Once part of the beloved estate of Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge, by 2014 Giralda Farms was locked behind the gates of an office park and in danger of being sold to a developer.
In 2014, our acquisition of Giralda Farms preserved one of the largest undeveloped tracts in the heart of eastern Morris County, while creating a passive recreational park and protecting precious land for habitat.
A skillful negotiation
Saving Giralda Farms was the result of months of collaboration with Chatham Township and eight other nonprofit, private and public partners.
After the property, located next to the 744-acre Loantaka Brook Reservation, was put up for sale, we assembled a proposal to buy and add it to the Loantaka Brook Reservation.
Then, we worked with Chatham Township to add 2.3 miles of pedestrian trails to Giralda Farms to better connect it to the Loantaka Brook Reservation.
With gently rolling, maintained fields and forested areas as well as a network of streams and wetlands, Giralda Farms makes for perfect parkland. Today, the property continues to be the home of the Giralda Music & Arts Festival, a much-loved outdoor concert event that has been continuously running on the land for three decades.