“Just Buy It”: Our Founder Bill Dietel and the Conservation of Eldon Farms

The Summer 2026 issue of The Land Report tells the story of Eldon Farms, a 7,100 acre property in Rappahannock County, Virginia, and one of the largest unbroken landholdings in the mid Atlantic. Our founder, Bill Dietel, helped decide how that story turned out.

When Eldon came on the market in 2019, nothing guaranteed that the next owner would keep the land whole. Bill knew the property well, since his own farm, Over Jordan, sat just to the north. He felt strongly that it needed protecting from development. He also knew who could do it: his friend and neighbor Chuck Akre, founder of Akre Capital Management. Chuck hesitated at taking on a property that size. Bill’s advice was simple: “Just buy it. We’ll figure it out.”

The Akre family made the conservation purchase in 2021, not long before Bill passed away. Today they are building Eldon into a working landscape where conservation and commerce support each other. Their work includes a full ecological and historical inventory, a native plant nursery, grazing trials using GPS collars that keep cattle out of the creeks, and early talks with the Smithsonian, American Farmland Trust, the Clifton Institute and Virginia Tech about making Eldon a living laboratory.

This is the kind of philanthropy Bill practiced throughout his career, and the kind we carry forward at Dietel Pickering and Partners: matching an ambitious project with the people willing and able to carry it.

Read more here.