FRANKLIN, N.H. (AP) – A New Hampshire land preservation program says it will spend a significant portion of its state allocation in an effort to save Daniel Webster’s farm from development.

The Land and Community Heritage Investment Program said Tuesday it will contribute $750,000 in an effort to save the 141-acre farm, the family homestead of the New Hampshire-born statesman, who in 1848 described it as “the very sweetest spot in the world.”

The group is working with The Trust for Public Land and the Webster Farm Preservation Association to preserve the land and buildings and to raise another $1 million from other public and private sources.

The farmhouse and several buildings that once were part of the New Hampshire Orphans Home are located on the northern edge of the property, which has extensive frontage on the Merrimack River.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has listed the property among the country’s 11 most-endangered historic places, noting the property’s “uncertain future at the hands of a developer” as a reason for the designation.

Developer Elmer Pease had said he planned building up to 70 homes, conserving some of the land and renovating existing structures on the property once owned by the Sisters of the Holy Cross.

The total cost of protecting the farm was estimated at $1.75 million, plus expenses for stabilizing the buildings, preserving easements and associated costs.