Friends of Historic Glasgow (Delaware)

Where Green Trees, Not Greenbacks, Flourish (6/21/97)

News Journal article

by Robin Brown, staff reporter, Saturday, 6/21/1997, pg. B-3.

Anne Barczewski resists developers' offers and wins the state's Tree Farmer of the Year Award

Glasgow, DE - A strong-willed 87-year-old widow, who owns the last farm in the commercial heart of Glasgow, was honored Friday as Delaware's Tree Farmer of the Year.

Anne Barczewski, who has refused developers' offers to buy her land, blushed as forestry and conservation leaders praised her stewardship of the rich 240 acres off busy U.S. 40.

"A little bit of paradise in all the development," said State Forester Austin Short.

Barczewski said there's been decades-long flow of developers bearing sizable financial offers, some with seven zeros. "I used to be polite and say we weren't interested. When they keep offering more money now, I just say 'No way.'"

She and her late husband, Steven, bought the historic home of Glasgow's early physician Dr. Samuel Henry Black in 1942.

The couple, both raised on farms, operated a huge dairy, restored the stately house and raised their children here. The family kept the place going after Steven Barczewski died in 1958.

About five years ago, Anne and her son, George, a 59-year-old graphic artist, realized that the farm's more than 100 acres of trees were mature and soon could be lost to age or harsh weather. With the help they sought from the US Department of Agriculture's local National Resources Conservation Service, the Barczewskis designed and started a long-term tree management plan.

"They've done a beautiful job," said New Castle County forester Dot Abbott-Donnelly as she walked by a giant chestnut. Only the background sound of traffic gave any clue that the tree-lined farm lane leads out to New Castle County's fastest-growing and most-developed area.

Steve Ditmer, who chairs the Delaware Tree Farm Committee and presented Anne Barczewski a carved wooden plaque and gift set of chain saw safety gear, said Friday that the managed harvesting maintains a natural woodland setting.

A tour of the property, with trees nearly 100 feet tall, proved Ditmer's point.

The hardwoods are sent as far away as Italy and Saudi Arabia.

Walking with the group of officials and guests touring the farm, Barczewski's daughter Joanne Lewis, 64, a farmer in New London (PA) Township, recalled how, during World War II, German prisoners were sent to the farm to help harvest corn.

She recalled riding her horse through the woods, a switch of walnut tucked into its bridle to ward off deer flies.

George Barczewski said his love for the idyllic setting of his childhood grew into adult determination to help his mother preserve the place.

"This isn't someplace you could put back once it was gone," he said.

His mother last year was honored with a prestigious preservation award from the New Castle County Historic Review Board.

Friday, as she had told the preservation advocates, she vowed, "If it was my last word, my last breath, I'd say 'no' to a developer."

The family said it hopes to preserve the trees and property in perpetuity.