Mary Jane Dexter property

The Dexter easement sits in a fabulous upland location near Zack Woods and Green River Reservoir State Park with broad views to the east. It straddles the Wolcott-Hyde Park town line with a recreational trail open to cross-country skiers and snowmobilers.

In 1952 and 1954 William G. Dexter purchased two parcels totaling 94 acres, comprising an old farm on West Hill Road in North Wolcott. Bill tended this land for almost 40 years, and upon his death in 1991, the property passed to his wife, Mary Jane. In 2010, MJ donated a conservation easement on the property to the Northern Rivers Land Trust.

The Dexter easement extends northwestwards toward Zack Woods, which is now part of the 5,174-acre Green River Reservoir State Park. About 80 percent of the Dexter land comprises soft- and hardwood forest, while the rest consists of upland and roadside fields. The upland field offers broad views of hills eastwards as far as Greensboro. Bruce Brook and extensive wetlands are also conserved in the easement.

Ms. Dexter allowed public access to her property via a perpetual easement granted to the Catamount Trail Association. Annually she allowed VAST members to operate snowmobiles on a trail partially overlapping with the Catamount trail. These easements continue under new ownership.

The Dexter easement provides an excellent example of how multiple owners continue a land protection agreement. Upon MJ’s death, Philip and Linda Cote acquired the property in 2021 and learned how to manage the conserved property with the help of the NRLT. It’s also a good example of how a parcel can change over time, particularly one with wetlands.

The easement subdivides the Dexter property into two parcels of approximately 60 and 34 acres. It provides for three two-acre house sites, beginning with the existing farmhouse residence and including a site in the roadside field at whose southern end is an old one-room schoolhouse. A third homestead site in the upland field allows for a small house. In accordance with the easement covenants, the Cotes petitioned to move this original two-acre house site farther from the expanding borders of a wetland to an upland location. In 2021 the NRLT approved the proposed site change requested by the new landowners to protect the wetland.