Seaview Farm

More than home, a place to share with nature and the next generation

a family legacy of conservation

By Meriwether Payne

Laying the groundwork for conservation

I first came to Rose Cottage Farm, now my brother Ben’s home, in 1961 when my parents, Eunice and Lee Payne, purchased it. I was three. It was a weekend wonderland for us kids with fields, woods, saltwater, dirt, sand, mud and all the critters we could possibly try to catch from tiny tadpoles in the pond to monster sharks off the pier. I couldn’t have been luckier.

In 1969 a neighboring property, Seaview, where I now live, came up for auction. One potential purchaser was going to develop the property. So, my father bought it. In hindsight, this was the first step to saving the land from development.

From family weekend wonderland to home

I moved to the Shore permanently in 1992 and lived at Rose Cottage for 5 years before I fixed up the Seaview home where I have been ever since. I can’t see living anywhere else. I have two freshwater wildlife ponds, a beautiful tract of woods that I protected from timbering, and around 25 acres of open land that I have allowed to grow up in wildflowers for the many birds and pollinators I am lucky to have here. I also have more than 50 acres of salt marsh that supports an entirely different ecosystem. In my dreams I see it as a happy place for all the wildlife that makes it home or migrates through.

For me, Seaview Farm is more than just my home. It is nature’s portal to Finney Creek, which leads out to Burton’s Bay, which backs up to Cedar Island with the Atlantic Ocean beyond. It’s all connected. I believe that being a good steward of this farm will protect the adjacent creeks and marshes for all the creatures that live in them and all those who depend on them for their livelihood and recreation.

In my 25 years on Seaview Farm, I’ve seen a number of pines succumb to pine-bark beetle and some, along the marsh edge, have fallen victim to sea level rise. As our marshes migrate with the rising sea, I’m happy to offer land for them to migrate into.

Paying it forward, sharing a love for nature

I retired from a career in horticulture in 2007. I eventually got my Captain’s license in 2013 and formed Seaside Ecotours LLC. This was a move that brought me full circle. It presented an opportunity to earn a part-time living fishing for flounder and sharing the birds and barrier islands with customers who have become friends just like my dad did with me 60 years ago when I first came to the Shore.

I’ve always liked using the word sharing to describe my charters; I think it’s a good word to use with an easement as well because I will be able to share this farm with nieces and nephews for a few more generations or until mother nature covers it up! My father brought the conservation easement program to my attention and I went forward with protecting the farm with a VES Land Trust easement in 2005. It was an easy decision to protect in perpetuity what was my second home for the first 30 years of my life and where I’ve lived for the last 30 years.

Easement history

Meriwether Payne placed a conservation easement on her farm, Seaview, in December of 2005. Her brother, Ben, and sister, Ruth and their families followed suit protecting Rose Cottage and Bearskin in December of 2006. The three properties were originally purchased in the 60s by their father, Lee Payne, who encouraged them all to preserve the land. Together they represent 406.5 acres of conserved land along Finney Creek in Accomack County, Va. They are adjacent to Nickawampus Farm, 379 acres also protected with an easement through VES Land Trust. Meriwether serves on the VES Land Trust Board of Directors.