Posted on 9/27/2016 by Robert Zullo on Richmond.com
A nonprofit land preservation group has entered into a nearly $6.6 million contract to purchase a roughly 900-acre, heavily forested farm property in Henrico and Charles City counties that includes a portion of the Malvern Hill battlefield, site of the final, bloody clash between Union and Confederate troops during the Seven Days Battles in 1862.
The Capital Region Land Conservancy, expected to announce the contract today, led the effort to preserve the tract and secured more than $2 million toward the purchase, including funding from the Virginia Battlefields Preservation Fund, the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation, the Mary Morton Parsons Foundation and the Cabell Foundation.
The conservancy is soliciting donations and additional grant funding, as well as exploring financing to come up with the balance of the sale price.
This summer, descendants of William Ferguson, who purchased Malvern Hill Farm in 1939, put the property on the market with an asking price of a little more than $10.6 million.
Bill Barnett, senior vice president and partner with the Henrico-based real estate brokerage Commonwealth Commercial Partners, which was marketing the property, did not return several calls seeking comment.