The new land owner and land trust are trying to work together to put together a conservation easement and protect the land in perpetuity.”

Alex Chuman, ALT’s conservation director

PORTSMOUTH — Twenty-four acres of pastoral farmland on Paquins Lane has sold for $3.1 million, and now the Aquidneck Land Trust (ALT) is working with the property’s new owner in hopes of preserving it in perpetuity.

On Friday, Mott & Chace Sotheby’s International Realty announced the sale of the property, which has views across the west passage of Narragansett Bay and beyond. “According to data from the Multiple Listing Service, this marks the highest vacant land sale since 2021 when Mott & Chace Sotheby’s International Realty had the top sale. This is the second-highest vacant land sale on record in Portsmouth,” the firm stated in a press release.

While the sale has indeed gone through, the initial press release’s statement that “the current buyers have donated the land to the Aquidneck Land Trust” was in error, according to ALT.

“It hasn’t been donated,” said Alex Chuman, ALT’s conservation director. “The new land owner and land trust are trying to work together to put together a conservation easement and protect the land in perpetuity.”

Mott & Chace Sotheby later issued a corrected press release on Friday, saying the buyers and ALT “hope to work together to protect the land in perpetuity and keep it in farming via a conservation easement. The buyers and the land trust hope a deal can be finalized later in the summer.”

The property, which is near St. Mary’s Episcopal Church and St. Mary’s Pond, had been used as a family farm since 1964. “This piece of Portsmouth is such an idyllic spot,” said Holly Prentice, who represented the sellers. “I am pleased that it will remain undeveloped to maintain its natural beauty.”

Added Bridgette Soby of the Soby Fox Team, which represented the buyers, “Its beauty will be left for many to enjoy for years to come.”

All are sales associates of Mott & Chace Sotheby’s International Realty.

ALT is the oldest accredited land trust in Rhode Island. Since 1990, it has conserved more than 99 properties covering more than 2,815 acres of land on Aquidneck Island, or over 11.5 percent of the Island’s total acreage.