145 Acres of Agricultural Heritage Protected Forever
Texas Land Conservancy is proud to announce the addition of the Ellis County Rural Heritage Farm as the latest completed conservation project at the end of a busy year. Through a conservation easement with TLC, landowner Lu Ann Aday has ensured that this historic farm will continue to allow for discovery of the natural world. Visitors and students will find a place in Ellis County untouchable to encroaching development and rich with lessons from the past.
“We know that we won’t be here forever, but this conservation easement means that we have a partner in protecting the land in perpetuity. Now we can focus on bolstering the infrastructure of the farm, so it remains a place of learning and reflects our cultural heritage for generations to come.” – Lu Ann Aday
Ellis County Rural Heritage Farm has been in the Aday family since 1963; this 145-acre property is a remnant of the family’s larger 460-acre farm. In the early 1990s, around 315 acres were appropriated for the Superconducting Super Collider Project, a particle accelerator complex that was set to be the world’s largest and most energetic. The project never panned out, but the land was severed from the family farm, nonetheless. The protection by TLC will ensure the current 145 acres will remain whole and intact forever.
Ellis County Rural Heritage Farm Inc. is now set up as a 501c3 non-profit, and its operations allow visitors to experience and celebrate the living history of late 19th and early 20th century family farms. They host an annual Farm Heritage Day and a Prairie Heritage Day in partnership with the Indian Trail Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalists. Lu Ann enjoys seeing students, scouts, and families from the community come to learn about life on a working farm. In the same pasture where her father taught her to drive the tractor, children come to see corn shellers, cotton gins and try their hand at the butter churn. The working farm and native prairie areas are also open by appointment for organized public and school tours, educational and living history programs, and gardening or native prairie demonstration projects. Lu Ann emphasizes “Children come out there and get wide-eyed; they just enjoy it. We’ve made it accessible to families, and we don’t charge for our events. What’s important is emphasizing families and children, making it accessible”. A conservation easement on the land ensures that generations of students will visit the same landscape and witness land management practices across time.
Lu Ann’s future plans revolve around improving the physical infrastructure of the farm. The property includes a restored 1913 farmhouse that has been designated by the Texas Historical Commission as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. In addition to continued work on the farmhouse, Ellis County Rural Heritage Farm has plans to restore the original chicken shack and one of the barns on the property. Lu Ann says “We know that we won’t be here forever, but this conservation easement means that we have a partner in protecting the land in perpetuity. Now we can focus on bolstering the infrastructure of the farm, so it remains a place of learning and reflects our cultural heritage for generations to come.”
In addition to agricultural heritage, the protection of this property ensures that critical wildlife habitat and water resources will be safeguarded. Ellis County Rural Heritage Farm is located in the Northern Blackland Prairie, a temperate grassland ecoregion contained wholly in Texas, running from the Red River in North Texas to San Antonio in the south. {Less than 1% of Blackland Prairie remains, the most endangered ecosystem in North America}. Many native plants can still be found on the property. Lu Ann is working on prairie restoration with our partners at Native Prairies Association of Texas, and the farm recently received a wildflower seed grant from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Other vegetation on the property includes deciduous bottomland woodlands along a creek that runs through the property. This creek is a tributary of the South Prong Creek, which feeds into Lake Waxahachie, and is part of the Trinity River watershed, a priority watershed for TLC.
“Development is coming, there’s no doubt about that – but now we have a tool to protect this land forever.” – Lu Ann Aday
The conversion of natural areas to urban and suburban uses is the fastest growing threat to the nation’s wildlife, plant communities, and open spaces. With 95% of the land in Texas owned by private landowners, it is important that we continue to protect properties like this one in Ellis County, where development pressure from the nearby Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex is rapidly creating fragmentation and negative impacts on our ecosystems. Lu Ann sees development happening all around her property. “I wanted some land to be protected for wildlife, wildflowers, and future generations,” she tells us. “Development is coming, there’s no doubt about that – but now we have a tool to protect this land forever.”
TLC is thrilled to be a part of this conservation success. Protecting land in Ellis County and investing in the rich local history there ensures future generations will be able to learn values from our past to implement in their future. We believe in protecting our land and conserving our natural heritage not just today but forever. Thank you to landowners across the state, like those at Ellis County Rural Heritage Farm, that have committed to conserving the natural legacy that makes Texas so special.
More about Ellis County Rural Heritage Farm Inc.
More about how Texas Land Conservancy protects open space, wildlife habitat, and land for agriculture.
