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Kittery Point's highest-priced home sale sets aside 17 acres for land trust

An aerial view shows a house, woods, water and a yellow line. Photo / Courtesy Williams Realty Partners
 As part of the transaction, 17 of the property’s acres of shoreline and forestland were placed under permanent conservation easement. The yellow line delineates the property’s boundary.
By Laurie Schreiber

The $5.5 million sale of a residential property is Kittery Point’s largest ever price tag, according to Williams Realty Partners, the brokerage firm that facilitated the transaction.

And the multi-layer deal included the largest land donation the Kittery Land Trust has ever received, the firm said.

“This wasn’t just about selling a property,” said Troy Williams, owner of the firm that brokered the deal. “Our team was brought in to help navigate a complex journey, valuing the land, structuring a high-impact charitable donation, and marketing a listing that wasn’t just defined by square footage, but by its legacy.”

Kittery Point is a census-designated place in the York County town of Kittery.

The property — at 44 Pocahontas Road on Gerrish Island, overlooking the mouth of the Piscataqua River — includes a 2,500-square-foot house, built in 1975, on 21.76 acres.

An aerial view shows a house, lawn and woods.
Photo / Courtesy Williams Realty Partners

The $5.5 million sale of a residential property is Kittery Point’s largest ever price tag. The multi-layer deal included the largest land donation Kittery Land Trust has ever received.

Offered for the first time in over 100 years, it has 1,136 feet of private sandy beach.

“The home wasn't in great condition and the new owner is putting a lot of work into the home instead of just tearing it down and building a new property,” Williams told Mainebiz.

Complex deal

There were a number of steps to the complex, multi-year transaction.

Over the course of three years, Williams Realty Partners worked with the seller, tax and legal advisors and Kittery Land Trust to orchestrate the donation strategy that maximized tax benefits while preserving the most ecologically valuable portions of the property.

“Landowners with significant acreage often don’t realize the charitable tools available to them,” said Williams. “Our role is to guide them through legacy planning, strategic positioning, and the right real estate approach to meet their goals.”

The property was in the family of the seller, Edward Green, for more than a century, according to Kittery Land Trust.

Green built a career as a medical anthropologist, worked in international development, conducted research on HIV/AIDS, authored numerous books on applied medical anthropology, and held academic positions at Boston University, George Washington University and Harvard University, the trust said.

He returned to Kittery Point nearly every summer.

“The property, which my grandmother named Bayberry Rocks, has been in my family since 1922,” Green said in the post. “Both my parents and grandparents wanted this land preserved in its natural form.”

Conservation easement

Green sold the estate to the trust in a deeply discounted bargain sale, the trust said in a Facebook post.

As part of the transaction, 17 acres of woodlands, wetlands and shoreline were placed under a permanent conservation easement, protecting it from development. 

With the easement in place, the trust listed the house and remaining five acres for sale with Williams Realty Partners, which positioned it as an opportunity for new construction or expansion.

In accordance with Green’s wishes, proceeds from the $5.5 million sale will establish the permanent Edward Crocker Green Endowment for the trust’s operations and mission.

“The Edward Crocker Green Endowment will offer lasting stability as we continue to grow and take on increasingly ambitious projects that serve our community in so many ways,” Lisa Linehan, the trust’s executive director, said in the posting.

“In addition to that sale, the wetlands also connect to the 500 already preserved acreage across the street allowing that conserved area to be expanded,” said Williams.

The buyer

The buyer is from New York and “was looking for unique and special properties along the coast of Maine,” Williams said. “He is very conservation-minded, so this property greatly appealed to him for those reasons.”

In a written statement shared with the trust, the buyer said his “vision is to restore the home sensitively — preserving its character while ensuring it remains a gathering place for generations. The conservation easement is, to me, a gift: it guarantees that the land and its privacy will endure while allowing thoughtful enhancement of the existing home.”

The conservation easement does not allow public access, but ensures the preservation of the island’s natural habitat and scenic character. The trust will hold the easement and monitor the property annually. 

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