GLOUCESTER COUNTY, Va. (WAVY) — On the Middle Peninsula, a small plot of land in the Guinea area will now officially be the home of birds, frogs and turtles.
Seven acres in the Gloucester County known as the Powers-King Nature Area are now a part of the Middle Peninsula Chesapeake Bay Public Access Authority.
Jane Skaare and her siblings donated the land they had inherited in memory of their grandmother, Etta Sterling Powers.
News of the donation and preservation comes as a relief to those who know its history, like Hamilton Williams of the Guinea Heritage Association.
“History, Guinea history, is just amazing to me,” Williams said.
The Powers-King Nature Area is named for the first documented owner, Isaac H. King and his wife, Sarah King. They left the land to their granddaughter, Etta Sterling Powers, who passed it on to her only daughter, Jane Skaare’s mother.
Skaare said she contacted Williams about donating the land since she and her siblings no longer live in the region and the land wasn’t buildable.
Williams connected her with the Middle Peninsula Chesapeake Bay Public Access Authority, who will now preserve and maintain the land.
“It’s going to become a permanent nature conservancy,” Williams said. “People are going to use the land for bird watching and nature watching, and it will just be great.”
The land will also be a natural buffer against flooding during severe weather, according to the Middle Peninsula Chesapeake Bay Public Access Authority.
The donation also frees Skaare and her siblings of annual tax bills, an incentive Williams hopes will encourage others to donate their inherited land.
