Lehew farm will remain Green

LeHew farm becomes latest to be protected
The Tennessean• June 4, 2008
FRANKLIN — A secluded 233-acre farm off Southall Road will remain pastoral thanks to the donation of a conservation easement to The Land Trust for Tennessee by its owners.
Farm owner Calvin LeHew, who also owns The Factory at Franklin, said he donated the easement in late 2007 in order to keep the land on Blazer Road from being developed.
Named Southall Valley Farm by LeHew's wife, Marilyn, the farm spreads over four valleys that intersect at a fifth. LeHew described the property as being shaped like a hand.
"It's totally secluded," he said. "You can't see a single neighborhood from the valley."
The LeHews hope that their private farm one day might become a public park.
Now that the donation has been finalized, the land can't be developed or subdivided, said May Leinhart, Natchez Trace Quarter coordinator for the land trust.
"It's amazing to have open space protected in such a rapidly developing area," Leinhart said.
The LeHews' donation marks the latest by a Williamson County land-owner to the land trust. Thirty-seven conservation easements in the county have been donated to the trust since 1999. Twelve donations were made last year alone. All told, more than 4,500 acres of land in Williamson County have been protected.
LeHew says the mind-set of residents contributes to the awareness of preservation.
"It's a higher consciousness," he said. "Our folks that live here, I think, see the future and have a higher awareness of the needs of the community."
While ownership of the land can change hands, the land itself can never be developed because of the conservation easement.