saving Crebilly.

Crebilly Farm sunset in summer

The 308-acre Crebilly Farm is an oasis of green near the intersection of Street Road and Route 202 in a heavily developed and quickly growing portion of Chester County. Gently rolling fields, rustling leaves in a shady woodland, meandering streams, and birdsong. It’s hard to believe this property was once the subject of heated debate, many late-night township meetings, legal battles, and community petitions.

Crebilly is now preserved forever, thanks to a multi-year effort by Natural Lands, community activists, Westtown Township, state and county leaders, generous donors, and committed landowners to prevent the land from becoming another subdivision.

Conservation easements permanently protect 102 acres, and Westtown Township owns the remaining 206 acres. The township is in the early stages of creating a passive-use public park with walking trails through the stunning landscape.

Crebilly Farm played a key role in the Battle of Brandywine in 1777, the first major engagement of the British campaign to capture Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War.

The property includes about 5,600 feet of three first order tributaries of Radley Run Creek. Radley Run drains directly to Brandywine Creek just one mile from the property. According to Stroud Water Research Center, there is clear scientific evidence that healthy headwaters are essential to the health of stream and river ecosystems. Protecting these headwater streams provides benefits vital to the health and well-being of Pennsylvania’s water resources and its citizens. The streams running through Crebilly Farm will never be disturbed, and the land around the waterways will continue to clean, filter, and slow stormwater entering them.

What’s more, protected open spaces like Crebilly Farm offer community members free access to recreation via walking trails. It’s well documented that spending time in nature is good for physical, mental, and emotional well-being. In the case of Crebilly, it’s good for the soul, too.

“Iconic landscapes like Crebilly Farm help root us in—even epitomize—our communities. When they are threatened, so is our essential relationship with nature. Their preservation is essential to our wellbeing,” said Natural Lands’ President Oliver Bass. “I think that’s why so many people were moved to get involved in saving Crebilly. And it took everyone to get this project across the finish line.”

Indeed, while all land protection projects have many moving parts, the Crebilly conservation was particularly involved. Part of the challenge was the very high per-acre cost of the property, which Natural Lands and our partners had to meet to be competitive with developers.

“Land in this part of Chester County is at a premium, and Crebilly Farm is no exception,” said Todd Sampsell, vice president of conservation. “Its location along the 202 corridor made the property even more appealing to developers. There just isn’t that much open space left around here, so that pushes up the price.”

In early 2022, Westtown Township hired Natural Lands to apply for public funding on their behalf to begin to cover the more than $22 million price tag. In addition, Natural Lands donated hundreds of staff hours to advise on the project, assist on the creation of a township open space fund, and undertake private fundraising efforts. An open space referendum was added to the ballot in November 2022, and Westtown Township residents voted two-to-one in favor. Saving Crebilly became a possibility.

“Without dedicated township funding, we wouldn’t have been able to raise enough from public grants and private fundraising,” said Jack Stefferud, senior director of land protection. “Even with the referendum, there was still a gap to fill. There were a lot of sleepless nights.”

It took an extraordinary coalition of funders to preserve Crebilly Farm. In addition to the Westtown Township open space fund, which provided about $7.5 million for the property’s preservation and stewardship, Natural Lands raised $16.5 million in public and private grant funding and gifts from individual donors.

“Of course,” said Oliver Bass, “the opportunity to save Crebilly forever would not have been possible without the Robinson family, which opened a pathway to conservation in 2022. They were patient as this process unfolded and made an exceedingly generous gift to bring the project to completion.”

“We are extremely thankful to Natural Lands, and join them in our heartfelt gratitude for everyone, known and unknown, who has generously contributed their creativity, spirit, time, talent, and financial resources to make this momentous occasion possible,” David and Laurie Robinson said. “We are humbled by the incredible community support in fulfilling this extraordinary conservation and preservation effort.”

Thank you, Natural Lands members. Your support makes it possible for our staff to dedicate the years of effort needed to bring complex projects like this to fruition.

red and blue vote green.

Dedicated municipal open space funds are often essential to preserving land, since conservation almost always comes down to dollars. Without funding to purchase land or development rights, organizations like Natural Lands simply can’t compete with developers.

That’s why we’ve been working with municipalities across the region to help them establish open space funds. Conservation-minded residents work to get referenda on their local ballots, and then voters decide whether or not to approve small increases in their own taxes.

In 2022, in addition to Westtown Township’s successful referendum, eighty percent of voters in Carbon County, Pennsylvania approved a bond issue to raise $10 million for farmland preservation and natural areas conservation. Just recently, in 2024, both East Whiteland and Uwchlan Townships in Chester County successfully created open space funds, joining the 93 other municipalities in Pennsylvania that have done so.

Voters from both sides of the political divide came together for these referenda, demonstrating the bi-partisan appeal of open space conservation.

 

vocal volunteers.

“Crebilly would not have been preserved had it not been for the many passionate volunteers who’ve worked for years to find a conservation solution,” said Oliver Bass. “They have our respect and gratitude.”

For five years, local volunteers worked tirelessly to fight the sale of the property to Toll Brothers. They did so in township meetings, online, and in court. Their persistence raised awareness within the township and beyond, and news media coverage made the David and Goliath story known to every household in the region.

Another monumental volunteer effort was the Vote Yes to Save Crebilly coalition, which formed early in 2022 and played a critical role in the passage of Westtown Township’s open space referendum. Working within a tight timeframe before the November election, these dedicated township residents established a website and social media presence, went door to door with ballot information, set up a table at the local farmers’ market, and sent persuasive, fact-based emails to their fellow residents. The referendum outcome—a resounding vote for conservation—demonstrates the power of grassroots groups.