KENNEBEC JOURNAL • March 8, 2025
Matt Sinclair explored the 100-acre woods behind his house almost daily as a kid. He was the fifth generation of his family to explore the land. Before him, it was his grandfather, Robert Hopkins — and before Hopkins, it was his father and his father. But Sinclair and Hopkins, 93, weren’t quite satisfied with the two centuries of family history on the land. They wanted to preserve it. Hopkins and Sinclair, over a cup of coffee, decided they would donate the land to the Kennebec Land Trust, a nonprofit that manages about 8,000 acres of permanently conserved land. That donation was finalized last month, with the land officially named the Hopkins-Sinclair Conservation Area. The Kennebec Land Trust will preserve the land for public access and wildlife in perpetuity.