The Lloyd-Andrews Historic Homestead

By Becky Bumgardner

Selling the family farm for development is not inevitable. Jean Earnhardt, whose family has lived on the historic Lloyd-Andrews Farm in Orange County for 200 years, wants her children and great-grandchildren to be able to live there, too.

To save the land and give future generations a chance to live there, the nine members of the Earnhardt family recently donated a conservation easement on 121 acres of the farm to the Triangle Land Conservancy. Four homesites for future family houses have been reserved from the donated easement lands.

The Lloyd-Andrews Historic Homestead is registered as a historic site in Orange County. The farmhouse that Jean's grandfather built in 1898 is now occupied by her son, the tenth generation of the family living in Orange County.

The farm and forest lands are valuable habitat for more than 150 species of plants and 50 species of birds. The habitats include dry woods, swamp, forest edge, creek, a large pond and a beaver pond.