David and Nicholas Edsall

This 160-acre combination of open and forestland forms a substantial part of the Cook Hill ridgeline overlooking Caspian Lake to the west. The grandfather of the present owners, David Linn Edsall, purchased the property in 1927 from a family named Smith; it has been the Edsalls’ summer home for over 80 years.

David Linn Edsall’s son John, a professor of biochemistry at Harvard, and his sons presented the GLT with its first donated easement in 1995. Prof. Edsall died in 2002 at the age of 99.

The Edsall easement allows limited subdivision of the property. In 2005 David and Nicholas sold a ten-acre lot to their cousins, Thomas and Mary Edsall, who plan to build a single-family residence on it.