Land for New Park In Concord Formally Approved
December, 2011 – Concord’s newest park, the Marjory Swope Park, moved several steps closer to reality today with the formal establishment of a conservation easement on the property off Long Pond Road. John Swope donated the easement to Five Rivers Conservation Trust and then donated the protected land to the City of Concord in memory of his wife, Marjory Swope, long time chair of Concord’s Conservation Commission.
At the same time, St. Paul’s School has agreed to allow trails on their abutting Jerry Hill property to tie into the Marjory Swope Park, as has the Hok family. Hikers will be able to walk to the top of Jerry Hill, and can extend their hike to include a several mile loop into the State Forest off District #5 Road, and City of Concord land behind Timberline Drive. Following the transaction, Jay Haines, the executive director of Five Rivers Conservation Trust, said, “The generosity of the Swope family in donating the land for the Marjory Swope Park and neighboring land owners; St. Paul School and the Hok family, makes possible a wonderful trail system on the west side of Concord.”
Becky Hebert, City Senior Planner and staff representative to the Concord Conservation Commission, expects the City will have completed the parking area for the Marjory Swope Park this coming spring, and is setting up a committee of volunteers from Five Rivers and the Concord Trail Meisters to lay out the Swope trails, with the aim of opening the park by early summer. Five Rivers Conservation Trust is a non-profit organization based out of their offices on Warren Street in Concord. For over twenty years they have worked to preserve and protect open space land in seventeen towns throughout central New Hampshire.
