Robert D. Stevens, PhD, died on July 10, 2014 at the age of 86.  Influenced by work that his mother had done, Bob was committed to land preservation.  Bob’s grandfather, William R. Cordingley, and his family developed a love affair with the area of SooNipi Park Lodge.  In 1913, they bought the nearby Currier Farm renaming it the “Meadowlands.”  Part of the land so cherished by the family was the Putnam Parcel, a 13-acre tract located on the south side of SooNipi Park Road off Route 103A in New London and sloping down to King Hill Brook on the eastern shores of Lake Sunapee. In honor of his grandfather and to protect this critical watershed, Bob Stevens and his family made a gift of this land to Ausbon Sargent.  In addition to protecting the property from development, Ausbon Sargent constructed a nature path to King Hill Brook named the “Molly Charles Trail” in honor of Mr. Stevens’ mother.  It was the intent of the Stevens family to invite the public to experience the beauty and history that brought, in Bob Stevens’ own words, “so much summer joy and pleasure to subsequent generations of the Cordingley family.”

This property is listed as #72 in our Protected Properties section of our website.