Late philanthropist’s donation will add 800 acres of open space to N.J. (PHOTOS)

The residents and visitors to the country’s most populated state just got some more room to breathe.

The family of the late philanthropist Betty Wold Johnson has gifted her nearly 800-acre historic Hopewell farm to the D&R Greenway Land Trust. The donation is one of the most substantial land gifts in New Jersey’s history.

Wold Johnson, who died last May at the age of 99, was the matriarch of the Johnson family of Johnson & Johnson fame.

Her sons, who made this gift, are Robert Wood (Woody) Johnson, the former United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom and owner of the New York Jets football team, and Christopher Wold Johnson, American businessman and Jets co-owner.

“We are pleased and proud to donate this special property in honor of our mother,” Robert Wood Johnson and Christopher Wold Johnson said in a joint statement. “She loved Hillside Farm as much as she loved the Hopewell area and she would be thrilled that the land will be preserved for future generations to enjoy.”

With this gift, D&R Greenway begins 2022 with more than 22,000 acres of land preserved in New Jersey.

Betty Wold Johnson was also instrumental in securing and naming D&R Greenway Land Trust’s headquarters, the Johnson Education Center in Princeton, on the former estate of her father-in-law General Robert Wood Johnson.

“When Betty Wold Johnson believed in you, she gave her all to ensure the mission of the organization succeeded,” said Linda Mead, President and CEO of D&R Greenway Land Trust. “Together, we sat at her kitchen table studying maps of lands to preserve, and shared her view about the importance of land as a forever legacy.

“I can tell you that when I got a call all from the family to say, what would you do if we gave D&R Greenway Betty Wold Johnson’s property? I just about fell off my chair.”

The property sits high on a hill with sweeping views across the Hopewell Valley, where most of the land is located. It is larger in size than the entirety of Hopewell Borough. It’s contiguous with two other D&R Greenway preserves, its Sourlands Ecosystem Preserve and Cedar Ridge Preserve. The linkage of protected land helps secure migratory corridors and habitat.

The property includes forests, meadows, and agricultural land with a tributary stream to the Stony Brook, a state-designated high priority waterway. There is a “mountain” created by Wold Johnson on the property for tobogganing in winter and at its summit there is a swing set which, considering the spectacular view, seems like it is set at the top of the world.

While the property is currently closed to the public, D&R Greenway says it plans to take a strategic approach to determine how best to carry out Betty’s vision for the property before opening some of the land for public access.

“You know right now, this is all happened so quickly that we’re trying to get our arms around exactly how we best care for the wildlife and habitats on the property and where we could place trails to open it to the public” said Mead.

“And until we do that, we would ask people to be patient. We’ll find opportunities to invite people to join us, but we don’t want people just wandering on to the land, for security reasons, until we get through the planning process.

“D&R Greenway’s mission is to connect people to the land through designated trails where they can walk and experience nature. And this this property is so big, with such outstanding views, there are many places for people to experience the natural world.”

Betty Wold Johnson also bequeathed a record $20 million donation to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) and a $10 million gift to The Watershed Institute in Mercer County, an environmental watchdog nonprofit based in Hopewell Township.

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Michael Mancuso may be reached at mmancuso@njadvancemedia.com.