John and Elizabeth Wharton

The 2006 Wharton Place Conservation Easement permanently protects approximately 100.41 acres along Assawoman Creek in Accomack County, Virginia, preserving the property’s historic, scenic, agricultural, open-space, water-quality and wildlife-habitat values. The protected landscape includes the historic Federal-style Wharton Place residence and cemetery, approximately 2,500 feet of forested waterfront and marshfront buffer, tidal marsh, mixed woodland, migratory-bird habitat and portions of the critically imperiled Assawoman Creek sea-level fen community. The easement prohibits subdivision and most additional development, while allowing compatible uses such as limited residential activity, agriculture, managed forestry, habitat restoration, hunting and fishing, subject to detailed environmental and historic-preservation requirements. The property may remain privately owned and transferred, but all future owners are bound by the easement; it does not create a public right of access.