In 1980, as a memorial to her husband Stephen, summer resident Bessie Wright Phillips of Salem, MA gifted 71 acres on Otter Pond to the Town of New London.  The property is owned by the Town of New London and managed by the New London Conservation Commission. It has over 1,600 feet of frontage on Otter Pond and over 700 feet of frontage on Otter Pond Brook which flows from Goose Hole Pond into Otter Pond. The Phillips Preserve is open to the public for low impact recreation, offering significant trails on the property. The easement is managed for timber production and a recent timber cut on the property has created a substantial view of Mt. Sunapee. At the 2012 Town Meeting, the voters of New London voted unanimously to place a conservation easement on the property.
In the fall of 1993, Mrs. Phillips was recognized nationally for her 7,000-acre donation in the Rangeley Lakes region of Maine. Prior to her death in 1996, Mrs. Phillips granted easements on her five New London properties located on Burpee Hill Road, Little Lake Sunapee and Route 103A. Mrs. Phillips’ generosity has benefited Ausbon Sargent and all of those living and visiting the Mt. Kearsarge/Lake Sunapee Region.