79 acres
conservation easement
2007

In 1803 Reuben Shumway, a Revolutionary War veteran of the Massachusetts Militia, settled in what would become Tuscarora Township, Bradford County. There he farmed, married, and when he died in 1827 was one of the first people to be buried in the Lyons Cemetery. Reuben Shumway’s descendents have continued to live in the area and own portions of his original property. One of those descendents, worked with NPC to forever protect some of the acres Reuben farmed.

The Shumway easement conserves 79 acres of an 82 acre property in Bradford County’s Wyalusing and Tuscarora townships (three acres were excluded from the easement for a future homesite). More than 58 acres of the cropland are on agricultural soils of statewide importance. Two township roads that pass through the protected property, coupled with its gentle terrain, would have made the land a prime target for developers. The few acres of woodland on the property are very diverse -- mixed oak, northern hardwoods and a small conifer plantation. Abutting the property is the historic Lyons Cemetery with the gravestones of Reuben Shumway, his wife Miriam, their son Cyrus and many other descendents.