The Howard County Conservancy is a non-profit land trust that operates a nature center in Woodstock, Maryland.

Pleasant Farm,[1] and also maintains an additional nature center at the nearby Belmont Manor.

[citation needed] The center was founded in 1990 as a private land trust with the goal of protecting and preserving farmland and historic sites in Howard County.

Pleasant farm dates back to 1692 when Patuxent Ranger Thomas Browne II built a log house on a land grant "Ranters Ridge".

Owners and descendants Ruth and Francis Brown died in 1990 and 1992 respectively requesting their estate be preserved and used for educational purposes.