BURRILLVILLE – The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management filed the deed for the purchase of the 151-acre property known as Sweet’s Hill this week, announcing that the property has now been incorporated into the Black Hut Management Area.
The forested land, previously owned by Richard St. Angelo of Cranston, will be used for habitat restoration and public recreation, including hunting, according to a release from RIDEM.
RIDEM received a $911,000 grant from the US Fish & Wildlife Service through Wildlife Restoration Program to complete the acquisition, purchasing the lot, considered rich in both history and wildlife, for $1,336,500.
“The conservation of his property as an addition to Black Hut Management Area is another win for expanding recreational opportunities and protecting important habitat,” said RIDEM Director Terry Gray of St, Angelo.
Completion of the purchase marks a victory for local conservationists, who have been working since 2020 to save the lot from potential development. The last large piece of acreage remaining in what was once a 1,200-acre farm used to produce fruits and vegetables, slaughter cattle and cut lumber, Sweet’s Hill was listed for sale for $2.2 million that year, and the Burrillville Land Trust had initially launched a fundraising effort to acquire the land.
According to a history of the area compiled by Burrillville Historic & Preservation Society President Betty Mencucci, the farm dates back to around 1720, when Daniel Mathewson bought large tracts of land around what is now East Avenue and Spring Lake. The land was passed down through generations and in the 1800s, it was owned by Welcome Mathewson. Thomas and Albert Sweet owned the farm in the 1890s, when it consisted of all the land along both sides of East Avenue from present-day Burrillville High School to Route 102, and also extended from Oakland all the way to Spring Lake.
Sweet’s Hill was one of the first dairies in the state to pasteurize milk, and had the contract to supply the State Sanatorium at Wallum Lake with fresh milk daily. It remained a farm until the death of Liston Sweet in 1958 and in the years since, lots were sold off, houses were built, fields became overgrown and pastures became woodlands.
In April of 2020, a Burrillville resident found an artifact on the lot believed to be thousands of years old.
RIDEM first signed a purchase and sales agreement for the property last September, announcing plans to acquire the land.
The grant from the Wildlife Restoration Program was matched with $425,250 in Open Space Bond funds, and the property will now be managed by the DEM’s Division of Fish & Wildlife for hunting, trapping, and conservation efforts.
“DEM appreciates the support of the USFWS as well as hunters and target shooters, whose purchase of firearms and ammunition in the state is taxed specifically to fund conservation projects like this helping to preserve land for the public,” said Gray.
Since 1985, the DEM’s Land Conservation Program has helped protect more than 20,000 acres across Rhode Island.
