The short version
What did the would-be developers of Washburn Island agree to? On July 21, 1981, Dr. A. Lincoln Washburn agreed to sell the whole island, 334.876 acres, to the Washburn Island Preserve Limited Partnership of Greenwich, Connecticut. A notice of the contract was registered on July 23, 1982. The registered notice leaves out the price and payment schedule, as the contract allowed; the Falmouth Enterprise later reported the price as $2.75 million. What it does show is that the developers carried the costs and the risk: taxes, insurance and every permit application were theirs, and Dr. Washburn would finance part of the price.
What the record is
A 20-page “Notice of Agreement” filed in the Registered Land (Land Court) section of the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds as Document 297511. It reproduces the Washburn Island Land and Sales Agreement minus the sections on price and payment, with the signatures and acknowledgments.
What it shows
- The parties. Seller Albert Lincoln Washburn; buyer the Washburn Island Preserve Limited Partnership, a Connecticut limited partnership whose general partners, Frank M. Webber, Frederick W. Doepke, William A. Strauss and Richard Nolte, were personally liable.
- The land. Washburn Island, 334.876 acres on Land Court Plan 36365-A, already subject to a state order restricting the island’s coastal wetlands, adopted October 7, 1980 under G.L. c. 130, section 105.
- Seller financing. Dr. Washburn would take part of the price as a purchase money mortgage.
- Costs on the buyer. From signing, the partnership paid the property taxes and carried at least $1,000,000 of liability insurance, none of it refundable if the sale fell through.
- Permits. The partnership had to start applying for every government approval by August 31, 1981, at its own cost. Any permits it won would belong to Dr. Washburn if the deal ended.
- Marketing. The partnership could test the market and look for investors and lot buyers under the Washburn Island name.
- If the plan was blocked. If a final court judgment barred the development, Dr. Washburn could either end the deal and keep set damages, or reset the price to the island’s appraised market value.
What it means for Waquoit Bay today
The agreement explains why the 1983 order of taking named both Dr. Washburn and the partnership, and why the partnership complained afterward that the state’s price was below what it had promised him (our summary). It also shows how much was riding on permits: the longer the reviews that CPWB and the town’s boards pressed for took, the more the partnership paid in taxes and costs. See Saving Washburn Island and the order of taking.
Read the document
Washburn, A. L., & Washburn Island Preserve Limited Partnership. (1981, July 21). Notice of agreement: Washburn Island land and sales agreement (Land Court Document No. 297511, registered July 23, 1982). Barnstable County Registry of Deeds, Registered Land Section.
License: A public record, free to view in the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds’ public search. The copy hosted here is the registry’s free online image, which carries a “Not an official copy” stamp. This summary is based on the full registered notice, which omits the price sections. The card image is a title card made from the citation.
Drafted with AI assistance from the linked source.
