it came into being because congresswoman frances payne bolton of ohio bought a farm here that was 500 acres to protect it from being developed. through the years, they talked about wastewater treatment plants, housing development, all kinds of things. in this community already were people who were living on five acre parcels and very committed to preserving the environment. they had covenants on their property that actually became the model for the scenic easement, which is now a major tool in land conservation. it was one of the first land trusts in the country. there is a big movement right now of large landscape conservation, this was one of the first right here on the potomac. so she bought the farm, they started this effort to protect six miles of shoreline, and very soon it became clear that they were going to need to have the federal government involved to protect from eminent domain being used. in 1961, kennedy signed the legislation to create the park, but it took years to put together all these parcels of land. people donated these easements. prince george's county where we