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Miller Pasture education center up for sale
Conservation area's center not used enough to keep
MillerPastureEduCenter
Remodeled in 2009 to be the focal point of Miller Pasture preserve, the Jan and Dennis Education Center is now for sale because of how little it was used, officials say. - photo by File photo

There’s a for-sale sign at the Jan and Dennis Waters Educational Center on Dunlevie Road in Allenhurst.
Officials of the D.C. Miller Trust, which owns the center as part of a wildlife preserve, say it was not used enough to justify continued ownership.
“However, due to the limited use of this house it is no longer prudent to continue to undertake the costs associated with it,” Theodore Vittoria, a New York attorney and trustee of the D.C. Miller Trust, said in a statement on behalf of the trust. “The sale of this property will in no matter change the trust’s preservation and education mission of Miller Pasture.”
The house was restored and opened as the center to fanfare in 2009. It was originally built in 1910 by the Dunlevie Lumber Co. and once housed the company’s treasurer, Herbert Dunlevie.
The center was named after the Waterses, honoring a $275,000 donation the Allenhurst residents made that enabled the D.C. Miller Trust to buy the home adjacent to property the trust already owned.
Once completed, the D. C. Miller Trust encompassed 1,500 acres of wetlands and wildlife area that includes the ruins of Ernest Dunlevie’s original house. He was the former lumber company president. The now-for-sale educational center was to be the area’s centerpiece.
The trust was created to ensure the property would remain a wildlife preserve and bird sanctuary. It was created as a refuge for species in the area and to serve as open space for area residents.
In his statement, Vittoria, the trustee, said Miller’s Pasture is to enhance the area.
“Through the generosity of Dorothy Blaiser and William Henry Miller, former residents of Liberty County, the D.C. Miller Trust was established with a mission of preserving Miller Pasture in its natural state in perpetuity. This mission was later enhanced to an education mission primarily for children and military families to assist them in understanding the wonders of nature, including its plants, trees, animals and birds. To assist this secondary mission, through the generosity of Jan and Dennis Waters and others, the trust purchased and restored the house adjacent to its property as its educational office.”
ERA Southeast Coastal Real Estate has the listing. The home, located at 642 Dunlevie Road, is among its featured residences in the Allenhurst area. According to the property description the three-bedroom home has 2,341 square feet of living space and is listed at $211,000.
The listing details that only the home and two-acres are being sold and that a fence would be installed around the perimeter. Allenhurst Fence Company was installing the fence this week.
The D.C. Miller Trust will continue to own and manage the surrounding 1,498 acres.

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