Nestled within the High Peaks region—a landscape renowned for its intact forests, pristine waterways, and ecological significance—Deborah Rose’s planned bequest of 60 acres in New Sharon to the High Peaks Alliance embodies the spirit of stewardship that defines this collaborative conservation effort.

As part of our Voices of the High Peaks series, we sat down with Deborah to explore her connection to the land, her vision for its future, and the legacy she hopes to cultivate through this enduring gift.

By securing this land in perpetuity, Deborah’s bequest ensures it will remain a sanctuary for wildlife and a resource for future generations—whether for hiking, hunting, or simply finding solace in nature’s quiet corners. This act of generosity amplifies the Alliance’s ongoing work to balance conservation with sustainable access.

In the following interview, Deborah shares how this area shaped her life and why its protection is a gift not just to the Alliance, but to all to come.

📸 | Map of the High Peaks showing the approximate location of the Rose Property.

Who did you reach out to when you decided to donate your land?  How did you find the Alliance?

Sierra Club and all the big ones. Most of them, because it’s not on water or it’s not a super special place, they’d sell it. I want it conserved and shared so that no matter what goes on, it’s always open. South of here in Belgrade Lakes there’s all sorts of land trusts. I was so glad to find out that there was a land trust here.

What’s your vision for your property 40 years in the future? 

Some trails out there you could have semi-logged it or just let it grow. The High Peaks Alliance can log it, semi-log it, that’s what we’ve been doing for the last 50 years. Either way, trails so people can go walk or look at birds. Camping. You could use it for hunting. A lot of it’s semi-wet, but there isn’t any reason you can’t go around the wet areas. Keep it wild, keep it from development, forever. 

How long have you lived in New Sharon? Do you have a history with the area?

Three years basically but I grew my grandfather’s Dakin’s garage in downtown of Sharon’s the old Texaco station. It’s an old cement building that’s painted silver. It’s down on old Main Street. My mother grew up on Main Street. 

In fact, Dakin Hall in Farmington at the University is named after my grandmother. I have the picture, her picture that used to hang and take it home. Some kids painted, you know, a beard on her horns and all sorts of stuff.

My uncle, Leland Buzzell, lived downtown New Sharon until he passed away. But in the last four or five years, he moved over to Skowhegan to his middle son, Bruce’s house. Right now, the grandson of Bruce, who was my age, lives on Route 2 on a piece of the land I gave him, which is right next to the land I intend to give the High Peaks Alliance. 

Where did you grow up if you didn’t grow up here?

My mother went to the University of UMass Boston University. She met my father there. My father’s father owned a place on Revere Beach. He was a carny, so my father grew up selling string French fries before McDonald’s. 

We used to come up every summer. My mother and father worked at Camp Kirkwold in Readfield. I grew up in the summers between New Sharon and camp. There was also a camp out on some land at Kimball Pond. It was Brent’s Pond then. We were the first house up for the dam.

I heard that you are a Daughter of the Revolution (D.A.R.). How did you come to find that out?

My mother researched it. It was always family law that we were. The family story was that this guy named Josiah Green came down from Nova Scotia with a gun in a pack and joined up in Groton, Mass because that was the first place you could join up.

Come to find out after doing the genealogy, Josiah Green was from Groton, Mass. His father owned seventeen acres in Groton and he grew up there. Before the Revolutionary War, he had been with a company of British who went to Nova Scotia to drive the French out. 

So he did come back from Nova Scotia with a gun in a pack but it’s only part of the tale, right? He ended up dying and buried in Wilton. A picture was engraved and somewhere in my mother’s paperwork, it will tell me where the grave was. She took the picture but I just haven’t found that piece of paper yet. 

Tell me about the land you gifted to the Town of New Sharon. 

I gave the town the Rose Picnic Area up on Cape Cod Hill. As you go up on Rt 134 when you get to the top, Ayres House is up there. Just after Ayres. Nobody goes up there but some of the locals know about it. It’s right on the corner of Cape Cod Hill Road and Chandler Road. It’s about a quarter of an acre. There’s a room to park for maybe two cars. 

It overlooks Mt Blue. There’s a granite picnic table up there with, inscribed on the outside of the granite picnic table, my grandmother and grandfather’s names and my mother and father’s names. If you sit at the picnic table, you can see Mt Blue. On July 4th you can see fireworks from three or four towns. There’s a flagpole. It’s got a light on the top of the pole, so when I put the flag up it can stay up. 

I planted roses and some other flowers in there. It’s a D.A.R. forever garden, to always remember the veterans. 10 generations ago was Josiah Greene. My grandfather was in World War I, my father was in World War II. A lot of my friends died in Vietnam. 

📸 | Look north to Abraham from the Rose Picnic Area.