Land Trust Receives donation expanding Barbour Woods

by June Peterson

Barbour Woods, the centerpiece of the Norfolk Land Trust’s fee properties just got larger, thanks to a land donation from Alison B. Fox. The donation of 42 acres, located on the eastern side of Lovers Lane means that Barbour Woods has now expanded from 200 acres of protected forestland to 242 acres. The new property will be known as Barbour Woods East.   Barbour Woods East abuts the land trust property known as Spring Hill, making it one contiguous parcel of protected forestland.  The property contains some old growth trees, important to wildlife and flora.  A rough trail does exist through the parcel, which the land trust hopes to blaze and improve in the near future. 

“The Norfolk Land Trust is extraordinarily grateful for the generosity of Alison,” says Libby Borden, Land Trust president said. “We are thrilled to add this piece of property to Barbour Woods.” 

What is now known as Barbour Woods belonged to Frederick Shepard, Fox’s father, in the 1900s. He built Beech Hill Road through Barbour Woods for the enjoyment of his family and then opened it to the public.  Fox gave Barbour Woods to the Norfolk Land Trust in 1998. 

The latest donation by Fox is “up the road” heading north from the Barbour Woods trailhead entrance on Lovers Lane.  Fox said she believed that her father originally purchased the 42-acre parcel from the late John Curtiss. 

For Fox, the donation is the culmination of a lifetime of enjoying Norfolk and its natural beauty, especially the Lovers Lane area where she grew up.  “I want to protect as much land as I can,” she said from her Norfolk home.