The Adirondack Land Trust has announced that it closed on the purchase of Glenview Farm, a 238-acre property in Harrietstown, Franklin County.

The property is known for its views of Whiteface Mountain, the McKenzie Range and High Peaks Wilderness. It borders a ¼-mile stretch of State Route 86 between Saranac Lake and Paul Smiths just beyond Donnelly’s farm and extends to Twobridge Brook and Bloomingdale Bog, considered the third largest boreal peatland in New York.

A draft Harrietstown plan and the Adirondack Park Agency have designated this as a view worth protecting.

“Glenview is one of those extraordinary vistas one can enjoy without even hiking to the top of a mountain. We are delighted to be in a position to keep it that way,” Meredith Prime, board chair of Adirondack Land Trust, said in a statement to the press.

Howard Riley, a town councilman and neighbor born in a nearby farmhouse 86 years ago supports protection of the view and remembers cars parked along the road photographing the view.

The Adirondack Land Trust says it expects to own and manage the property for the long-term. The roadside field at the top of the sloping property was historically used for agriculture and grazing. The Land Trust is expected to develop a management plan that will take into account scenic, agricultural, forest and freshwater conservation values and evaluate potential for future public access. (The Trust statement says this transaction does not affect pre-existing water rights held by adjacent landowners to a spring on the property.)

“The names on the deed have changed, but the property will pretty much stay the same as we take time to develop a management plan,” according to Michael Carr, new executive director of the Adirondack Land Trust.

For more information on the Adirondack Land Trust, visit their website.

Photo: Sunrise at Glenview vista in Harrietstown, courtesy John DiGiacomo.