Orleans Trust Works Toward Tonset Road Property Purchase

ORLEANS – The wooded and overgrown parcel at 22 Tonset Rd. is easy to overlook. But for the Orleans Conservation Trust, it’s land worth protecting. 

The trust is in the process of raising the necessary funds to acquire the 2.3-acre parcel, which serves as a buffer to an abutting wetland.

“The wetland on this property drains under Main Street and into Town Cove, an impaired water body,” Carolyn Auty, an OCT trustee and chair of the town’s marine and fresh water quality committee, said in a press release. “In its natural state, the land at 22 Tonset provides a vegetative buffer, helping to filter out pollutants before they reach Town Cove.” 

The parcel is currently owned by Alan Carrier, a former conservation commissioner in Orleans who wants to see the property protected, said the trust’s executive director, Stephen O’Grady.

“I did want to underscore the fact that we’re appreciative of that seller being willing to work with OCT and wanting to protect this property,” he said.

O’Grady said the town’s open space committee has had its eye on the parcel since 2023, even going so far as to prepare a town meeting article seeking community preservation funding to help purchase it. But the town shied away from the purchase at the time due to unpaid taxes on the property that were due at the time.

But when the property was foreclosed on late last year, O’Grady said the trust decided to begin working toward a purchase.

“At that point we realized ‘All right, this property is likely to sell one way or another,’” he said. “Knowing that OCT has a lot more flexibility than the town and can often act more quickly when things like this come up, we decided to see how quick a deal we could negotiate.”

OCT members Hardie and Marcie Truesdale of Orleans have donated $106,000 toward the effort, more than half the amount needed to complete the sale.

“It’s important to preserve as much of the natural environment on Cape Cod as we can, so I was happy to help when I heard OCT was interested in purchasing 22 Tonset,” Hardie Truesdale said in the release. “Being a long-time member of the Orleans Open Space Committee, I knew that this property is an important piece of the puzzle towards protecting the Town Cove watershed.”

That leaves an additional $65,000 that the trust is hoping to fundraise by March 31, a self-imposed deadline that O’Grady said will also help keep a separate fundraising effort toward the potential purchase of land on Locust Road bordering Cedar Pond on track.

The trust in late January sent letters out to property owners in the “broader neighborhood” about their fundraising goal and plans for protecting the property. O’Grady said the trust is currently in the process of following up on the letter campaign. The trust has also posted signs on the property to help publicize the effort.

“Hopefully some people will take note of that and we’ll get some donations from passersby who appreciate this property,” O’Grady said.

And while the trust is working on a tight schedule to raise the funds needed to support the purchase, O’Grady said he’s "optimistic" that the March deadline will be met.

“We’ll find a way to get this done one way or another, but we’d really like to be able to conclude the fundraising aspect by the end of March,” he said.

To learn more about the project or to donate, visit OrleansConservationTrust.org.