Friendship Park
In partnership with the small town of East New Market and with funding from the Dorchester Heart of the Chesapeake Heritage Authority, ESLC led a community conversation to help create a plan for an 8-acre property at risk of a residential development incongruent with the look and feel of the existing town. The property at the town center is historically important to the community. Residents recognized a natural recreational opportunity at the site. With help from university design students, a vision for a park was so strong, it inspired the town’s first general obligation bond to purchase the property. This land now is held in permanent protection by the Maryland Environmental Trust’s first urban conservation easement (co-held with ESLC), and the town is exploring options for new bike and walking paths, as well as a community garden.