“Bald Pate Mountain is ours! OURS means it belongs to all of us. You, your children, and your grandchildren will always have a beautiful piece of Maine to enjoy.”

29 years ago today Loon Echo Land Trust purchased Bald Pate Mountain in South Bridgton and Sebago. Bald Pate Mountain exists in the way it does today - open to the community, a beloved public space - because people cared, and because they worked together to protect it.

Before it was conserved, Bald Pate Mountain had been used by the community to hike, hunt, snowmobile, bird watch, and cross-country ski thanks to a private landowner who allowed public access to the land. But in the mid-1990s, that future was uncertain. Plans to build a television tower on the summit were proposed, threatening continued public access and the mountain’s character.

In response, a group of dedicated local residents came together to stop the tower. Friends of Bald Pate and Loon Echo Land Trust rallied the community and raised $180,000 in just three months to purchase and permanently protect 450 acres of the mountain on January 13, 1997.

Today, thanks to their foresight and commitment, Bald Pate Mountain Preserve is open to the community. With 36 additional acres protected and new trails added over the years, it remains a place for all the activities that make it so special and so loved. What an incredible gift and a remarkable legacy.

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