Theys Farm

Theys Farm Easement is TLC's First on Wake County Farmland

by Lynn Padgett
(from TLC News, March 2000)

Horses graze quietly in a winter-gold pasture. High above, a bald eagle soars up from Lake Wheeler. Ducks feed on the pond as cats patrol the perimeter. John Theys untangles a snarled fence and wrestles with a crooked post. Georgia Theys talks about the land's history as part of the Peace Plantation. As the Theys show us around, they add another day to the 50 years of days that they have spent on their Wake County farm. This is TLC's newest conservation easement, the first on farmland in Wake County.

Not very long ago, the 92 acres protected by the conservation easement were in an undeveloped, rural part of the county well south of Raleigh. Now, subdivisions surround the farm. Still, on a crisp, sunny day in December, John Theys can say of the land, "This is a special place."

The Theys' donation of this easement to TLC is also special. Theys Farm is the first project completed in cooperation with Wake County, which used money from the state's Farmland Preservation Trust Fund to cover the survey, stewardship endowment, and other costs of transferring the easement to TLC. Rick Bailey, Administrator for the Wake Soil and Water Conservation District, says, "This project will help get the county farmland preservation program rolling. We look forward to more farmland protection projects in the future."

The farm continues to operate as a boarding stable for horses. Susan "Sunny" Alien, a TLC Board member and a member of the Theys Farm Horse Coop, first visited the farm in 1981. "It's just gorgeous," she said. "The pastures slope gently down to the lake, and in winter you can see the water twinkling through the trees. They have peacocks and guineas, there are tons of songbirds, and from February through October something is always blooming in the arboretum. When you're there, you don't know you're right outside the Raleigh city limits. It's really a magical place."