To truly know the land is to love it.

Arthur Sweeton III was 6 years old when he moved to Canton in 1919. His father had just bought a farm here, and relocating his Holsteins from Vermont was a memorable affair. “He came down in a railroad car containing his cows and hay, from Brattleboro to the Cherry Brook stop on the railway. He had to drive the cows up Cherry Brook Road, to what is now West Road.

“My father bought the farm for $5,000 or something like that.”

Growing up on this land, Art learned to appreciate its real value.  By day he explored it; by night he camped out on it. These experiences influenced him, he said, to see that the land ended up in the care of the Canton Land Conservation Trust. “I had come to think that this would be the highest and best use of this land, to make it permanently available for the enjoyment of others.”

Art and wife Eunice have also donated land to the Barkhamsted Land Trust, 40 acres that he inherited from grandfather Frederick G. Humphrey. He recalls how he loved hiking that property with his grandfather, “in his effort to find the boundaries of the 40-acre woodlot he had bought on Ratlum Mountain.”

But he went beyond simply donating land he had inherited. Art and Eunice bought two Canton parcels, contiguous to the Barkhamsted property, for the sole purpose of donating them to the Canton Land Conservation Trust. Which they did. These are the Lavandar Road and Higley Road parcels.

And he did still more:  he donated a small but beautiful and historic lot on West Road called the Twin Bridges parcel. Alongside of Cherry Brook, between the twin bridges, this half-acre contains the remains of a dam that once powered a saw mill.

Most recently, in 2005, Art and his family sold (for what then-Trust President Betty Stanley termed a “more than generous” price) the Trust the 43 acres on Bunker Hill Road that was the family farm’s pasture until the 1950s. A state open space grant enabled the purchase.

Selling the farm for profit never crossed Art’s mind. (Not a surprise, considering this is someone who actually bought land to donate for preservation.) “I thought it was a worthy effort to give it to the Land Trust,” he said matter-of-factly. He now lives in what was his grandfather’s house on about three acres.

Donating land to the Trust wasn’t enough to satisfy Art’s passion for preserving what he could of Canton’s historical rural character. He became a Land Trust member, then director, then treasurer. He used his civil engineer’s skills to survey and map parcels. He helped create and maintain trails. The Trust has named him a Director Emeritus. No wonder.

You are invited to celebrate the Canton Land Conservation Trust’s 40th Anniversary on Sat., Sept. 29. From 10-3 there will be free activities for all ages (including expert-led hikes and much more) at Mary Conklin Sanctuary, Indian Hill Road. At 6:30 p.m. is an informal Harvest Moon Dinner and Dance at Ski Sundown. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 after Sept. 26. Purchase tickets and get more information at www.cantonlandtrust.org.