For several years, Bainbridge Island Land Trust and at least some of the board members of the island’s Metropolitan Park & Recreation District have been eyeing what’s left of the original 80-acre Hill Top Tree Farm, part of which is one of the highest, if not the highest, points on the island. Isolated between the east and west Grand Forest parcels, it’s a magnificent piece of property with large stands of Douglas fir and a spectacular seven-acre meadow at its northern end.

And now, after about 18 months of negotiations, the land trust has signed an exclusive purchase option with the Hedderly-Smith family for about 31 acres. (See page A9.)

It’s remarkable that the property didn’t become a massive development years ago, but the family, which bought it nearly 60 years ago, has long treated it as the jewel that it is. According to David Hedderly-Smith, who grew up on the property, a logging company bought it after the turn of the 20th century, denuded it and then moved on without selling. The county inherited the land and then auctioned it off in a tax sale to the George Trask family, which sold it to the Hedderly-Smith family.

“We spent summers there at first and then moved to Bainbridge in the late ’50s,” Hedderly-Smith said. “My father managed it as a tree farm, thinning the hemlocks and encouraging the natural seeding of the firs. It was a wonderful childhood. We played in the woods and rode our horses everywhere. I know a lot of trees up there.”

His mother, Prudence Trudgian, sold 40 acres after her husband died and deeded most of the remaining property to her three children. There was some discussions about selling most of the remaining land to neighbors, but that ended with the beginning of the current economic downturn.

Hedderly-Smith characterized the land trust negotiations as “not easy,” but the family is delighted the property will eventually become a public trust that will serve islanders in perpetuity.

“That’s where it belongs,” he said.