Hali Plourde-Rogers
VES Land Trust is moving!
VES Land Trust is moving!
Hali Plourde-Rogers
Paint the Shore Connects Artists and Community ...

The Virginia Eastern Shore Land Trust (VESLT) held its biennial Paint the Shore event this fall. A group of 17 artists painted en plein air on conservation lands under easement with VESLT, culminating in a November reception and art exhibit. This fall Nandua Middle School Eighth Graders were also featured during Paint the Shore.

Paint the Shore Connects Artists and Community to Protected Lands
Mona Tyler
Sunset Cruise

Thank you to John and Harriet Malbon for a beautiful evening aboard their yacht celebrating 20 years of conservation on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. VES Land Trust was joined by the hosts and 40 guests for a Chesapeake Bay cruise from Kings Creek Marina.

Sunset Cruise
Hali Plourde-Rogers
Earl Frederick and Terry Thompson Preserve ...

In October of 2022, Earl Frederick and Terry Thompson donated a conservation easement on Rock Bottom Farm, 49 acres, to Virginia Eastern Shore Land Trust.

Earl Frederick and Terry Thompson Preserve Seaside Farm
Mona Tyler
Picture the Shore

The Virginia Eastern Shore Land Trust held the first Picture the Shore event this fall. Students from Nandua Middle School and Broadwater Academy participated with Amateur Photographers from the community. At the exhibit opening and reception held on November 4th, the audience awarded two photographers, one student and one amateur, with the People's Choice Award.

Picture the Shore

VES Land Trust is moving!

After 20 years in Belle Haven, VES Land Trust is moving their office to Onancock.

Last fall the office building we’ve called home for 20 years sold. The new owners, Shore Christian Academy, are remodeling the building to use as their school. While VES Land Trust considered staying but moving the office to another area of the same building, our office needs didn’t fit what was available. The Board considered several office spaces between Nassawadox and Onancock and found the best fit in Onancock.

We wish Shore Christian Academy the best opening their school.

We are excited about our new office and look forward to seeing you there!

Our physical address starting May 1st is 6 Crockett Ave., Onancock, Va. 23417

Paint the Shore Connects Artists and Community to Protected Lands

Paint the Shore Connects Artists and Community to Protected Lands

The Virginia Eastern Shore Land Trust (VESLT) held its biennial Paint the Shore event this fall. A group of 17 artists painted en plein air on conservation lands under easement with VESLT, culminating in a November reception and art exhibit. This fall Nandua Middle School Eighth Graders were also featured during Paint the Shore.

Sunset Cruise

Sunset Cruise

Thank you to John and Harriet Malbon for a beautiful evening aboard their yacht celebrating 20 years of conservation on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. VES Land Trust was joined by the hosts and 40 guests for a Chesapeake Bay cruise from Kings Creek Marina.

Picture the Shore

Picture the Shore

The Virginia Eastern Shore Land Trust held the first Picture the Shore event this fall. Students from Nandua Middle School and Broadwater Academy participated with Amateur Photographers from the community. At the exhibit opening and reception held on November 4th, the audience awarded two photographers, one student and one amateur, with the People's Choice Award.

Paint the Shore 2021

Paint the Shore 2021

The Virginia Eastern Shore Land Trust (VESLT) held its biennial Paint the Shore event this fall, and mixed it up by inviting student artists from Nandua Middle School to participate. A group of 13 artists spent the month of October painting en plein air on conservation lands under easement with VESLT, culminating in a November reception and art exhibit. See our photo gallery!

Board participates in Clean the Bay Day, welcomes new board members

To welcome new board members Robin Rinaca and Hank Badger, the VES Land Trust Board of Directors organized a cleanup challenge in partnership with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s (CBF) Clean the Bay Day. “The VES Land Trust Board is devoted to serving and conserving the Eastern Shore community and the health of its precious natural lands and waters,” said President of the Board Karen Terwilliger, “Because litter negatively impacts the resources we protect, participating in Clean the Bay Day is a natural fit.”

Keeping land in the family

Keeping land in the family

On November 17th, VES Land Trust, Black Family Land Trust, Piedmont Environmental Council, and Virginia United Land Trusts hosted Keeping Land in the Family, a webinar that reviewed what heirs’ property is, how you become an heir, what resources you and your family need to make the best decisions about your land, the basics of the new Uniform Partition of Heirs’ Property Act. A recording of the webinar and additional resources are available here.

VES Land Trust and SEAS help landowners combat eroding shorelines

VES Land Trust and SEAS help landowners combat eroding shorelines

All over the Eastern Shore, we are experiencing both sea level rise and sinking land levels. These trends put our waterfront lands at risk. When the slope to sea level is gradual, there is space for marshes to expand and migrate landward. However, land with higher elevations and structure and infrastructure in the way is less resilient.

Artists paint on protected land

Artists paint on protected land

In sun, rain, and wind ten artists set up their easels on protected lands to paint in plein air (outdoors). Their mission was to capture and share a sense of place and a brief moment in a changing landscape. “Plein air sketches make great reminders of how a landscape changes constantly. They are small recordings of time, when the weather causes docks to wash away or barns to cave in,” explained artist Carole Böggemann Peirson.