The preservation of the Mount Hope Farm in Bristol was not just after his heart, but a cause Senator Chafee himself endorsed in the last year of his life. The Mount Hope Trust helped raise money and pass a bond referendum to fund the purchase of the historic farm from the Haffenreffer estate, allowing Bristol to preserve 127 acres of open space noted as a priority in the town's comprehensive plan.
The property includes healthy farmland, wetlands, rocky coastline, bucolic “view sheds,” Wampanoag ancestral lands, and historic farm buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The citizens of the Trust mounted a creative campaign to educate the townsfolk about the largely unknown gem in their community, and with the Haffenreffer family opened the site to the public for viewing before the referendum, garnering 83% approval of the $1.5 million town bond.