When Bill Thompson Jr. and Bertie Thompson Abrecht look at the sprawling landscape of the land once owned by their grandparents in Boyds, they don't see prime building lots for single-family houses. They see their childhood, a vestige of a way of life that has largely disappeared in the county.

Their grandfather, William Earl Thompson, purchased the 434-acre Slidell Road property in 1936, and the bustling dairy farm was the heart of the family's life until it was sold in the late 1950s. The Thompson Farm became the center of protracted legal battle nearly half a century later over whether it should be developed or remain rural. The Planning Board recently approved preserving nearly half of the property as parkland.

"We were tickled. I'm glad it's a park now, it's a good place for a park," Thompson, 70, of Germantown said as he drove along the streets he traveled as a child.

Thompson's grandfather William Earl Thompson and his wife Helen bought the property while living at another farm near Ten Mile Creek with their only child, William Linwood Thompson. Bill Thompson Jr. was born to William Linwood on the farm in the years the family spent preparing for the move to its new property, and three daughters — Helen, Bertie and Becky — came later. William Linwood and his family lived at Thompson Farm until 1950, when they opened a dairy barn on Peach Tree Road, but the family returned every summer to help with the harvest.

"The farm life was hard, but it was very rewarding," said Albrecht, 63, of Middletown, a retired workers compensation analyst. "If it wasn't for their teaching us, I don't think we'd be as successful as we've been."

The children got up at 3:30 a.m. to feed the animals before school, drove tractors, cut wood and painted fences. They raised cattle and pigs for 4-H, went sledding on the rolling hills and ate picnics in the woods. Their grandmother cooked for the farmhands every night, and everybody ate together at a big table.

William Earl retired in the late 1950s and leased the land, though he still lived on the farm and often criticized workers from his front porch. He sold his 434 acres to attorney Harry Leet in 1964 and bought a house in Frederick. William Linwood bought two farms nearby in Frederick to stay close to his parents.

"You kind of lose your fire, and we decided to let it go. [Leet] tried to buy it for a while, and finally [my grandfather] said ‘Here, it's yours, '" Bill Jr. said. "…He didn't want to let it go. He loved being outdoors. When he went to Frederick, there was a big change in him."

Less than a year later, William Linwood sold his farms and retired. Bill Thompson Jr. had left for college and there was no one to take over the family business.

"I always thought I'd be a dairy farmer, but I changed my mind," said Bill Jr., a retired computer programmer. "…I had reservations about leaving, but as a young man with a family it's hard. Plus I had a yearning to do something else, I just didn't know what."

The Jamison family, which owns properties in the rural upcounty, bought the 434-acre farm in 2001 after Leet died. The Planning Board approved Jamison's plans for 17 houses on the farm in 2002 despite opposition from neighbors and conservationists. The board denied it in 2003 after opponents asked for reconsideration but approved the same plan again the following year at a second reconsideration hearing. The residents took the case to the Maryland Court of Special Appeals because they said the board had no basis to approve the plan after it had been denied.

The court upheld the subdivision plan, but Jamison later began negotiations to sell some of the more ecologically sensitive lots to a county land preservation program. The Planning Board voted to purchase 97 acres of the farm from the Jamison 427 Land Company for $2.7 million. Jamison will donate 76 acres, and the company can build up to nine homes on the remaining 262 acres.

"It's been back and forth and back and forth. I'm really glad it ended this way," said Dolores Milmoe, a conservation advocate for the Audubon Naturalist Society. "…It's probably the best we could have hoped for."

From near-subdivision to preserved land

June 1997: Planning staff recommends approval of seven homes on 176 acres of the former Thompson Farm. Property owner does not pursue further, farm sold after his death.

June 2002: Planning Board approves preliminary plan for 17 homes on 434 acres. Residents request reconsideration.

December 2003: Planning Board denies preliminary plan. Property owner requests reconsideration.

November 2004: Planning Board approves preliminary plan. Residents request judicial review.

February 2006: Montgomery County Circuit Court affirms Planning Board's approval. Residents appeal.

March 2007: Maryland Court of Special Appeals affirms Circuit Court ruling.

September 2008: Planning Board approves putting 172 acres of Thompson Farm into preservation with the support of the property owner, allowing staff to begin negotiating the purchase.

April 2009: Planning Board approves purchasing 97 acres for $1.2 million. Remainder of 172 acres, 75 acres, would be donated to county. The deal is expected to be finalized in August.