Holly Beach Farm Natural Resources Management Area provides sweeping views of the Chesapeake Bay. Maryland DNR photo.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources is advancing plans to improve educational, research, and recreational access to Holly Beach Farm Natural Resources Management Area in Annapolis, which offers sweeping views of the Chesapeake Bay and the Bay Bridge.
DNR Secretary Josh Kurtz and Maryland Park Service Director Angela Crenshaw discussed the latest plans for the scenic Annapolis peninsula during an event Tuesday where they welcomed local officials and neighbors to the property to discuss its future
Sec. Josh Kurtz discusses future plans for Holly Beach Farm NRMA. Photo by Anthony Burrows, Maryland DNR
“More than 90% of the Bay’s shoreline is privately owned, so our department is thrilled to provide new access to the scenic landscape of Holly Beach Farm,” said Secretary Kurtz. “DNR is working with neighbors and partners to ensure that the sensitive ecology of this peninsula is protected while enabling the public to experience some of the most beautiful Chesapeake Bay views in the region.”
At the event, DNR staff shared information about plans for climate resilience and habitat restoration as well as new opportunities for fishing, hiking, kayaking, and other activities at Holly Beach Farm. DNR currently allows reservation-based hunting on the peninsula.
Secretary Kurtz announced that beginning Nov. 6, DNR will offer limited public access for a variety of other activities such as birding and hiking. Visitors will be able to use the department’s MD Outdoors system to book a reservation and explore Holly Beach Farm Natural Resources Management Area.
Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman discusses the importance of the peninsula in protecting the county’s coastline. Photo by Anthony Burrows, Maryland DNR
“Anne Arundel County has been partnering with the Department of Natural Resources to preserve Holly Beach Farm, expand public access to the water, and advance climate resilience,” said Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman. “Our work together has made a great difference in protecting our coastline so that all residents can enjoy its natural beauty.”
The 293-acre waterfront property in Anne Arundel County was donated to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in 2023. The property consists of forested areas, open fields, a 9-acre freshwater pond, and beaches along the Chesapeake Bay and Whitehall Bay. The department is planning to expand responsible public access to Holly Beach Farm in the future with a focus on access via boats.
Ongoing Work at Holly Beach Farm
DNR is obtaining permits to remove remnants of two old piers on the western side of the property, facing Whitehall Bay, and replace them with a single 450-foot pier. DNR’s Resource Assessment Service recently used a newly acquired bathymetry drone to pinpoint the locations of submerged pilings to begin removing them so they don’t damage the hulls of vessels. The new pier will provide access for vessels with up to a 6-foot draft to make way for educational boats and ferries to bring visitors to the park. The project will also include the repair of 550 feet of revetment that protects the shoreline around the pier.
DNR’s Engineering and Construction team has stabilized and repaired portions of the former Labrot Farmhouse that had been abandoned before DNR acquired the property. Improvements have included a new roof, windows, framing, and flooring. Further work to repair the farmhouse electrical system, air conditioning, and interiors will allow the building to be used as a meeting venue with unparalleled views of the Chesapeake Bay and the Bay Bridge.
The west side of Holly Beach Farm NRMA faces Whitehall Bay. Photo by Anthony Burrows, Maryland DNR
DNR is also creating plans to expand erosion protections along Holly Beach Farm’s sensitive and ecologically important 5-mile shoreline. Previously, Anne Arundel County funded 2,000 feet of stone breakwaters and planted vegetation along the Whitehall Bay portion of the property to create a living shoreline to prevent land erosion. DNR is actively working on multiple green infrastructure projects throughout the peninsula, including a partnership with the U.S. Naval Academy to create preliminary conceptual designs for underwater breakwaters and new living shorelines to limit storm exposure and sea-level rise long-term along other portions of the property.
The Holly Beach Farm peninsula helps safeguard the surrounding landscape and critical infrastructure, including the U.S. Naval Academy, from the increasingly severe threats of flooding, storm damage, and sea-level rise.
By next year, the Maryland Park Service is aiming to hire and assign several rangers and staff to manage and oversee Holly Beach Farm Natural Resources Management Area. The property is part of the Sandy Point State Park complex, with which it shares a long historic connection.
Maryland Park Service Director Angela Crenshaw talks about the history of the peninsula. Photo by Anthony Burrows, Maryland DNR
“From the Algonquin-speaking people who called this area home, to Leonie Labrot Gately, to Frederick Douglass, to the over 1 million people who visited Sandy Point State Park last year, the Chesapeake Bay has always inspired and intrigued people,” said Maryland Park Service Director Angela Crenshaw. “Today we are sharing the progress we have made on Holly Beach Farm Natural Resources Management Area, which will provide guests with sweeping views of the Chesapeake Bay and a new place to experience the natural world. We look forward to continuing our prudent and intentional planning for this amazing place so it can be enjoyed for years to come.”
The public is invited to share their thoughts on the future of Holly Beach Farm Natural Resources Management Area by a completing a 5-10 minute online survey.
Holly Beach Farm History
Holly Beach Farm traces its origins to 1907, when Sylvester W. Labrot Sr., a prominent businessman from Kentucky and Louisiana, bought and consolidated several nineteenth century farms. Labrot created a single, expansive estate and in 1911 completed the main farmhouse. Through continued acquisitions during the 1920s and 1930s, including the historic Hackett’s Point Farm, the estate ultimately encompassed nearly 2,000 acres in the area that now surrounds the Bay Bridge.
Statuary in the yard of Historic Labrot Farmhouse, which faces the Chesapeake Bay. Photo by Anthony Burrows, Maryland DNR
Following Sylvester Labrot Sr.’s death in 1935, his son William Henderson Labrot continued management of the estate, renamed the property “Holly Beach Farm,” and made it one of Maryland’s most successful horse breeding farms.
In 1949, as planning advanced for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and its approach roads, William negotiated the sale of 680 acres of the northern portion of the property to the State of Maryland. That land became Sandy Point State Park.
What remained of Holly Beach Farm was sold off for private residences; the current property remained in private ownership by Labrot’s daughter, Leonie Gately, until 2001. She preserved the property and sold it to the Conservation Fund, who conveyed it to Chesapeake Bay Foundation to manage for conservation and environmental education. The Maryland Board of Public Works approved the Foundation’s donation of Holly Beach Farm to DNR on March 13, 2024.
Parks and Public Land Expansion This Year
This year, the Maryland Park Service has dedicated and celebrated six new properties around the state as part of the Moore-Miller Administration’s work to expand state parks and public lands.
The Maryland Park Service accepted the donation of a historic African-American cemetery at the Revolutionary War-era Catoctin Furnace, and added it to Cunningham Falls State Park.
In May, DNR celebrated the dedication of Freedman’s State Park in Montgomery County, which encompasses 1,000 acres of land once owned and farmed by a formerly enslaved family who self-emancipated and whose descendants shaped the Civil Rights Movement in Maryland.
In July, DNR hosted a ceremony for Wetipquin Creek State Park, a recently acquired 445-acre property and plantation house that is Wicomico County’s first state park. It’s scheduled to open to the public sometime next year.
In August, DNR officially opened Savage Highlands State Park in Garrett County, which offers yurts, cabins, and rustic campsites for rent on land surrounded by the sprawling Savage River State Forest.
Last month, the department hosted a community gathering and stewardship celebration at Wills Mountain State Park in Cumberland to provide an update to local officials and other guests about the latest plans and funding for the park that has sweeping views of Cumberland and the Narrows—a dramatic valley cut by Wills Creek between Wills Mountain and Haystack Mountain.
