Stories from our landowners
MacCornack-Evelyn Forest
“Our parents believed in giving back.
-Martha (MacCornack) Evelyn”
ACT received a remarkably generous donation of 95 acres from Sugar Hill residents Doug and Martha (MacCornack) Evelyn, and Frederick MacCornack of Wachon Island, Washington, Martha's brother.
The MacCornack family has ties to the area dating to the 18th century. Martha and Rick’s paternal grandparents had owned land on Post Road since the 1920s, and in 1946, their mother, Eleanor MacCornack, bought 120 adjacent acres from farmer Harold Smith. Ellie MacCornack, her husband Don, and their children lived in the Smith farmhouse during the summers. Martha and Rick fondly remember “golden summers” spent in Sugar Hill. Martha is very pleased that her own children also had the opportunity to spend summers here, and that her grandchildren are now frequent visitors.
“Our parents believed in giving back,” say Martha and Rick. “They wanted to see the land maintained as it was and not built up,” Martha says of her parents. “They were opposed to selling it for gain. By donating it, we are completing their wishes. And we also look at it as our legacy for the future.”
Doug now serves on the ACT board of directors.
Three generations of MacCornacks and Evelyns.
Bronson Hill Conservation Area
“The long family connection and our appreciation of the special nature of the place made us want to keep it as it is for future generations to enjoy.
-Rufus Perkins”
Bronson Hill is a much loved part of the landscape of Sugar Hill, N.H. The open fields and undeveloped ridge line is a prominent view from Main Street, the town hall, and the community house. In several surveys about the future of town, Sugar Hill residents named this land as an important scenic value that ideally would be conserved.
Rufus Perkins, his brother Jim, and their sister Louisa Porter donated a conservation easement on their 136 acres to ACT in August, 2009.
The family’s willingness to permanently protect the outstanding scenic hillside – as well as allow public enjoyment of it – stands as a testament of their commitment to ACT, its values, and to the community.
The siblings trace their love of the area to their great grandfather’s arrival in Sugar Hill in 1885. “We spent many summers as children and all seasons as adults either on Sunset or Bronson Hill,” Rufus says. “The long family connection and our appreciation of the special nature of the place made us want to keep it as it is for future generations to enjoy.”
