Trustees of Reservations, Slocum’s River Reserve Oral History Project interviews

Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust is a non-profit land trust founded in 1971 to preserve and protect wildlife habitats, farmlands, historic sites, and open spaces in Dartmouth through land acquisition, public awareness, and responsible land stewardship for present and future generations. In 1971 a few Dartmouth residents banded together to try to purchase and protect the 150-acre Star of the Sea property at the head of Apponagansett Bay. Although they made an offer and put a down payment on the property, the property owner sold the property to a developer without notifying the Dartmouth group. Although the initial conservation effort failed, the loss of Star of the Sea galvanized public opinion and led directly to the incorporation of the Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust. The first land donation, in 1972, to DNRT was 19 acres of saltwater marshland on the west bank of the Slocum River by Carl and Phyllis Grosswendt, now called the Grosswendt Reserve. The first conservation restriction was 40 acres adjacent to the Little River, given by William and Louise Pinney. In 1983 DNRT acquired the 140-acre Smith Farm on Smith Neck Road. In 1999 DNRT received a donation of 104 acres along the Shingle Island River, and closed on the 296-acre Destruction Brook Woods, completing Phase Three of the $8 million, 1,053-acre, “Slocums River Conservation Project.”