How We Began

            The Tree-Land Foundation, Inc. began with a newspaper article written by Bob Martin, a bike shop owner and Boy Scout volunteer.  In the article, Martin reminisced about his outdoor Scouting experiences in the ‘50’s. 

“Dr. Calvin Klopp owned a small farm in Montgomery County, Maryland and let our Scout troop camp there whenever we wanted.”  Martin said.  “We had campsites, cooked over open fires, and had a lashed-together log bridge that crossed a small creek.  Dr. Klopp placed no restrictions on our activities.”

Martin’s article noted that the majority of the places Scouts can camp today don’t allow open fires, hand-dug latrines, “trenching” around tents to divert rainwater or a lot of the activities he fondly remembered.  “Kids today don’t have the opportunities for the kinds learning experiences and happy memories we did,” Martin said.  His article “wished out-loud” that such properties were available to young people today.

Several years later, Charles Klein, a landscape architect, entered the bike shop with a copy of Martin’s article that he’d saved.   He proposed acting on Martin’s wish, and they discussed some possibilities how it could be done. 

Following a meeting with a variety of supportive business and outdoor professionals, Klein and Martin found out about an elderly couple in Florida who had expressed interest to many government and non-government organizations about donating 80 acres of land they owned in Myersville, Frederick County, Maryland, but which they didn’t want ever to be developed.  Klein and Martin wrote a letter to the Bullivant family and sent Martin’s article.  Their son, William, had been an Eagle Scout in Myersville and camped many times on his family’s land.  The Bullivants liked the proposal and began working with Klein and Martin to make the donation. 

The Bullivants donated the property to the newly formed, non-profit Tree-Land Foundation, Inc. on the day after Christmas, 1995.

                    Our Philosophy - R. Martin

                                "If you want to touch the past... touch a stone.

                                   If you want to touch the present... touch a tree.

                                            If you want to touch the future... touch a child."

Home     How We Began    Using Tree-Land Property    ONE AMERICA Program    Gift of Better Vision Program    

Old Glasses for New Eyes Project    Funding    Contact Us    

© 2003 Tree-Land Foundation, Inc.

    Email:  BobMartin@TreeLandFoundation.org     Tel.:  ( 301) 471- 9998     P. O. Box 535 , Myersville, MD 21773 USA  

WITH GREAT APPRECIATION:  This website was designed and created for Tree-Land Foundation by the delightful Beatriz Wallace, an intelligent, very talented and lovely woman who's a student at Amherst College, Amherst, Mass.  Thank you, Bea!

                                                                                                                                                                             Last modified: August 05, 2005