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West Virginia Success StoryKeeping their Beloved FarmProgram or Category: Farm & Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP) Overview: There is a 120 acre farm that you can see from Knott Road outside of Shepherdstown. The lane is gravel and there are several fields of planted evergreens. Some are ready for sale this holiday season that now is upon us. It is a neat and orderly place, reflecting the care that Richard and Frances Latterell have given this property for many years. To know them is to understand their love for the land and the special values it represents for Jefferson County. Dick was teaching in the Biology Department at Shepherd College and Frances was employed as a plant pathologist at Fort Detrick Maryland in 1972. The commute from Frederick, Maryland seemed too much for Dick so they looked for and found their farmland near Shepherdstown. It was suitable for the crops and the pet animals they wanted to keep. A cave on the land was a popular destination for the public for many years until the traffic and liability concerns forced the Laterells to close it. Frances says,” We bought the place because of the land and its location and found out afterwards the old farmhouse didn’t have a bathroom”. Being vegetarians, Dick and Frances settled on Christmas trees, some row crops and hay as the choices for cultivation of their land. Accomplishments: The Latterells have granted a conservation easement on their 120 acre farm to the Jefferson County Farmland Protection Board and the Land Trust of the Eastern Panhandle. The easement was financed by $275,000 grant from the Jefferson Board and $150,000 obtained by the Land Trust from the US Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service Farm and Ranchland Protection Program. Program Benefits to Landowner: The appraised value of the easement was $599,000, which meant the Latterells donated the remaining value of $174,000 as a charitable gift to the Land Trust and the Farmland Board. That gift translates into a sizeable tax deduction for the Latterells, but that’s not the end of the story. Program Benefits to Community: As Dick tells it,” Productive farmland is a capital asset for us and for the county. We may not have children, but we still must protect the capital asset for those who come after us”. True to their beliefs, Dick and Frances are carrying out a plan for the future that will capitalize on the proceeds from the conservation easement. Already they have made substantial donations to national organizations that reflect their concerns for protecting the scenic, natural, environmental and historic resources of the nation. At the local level Dick continues his leadership role with the Jefferson County Watersheds Coalition. Frances supports the Jefferson County Animal Welfare Society and both are life members and contributors to a long list of non-profit organizations. By leveraging the public money they have received, Dick and Frances get to keep their beloved farm and increase many times over the support they give to causes that benefit the general public now and in the future Contact: Philippi-East
Area Office
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