Eleven-and-a-half square miles of conserved land and 16 years later, Caren Schumacher has no regrets.
After serving more than a decade-and-a-half as executive director of the Historic Virginia Land Conservancy, Schumacher has decided to retire.
In 2001, the conservancy, then known as the Williamsburg Land Conservancy, protected about 600 acres of land in Greater Williamsburg.
Land protections, such as conservation easements, saved viewsheds and historic lands, according to Schumacher.
“If we grow in the wrong places, we will lose the character and ambiance of our community,” Schumacher said. “We’ll have lost our appeal to tourism which is the driving economic engine of this community.”
The organization, founded in 1990, was set to undergo its biggest expansion yet, having earned conservation easements across the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Sixteen years later, the conservancy has increased its area of protection to 8,000 acres, all under Schumacher’s direction.
The new millennium marked a change for the organization, according to Schumacher, but also a change for Schumacher herself.
Before she moved to Williamsburg, Schumacher worked in Washington D.C. as the vice-president of the United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association.
She spent years globetrotting from the nation’s capital to places such as banana plantations in Costa Rica.
But by early 2001, Schumacher was ready for a change. In May of that year she moved to Williamsburg with her husband.
By October 2001, Schumacher had gone from being a new volunteer for the Historic Virginia Land Conservancy to directing it from its top spot.
“I was distributing the Williamsburg Land Conservancy’s newsletter to businesses around the community and about a month into that Mike Sloan called me,” Schumacher said before adding a sentence that changed her life and Greater Williamsburg:
“‘So, would you be interested in the job?’”
Her experience as an expert of fruit and vegetables assisted her when she worked with various partners to help found the Williamsburg Farmers Market in 2002.
In 2013, the conservancy fought to conserve the longest continuously farmed piece of property in the United States from development.
Schumacher’s favorite project, Mainland Farm, was given a permanent conservation easement by the James City County Board of Supervisors, according to WYDaily archives.
“Piece by piece, the county has strategically protected those parcels of land that make up the Governor’s Land Archaeological District and we commend you for these efforts,” Schumacher said in 2013.
In June 2013, the Board of Supervisors voted to conserve 324 acres through easements and purchasing future development rights. An 81-acre piece of property across the street from Mainland Farm was also protected, according to WYDaily archives.
“It could have been a school. It could have been soccer fields, but they saw the importance of preserving that history,” Schumacher said of the board of supervisors.
Two years later the Williamsburg Land Conservancy renamed itself, the Historic Virginia Land Conservancy was born.
From earning easements on Colonial Williamsburg’s Carrs Hill tract in York County, to the 499 acres of land at the Piping Tree Farm in King William County, Schumacher has been there at each step.
Schumacher is the longest-serving executive director of the conservancy, having served 16 of the 27 years the organization has existed, but as she has looked toward retirement she was also looking for a successor.
Patrice Sadler, an employee with the organization for four-and-a-half years fit the bill, according to Schumacher.
Sadler was named as Schumacher’s successor on Nov. 16.
As Schumacher is set to retire, she doesn’t feel contrite about her tenure overseeing the 13-fold-expansion of the organization.
“I’ve had a wonderful career where my vocation is my avocation,” Schumacher said. “I have no regrets.”
Disclosure: The Williamsburg Yorktown Daily’s parent company Local Voice Media has previously sponsored the Historic Virginia Land Conservancy.
WYDaily archives were used in this story. To contact the reporter, email [email protected].
