Providence, a ca. 1800-1815 historic home on 125 acres in Cobbs Creek, has been placed under a conservation easement with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation.
Owner Jim McKinnon of Cobbs Creek and Princeton, New Jersey, said the property, located on the Piankatank River, will now be protected in perpetuity against development, including not just housing developments but solar farms and other intensive uses, as well. He said that after seeing the massive solar farms that have been established in neighboring localities, he was more concerned about them than about housing development in Mathews.
“I would hate to see this beautiful piece of property filled with solar collectors,” he said. “The only way to control that it is to put it in a perpetual conservation easement so it’s that way forever.”
McKinnon said he and his late wife Marthe purchased Providence in 2000, nearly 25 years ago, and she loved it “and never wanted to see it developed.” After she passed away two years ago, he decided t...