​As Women’s History Month draws to a close, we remember three Easton women who were very involved in preserving green space for our community, in particular, Wheaton Farm and Sheep Pasture.

​The first Conservation Commission was established in 1962, and many citizens are to be applauded for their hard work in this area. Three women deserve special notice. Ginny Reusch and Lyn White first became involved in the Wheaton Farm Project, the fight to save Wheaton Farm and establish it as a public nature reserve, in 1966. At the time the farm was owned by a speculative land trust and was up for sale. The project began after 1965 when Clifford Grant, Conservation Committee member, convinced the other board members “to undertake the project, because of the beauty of the land, the abundant wildlife, and its unspoiled natural and historic value.” (Easton Town Report, 1967) At town meeting in March of 1966 it was unanimously voted to purchase Wheaton Farm. A special town meeting was held in October to pass an article that would allow Easton to comply with regulations necessary. After a quorum failed to be met, Virginia Reusch and Lyn White agreed to help the campaign by creating a committee of private citizens who would conduct fundraising. They began giving tours of Wheaton Farm and after only the first tour had pledges totaling $15,000. Legal problems arose and were eventually resolved. Letters were written, brochures were mailed, local publicity was sought, civic organizations donated, and young people’s groups contributed. After a difficult fight, they succeeded. Wheaton Farm, then numbering 278 acres, was acquired. The taxpayers of Easton paid ¼ the cost, the state paid ½, and ¼ was raised privately by the Citizens Committee for Wheaton Farm. Today Wheaton Farm has grown to over 1200 acres as more land has been acquired. This movement began with the Wheaton Farm Project. As stated on the Conservation Commission website today, “Beginning with a small group of citizens who recognized the importance of preserving open space and forested areas, the Town acquired approximately 250 acres of land in an area called Wheaton Farm. The town has annually increased its conservation land holdings to over 3,000 acres, including 1,000 acres around the original acquisition.” 

​One of the large donations to the project came from Mrs. Elise Ames Parker and her husband William, who became friendly with Lyn White and Ginny Reusch with whom they shared a love of nature and conservation. The Wheaton Farm project had led to the formation of the Natural Resources Trust of Easton. The Natural Resources Trust was created as a non-profit in 1967 and owns and manages various conservation properties throughout Easton. The core of the land administered by the NRT is Sheep Pasture. Beginning in 1973 Elise Ames Parker allowed her former residence, known as Sheep Pasture, to be used by the organization as a classroom for environmental programs and the study of nature. That year public school children began using Sheep Pasture as an outdoor classroom. This tradition continues today and all elementary school children in Easton visit and enjoy special programs. Through Mrs. Parker’s generous bequest, in 1979 Sheep Pasture was permanently given to the NRT. An additional 40 acres were added 20 years later, purchased from Mrs. Parker’s grandson, completing the 154 acres outdoor classroom. 

It began when friends Ginny Reusch and Lynn White asked Mrs. Parker to give the young NRT a conservation restriction along the brook that flows through Sheep Pasture here and she agreed. Although Mrs. Parker lived at Unity Close, she kept her eye on Sheep Pasture, where she had grown up. Her family home was built in 1891 by her father Oliver Ames II and though it was torn down in 1946 Elise Ames Parker had fond memories of growing up there. When asked by the two women if Sheep Pasture could be an environmental research center she agreed. Eventually Both women volunteered to get the program up and running and in 1978 Ginny Reusch became the first paid executive director of the NRT.  “Elise Ames Parker (1892-1979) is responsible for the NRT's ownership of the iconic Sheep Pasture property. The support of Mrs. Parker and her family have not only provided the NRT with a physical location for the organization to focus on its operations and programs but also saved many acres of land from development in the Easton area. In recognition of Mrs. Parker's commitment to the environment and the community, the NRT developed the Elise Ames Parker Friend of Conservation Award in her memory.

​Three amazing women.
 
Anne Wooster Drury

​An Easton woman you may not know of- Fidelia Reed Heard (August 13, 1822 – February 22, 1895) travelled to Antarctica with her husband on her honeymoon and in the process learned to read maritime measurements. She and her husband, Captain John Jay Heard, were the first to spot Heard Island, an Antarctic Island, and she was the first to describe it in writing and the first to sketch it. The island’s isthmus is named Fidelia isthmus after her. Fidelia’s journal was a key source in documenting the discovery in 1853. The research material she compiled on the voyage is still referenced by scholars. Fidelia was Olive Reed’s granddaughter. Fidelia was the daughter of Olive’s son Daniel Reed and Sally Wild Reed.

​The first written description from Fidelia Heard’s journal:

"At 10 o'clock the Captain was walking on deck and saw what he supposed to be an immense iceberg. … the atmosphere was hazy, and then a heavy snow squall came up which shut it out entirely from our view. Not long after the sun shone again, and I went up again and with the glass, tried to get an outline of it to sketch its form. The sun seemed so dazzling on the water, and the tops of the apparent icebergs covered with snow; the outline was very indistinct. We were all the time nearing the object and on looking again the Captain pronounced it to be land. The Island is not laid down on the chart, neither is it in the Epitome, so we are perhaps the discoverers, … I think it must be a twin to Desolation Island, it is certainly a frigid looking place."

After her husband died in 1862 Fidelia turned to teaching to support herself and her 2 children. She ran a kindergarten in Concord Hall in Concord and in 1895 the Boston Evening Transcript called her a “pioneer” of the kindergarten movement. A strong Easton woman. In honor of Women’s History Month.

Come to our Open House on Sunday, March 22nd to learn about more strong Easton women!
 
Anne Wooster Drury