Letter to Selectmen

Jack Spanbauer, Chair
Chad Glover
Bonnie Tucker L’Etoile
August 30, 2006

Dear Selectmen,

Thank you for inviting The Rustic Ridge Association, via our representative Sue Ross, to submit our suggestions for the “wish list” you will be sending to the NMH trustees, regarding the NMH properties in Northfield.

As you know, Rustic Ridge (usually referred to as “The Ridge”) is a community located on the hill immediately east of the Northfield campus. There are about 70 residences, primarily summer cottages. A few have been converted into year-round homes. A map is enclosed, showing the location of Rustic Ridge relative to the NMH properties. The map also shows the principal trails in the wilderness areas of the NMH properties. We, like the Town of Northfield, are saddened to know that the Northfield campus is closed, and that NMH intends to sell the non-legacy properties.

Our history and the current activities of Ridge residents are closely tied to the Northfield Campus and properties. Most cottages on The Ridge were built from 1901 to 1910, primarily for the ministers who participated in the summer conferences on the Northfield campus. Ambert G. Moody, a nephew of Dwight L. Moody, is credited as providing the impetus for the community which became The Ridge.

Northfield is much more than a vacation home. Many of us are the descendants of early Ridge residents, we spent our childhoods here, and we continue to celebrate reunions and other family occasions here. Some of us attended the NMH schools, and a few of us were married in the Russell Sage chapel.

We have seen many changes, and obviously there will be more, but we hope that the school will be sensitive to our traditions and wishes when it deliberates on the fate of the NMH properties in Northfield.

Our primary concerns, and thus our “wish list” is twofold. Both aspects are of equal importance.

First, we are concerned about what may become of the NMH property that surrounds our community. NMH has been a good neighbor, and we would ask the NMH trustees to act in a way that will preserve and protect the areas that surround us. Many of our homes adjoin or are very close to the NMH property, so the development or industrialization of the adjacent land would drastically change the quality of our lives in Northfield. With this in mind, we would urge the NMH trustees to consider the following possibilities:

• Convey the wilderness areas to a land conservation organization; or,
• Place the wilderness areas under a conservation restriction; and/or,
• Establish a buffer zone around The Ridge, comprising a parcel or parcels that are offered for sale to Ridge homeowners. We suggest that these parcels should be deed restricted so they cannot be developed.

Second, we are concerned about the possible loss of outdoor recreational facilities which benefit our whole town but also attract us and our friends to Northfield. Here, we encourage the NMH trustees to follow a course of action which will do the following:

• Preserve the golf course in Northfield; and,
• Preserve the tennis courts behind Moore cottage; and,
• Preserve the swimming pool at the old Northfield Inn site; and,
• Preserve the trail system behind the Ridge for hiking, cross country skiing, and mountain biking. (See the enclosed map which shows this remarkable and extensive network of trails.)

We hope that our combined efforts will help preserve the Northfield we know and love.

Sincerely,

Cc: Mark Chardack – NMH
Carol Lebo – NMH
Carol Ramsey - NMH
Thomas Sturdevant - NHM