Little Duarte Pond Preserve

Another choice parcel on the Cross Town Trail.

From the Land Bank’s description: The Commonwealth offers farmers a preferential tax assessment, in order to prevent local taxes from undermining farm businesses. Several conditions apply, one of which is that the local town enjoys a right-of-first-refusal should any of this land ever be marketed for a non-agricultural purpose. When these four acres abutting this pond were contracted for sale as a house lot, the Oak Bluffs and Tisbury selectmen assigned their purchase rights to the Land Bank; Little Duarte’s Pond Preserve resulted. It fits neatly into the Island’s Cross-Tisbury trail.