Enoch T. Cobb (December 26, 1797 – February 26, 1876) was an American farmer, businessman, and philanthropist from Barnstable, Massachusetts.
The will called for the raising of funds for the trust to be accomplished by cutting the wood on the land and selling it at public auction.
[2] Sometime after 1932, the state of Massachusetts passed a law that mandated that schools provide textbooks for their children.
In addition, part of the land on the nearby Barnstable Municipal Airport was used to build a runway.
In 1981, plans were brought about which would include the expansion of Runway 15/33, something which abutted the trust fund's land.
During this time, it was also revealed that the local Veterans of Foreign Wars headquarters was also located on trust land.
The office of state Attorney General Francis X. Bellotti also became involved as the fund had been seriously misused over the years.
The Cy-près doctrine was used to redevelop the trust fund as the original plans of the will would be hard to follow since selling cords of wood was not as profitable as it once was.