Menke’ s farm with Farrs / Pleasant farm and Sugarloaf Mountain in the distance.
Open Space Land Preservation in Barnesville: An Act of Civic Generosity
By Tom Hoffmann
John and Meg Menke, longtime landowners in Barnesville, and stalwarts of that remarkably cohesive community in the heart of the Ag Reserve, recently made an extraordinarily magnanimous decision. They put a permanent conservation easement on their 19-acre farm in Barnesville. The farm has been in the Menke family since 1950. How and why it has been preserved permanently as open space and farmland is a story that may inspire others who share the Menke’ s passion to protect the Ag Reserve.
John’ s parents, Dorothy and George Menke, acquired the farm in 1950 from the local Garvey family who had built the house in 1935. The Menkes moved the family to Barnesville from a farm in Kensington and added parcels of land until they had accumulated the presentday farm of 19 acres. John and Meg were married in 1991, and gradually acquired full ownership of the farm by purchasing the interests of
John’ s siblings. The land is crisscrossed with streams and trails. Long-timers in the Ag Reserve would surely debate whether there is a lovelier spot for country repose.
John and Meg recently retired to a historic home in Frederick. Their heirs have shown no interest in living on the farm, so it is on the market to be sold. Before the Menkes would be willing to sell, however, they decided to make sure no future owner could resell the land for residential development. This was a particularly generous decision to benefit the community, because building lots within the town limits of Barnesville only require four acres, not the 25 acres required in the surrounding Ag Reserve. In other words, they decided to give up, for no cash compensation, the value of three potential building lots( four acres each) right on the edge of Barnesville. Years from now, future citizens of Barnesville will marvel at the Menke’ s gift to posterity.
The town of Barnesville has
its own zoning rules, separate from the RDT( rural density transfer) zone that makes up the Ag Reserve. This poses a particular challenge for anybody who would preserve undeveloped farmland inside Barnesville, because most preservation easement programs look to protect land parcels no smaller than 25 acres. As explained in“ Saving the Land: A Fragile Balance, How Preservation Programs Protect the Ag Reserve”( PLENTY Summer 2024 issue), there are seven State and County programs that purchase or accept gifts of conservation easements on farmland. All the programs, with one exception, focus on saving large parcels, due to limited resources, and the time and documentation required to create an easement on a property.
Preserving the Menke Farm
In the early summer of 2025, the Menkes approached the Sugarloaf
The Menke farmhouse on Route 109, built in 1930. plenty I spring 2026 29