This 200+ acre parcel was the first conservation easement that was donated to the Williamsburg Land Conservancy in September 1994. Then known as the Historic Rivers Land Conservancy, and only in existence for four years, the organization was unable to solely hold an easement. The land was protected in partnership with the James River Association and remains co-held today.

Situated on the James River, the property also includes lands designated as trails within the Governor’s Land subdivision. Visible from Holes 14 and 15 along the Two Rivers Golf Course, portions of the land contain a salt and freshwater marsh area and productive and valuable wildlife habitat that serve an important function in reducing erosion and enhancing water quality.

The property is part of Governor’s Land, an early 17th-century Virginia settlement. According to a publication on the land that was authored by Alain Charles Outlaw, the following was stated:

“On November 18, 1618, the Virginia Company issued instructions to Governor George Yeardley to set aside 3,000 acres of land ‘in the best and most convenient place of the territory of Jamestown in Virginia and next adjoin to the said town to be called the seat and land of the Governor of Virginia.’ The land, henceforth called the Governor’s Land, incorporated the ‘Lands formerly conquer’d or purchased of the Paspehies and of other grounds next adjoining’

“Tenants sent to Virginia by the Virginia Company to settle on the Governor’s Land and Company Land were to work the land and receive half the profits of their labor. The rest went, respectively, to the governor for the maintenance of his office and to the Company.”