EcoTarium sells Rutland camp site for $400K

Photo | Google A dirt path, Sassawanna Road, cuts through a wooded camp site in Rutland long owned but recently sold by the EcoTarium.

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The EcoTarium has long run a camp site with hundreds of forested acres where kids could more firsthand learn about the outdoors.

But the Worcester natural history museum found in more recent years it wasn't easy to get kids out there, and the EcoTarium moved away from longer cabin stays to day trips. Now the EcoTarium has sold the property, finding it could replicate much of the educational components at its Worcester site.

"It was a tough decision because it was a beautiful piece of land... but it didn't make sense for us to have it anymore," EcoTarium President and CEO Lucy Hale said. "It was a really big production to get kids out to the Rutland property."

The $400,000 sale closed March 12. The buyer is a limited liability corporation registered to Michael Pietrasiewicz of Norton.

The 323-acre site spans two sides of Sassawanna Road between Charnock Hill Road and Pommogussett Road. Much of the site has a conservation restriction, Hale said, and is expected to continue use as a camp.

The EcoTarium's decision to sell the site predated the coronavirus pandemic, which hit the museum's finances as it did so many of its counterparts.

The EcoTarium announced last week it will reopen its outdoor exhibits April 23 following a fall and winter closure because of the coronavirus pandemic. Hale said the museum hasn't decided yet when it'll reopen its indoor space.