Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan is selling 90 acres of Kirkwood Farm in Chester County for preservation
Chester County officials described the 90 acres as “a spectacular landscape” and said new parking and walking trail connections are planned.
Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan has agreed to sell a portion of the 210-acre Chester County farm he bought for $24 million in March to the Willistown Conservation Trust for $9 million.
The 90 acres that will be preserved “are a magnificent piece of land,” trust executive director Kate Etherington said Wednesday.
“Kirkwood Farm has rolling hills, meadows, woodlands, and creeks, and it’s a prime bird habitat,” she said. “We’re thrilled to be able open this up to the public.”
Bill Shoemaker, a member of the Willistown Board of Supervisors, said Shyamalan “has been very generous and hugely supportive in making this happen. We believe this will provide enormous environmental and social value to our township.”
Shyamalan, whose Willistown estate is close to Kirkwood Farm, could not be reached for comment. His film and TV work includes The Sixth Sense and Servant, both set in Philadelphia. The filmmaker grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs.
The preservation comes as Chester County faces steady pressure for residential and commercial development, including proposals for warehouses and data centers. The nonprofit Willistown trust was founded in 1996, and Kirkwood Farm “has been the number one priority since our inception,” Etherington said.
She said a $500,000 grant from the Chester County Commissioners, as well as fundraising, will help pay for the purchase.
In a news release posted by the trust, County Commissioners Marian Moskowitz, Josh Maxwell, and Michelle Kichline described the 90 acres as “a spectacular landscape.” They said new parking and walking trail connections are planned.
Etherington said the Shyamalan acreage would connect the trail networks of the trust’s 86-acre Rushton Woods and 95-acre Kirkwood preserves, as well as the township’s 180-acre Okehocking Preserve.
She said long-standing efforts to preserve at least some of the 210-acre Kirkwood Farm property, long owned by members and descendants of the Rockefeller family, became accelerated when the land was advertised as for sale in January.
“We’ve been working on this for a number of years,” Shoemaker said. “We’ve had the support of the community and are very pleased about this public-private partnership.”
Asked about the future of the 128 acres of Kirkwood Farm that Shyamalan will retain, Etherington said that the trust regards the filmmaker as “a great steward of the land, [and] I defer to him as to his vision” for the rest of the farm.
She said “details about the future uses of the entire 218-acre property” will be discussed during public hearings on a subdivision plan the township must review and approve for the sale to be finalized.
In the meantime, the future preserve is still privately owned and not open to the public.