Martha Thompson donates family land
in memory of her husband
1.27 acres in Marstons Mills
William Thompson was a quintessential Cape Codder. He was born at Cape Cod Hospital and grew up in Marstons Mills. “Bill spent most of his life on Cape Cod,” said his wife Martha,
“until he went over the bridge to go to college.” And not just any college. Bill went to MIT. “He was proud of being a graduate of Barnstable High School,” Martha added. “Whenever someone asked him where he was from, he would bend his arm, point to the middle of his bicep and say, ‘Right here on Cape Cod.’”
Although Bill’s career as a professor at Penn State took them away from the Cape, as soon as classes ended the couple and their four kids returned to his family home on Old Falmouth Road. They stayed here until Labor Day. The now adult children – and a total of nine grandkids – live in other states, the next generation has sand in their toes as well.
Martha shares this recent story. “My granddaughter [who lives in Michigan] is graduating from high school. When they asked where she wanted her high school photograph taken, she said Sandy Neck. The love of Cape Cod runs deep.”
Bill passed away five years ago and Martha has continued the tradition of summering in Marstons Mills. In her husband’s memory, she decided to donate this 1.27-acre parcel of land south of the couple’s home.
“I know this is what he would want to do,” Martha said, speaking from her home in State College, PA. “Bill joined BLT [in 1988] because he was concerned about development. We were particularly discouraged by all the growth we saw. And we wanted to do what we could to help save the land.”
The Thompson property is located off Old Falmouth Road, just east of the Ellen McBarron Recreational Facility, and is accessible via Heather Lane. Because it falls within a Groundwater Protection District, preserving this parcel from development will help protect the C-O-MM wellfields at Weathervane Pond. The scenic parcel features dense woodlands, white pines, oaks, American Holly and Mountain Laurel, as well as delicate springtime Lady Slippers.
We are most grateful to the Thompson family. With this donation BLT is now the steward of 985 acres in the Town of Barnstable, moving even closer to the 1000-acre LANDMark.