Photo: Tina Jackson Photography // From Left to Right: Lisa Biever, Lake Cowart, Ellen Cowart, Chip Minor
By Alicen Hackney
Northern Neck Land Conservancy presented Lake and Ellen Cowart with the 2025 Helen and Tayloe Murphy Conservation Champion Award at its sold-out Boots and Barbecue event on Saturday.
Since 2015, the Land Conservancy has recognized people in our community who support protection of the rural character of the Northern Neck in a significant way. Last year, the award was renamed to honor conservation leaders Helen and Tayloe Murphy.
“You would be hard pressed to find two people more respected in our community. They recognize the importance of preserving land, and they are not shy about spreading the message to neighbors, fellow farmers and other landowners,” said Land Conservancy President Chip Minor as he presented the award.
“There is no doubt in my mind that some of the landowners who have contacted us [Northern Neck Land Conservancy] about preserving their own land are doing so out of trust and respect for Lake and Ellen.”
To be chosen, a Conservation Champion must have significantly contributed to the protection of natural resources in the Northern Neck; or have contributed to preserving the unique rural heritage of the Northern Neck of Virginia; or have educated the public about the benefits of conservation.
The Cowarts’ first conservation easement in 2019 consisted of 311 acres of agricultural land including the historic home Mount Zion. Since then, they have placed approximately 543 acres in easement on 3 more properties. This brings the couple to just over 854 acres preserved, but they don’t plan to stop there. Lake and Ellen Cowart have expressed a personal goal to preserve 1,000 acres in the region if they can.
The Cowarts are inspired to protect land because it is essential to protecting water quality along the Potomac, the Coan and their tributaries. In the late 1800s, Lake’s relative, Slater “Bump” Cowart, started a seafood factory and general store on the Potomac River. Over the years, it has become one of the largest oyster planter businesses on the East Coast. As oyster farmers, the Cowart family has seen the health of the Chesapeake watershed rise and fall over generations, and they have dedicated themselves to supporting the health of the watershed, the proliferation of oysters, and the livelihoods of watermen.
The 2025 Boots and Barbecue event was a sold-out success full of lively music, delicious food, and conservation related festivities. Guests at the event enjoyed all the oysters and barbecue they could eat as they took in the beautiful, waterfront scenery at historic Wheatland in Essex County and toured Saunders Wharf, the last standing steamboat wharf on the Chesapeake.
One of Wheatland’s owners, Peter Bance, welcomed the crowd. Bance is a longtime leader with the Essex County Conservation Alliance, an organization that also promotes conservation. He challenged people from the counties of King George, Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond and Westmoreland to accelerate their land preservation efforts to match Essex County which has two or three times more protected open space land than the other counties. Northern Neck Land Conservancy began advising landowners and stewarding land in Essex in 2017, but this was the first Boots and Barbecue event to take place there.
As the region’s local land trust, the Land Conservancy is committed to preserving working farms, forests, historical sites, scenic views and healthy watersheds. Everyone can support regional land conservation. Visit Northern Neck Land Conservancy’s website at nnconserve.org to learn more.
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