RIVER LEA FARM

Housatonic River Agricultural & Ecological Corridor
River Lea Farm

Since Sheffield was first settled in the 1700s, farmers have prized the rich “bottom land” along the Housatonic River, and Sheffield currently has more farms than any other town in the Berkshires. Since it was founded in 1989, the Sheffield Land Trust has sought to protect farms and wildlife habitat along the river, in what we call the Housatonic River Agricultural and Ecological Corridor.

Most recently, the Land Trust helped the Brunnschweiler and Aragi families protect River Lea farm on Boardman Street, just north and south of Covered Bridge Lane. The farm is 306 acres. Other farms along the river that the Land Trust had helped families to protect include the Larkin Dairy Farm, the Corn Crib (now Tom Whalen’s tree nursery), Balsam Hill Farm, Wolfe Spring Farm, the former Cavalier property that’s now part of Pine Island Farm, Egerton Family Farm, and Howden Farm - more than 1,000 acres altogether.

SLT helped coordinate the Massachusetts Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) program’s purchase of the development rights on River Lea Farm from the Brunnschweilers. At the same time, the Aragi family of Pine Island Farm purchased the protected farmland along with the farmhouse. The additional fields and cropland help support Pine Island’s dairy operation, the largest in Massachusetts. The farmhouse was converted to a two-family residence for use by farm workers.