On December 19, 2024, Arline and John Greenlee gifted to the Trust, and to the present and future people of this area, 37 acres of forests and wetlands bordering Hay Brook, a headwater of Mousam River. This area has been of special interest to the state because the protection of river headwaters is a very high priority. The Greenlee Environmental Reserve sits across Route 4 from about 200 acres of other Trust properties: The Haybrook Reserve and the Libby Cedar Reserve. A man-made fishing pond sits in this property, which abuts Grammar Road.
This area was an important facet of Sanford’s historic past textile manufacturing industry — the Goodall family’s Sanford Mills — the textile machine that essentially caused the formation of the Town of Sanford, to which folks from the region migrated for employment. The Sanford Mills, houses, schools, libraries, and a hospital were built, some using bricks made from the clay soil found in the Greenlee area, land which was once owned by Sanford Mills.
The Greenlees have joined other preservation-minded families and businesses who have donated land to the MWLT to oversee. The Greenlee Reserve will be an environmental preserve where plants, animals, land, and water will be left undisturbed.
