The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank’s purchase of 18 acres in West Tisbury this week effectively doubled the size of its Wompesket Preserve property.

The purchase price was $2.5 million; the seller was Merry Farm LLC.

The land bank’s original purchase in the area took place in 1988 but the organization has long wanted to add to its holdings.

“As of 1990 we were trying to buy this property,” said James Lengyel, executive director of the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank. “This purchase is a testament to how long it can take to accomplish what you want to accomplish.”

“The tale of the land bank could be called patience,” he added.

Wompesket Preserve is located off Merry Farm Road, accessible by State Road not far from the Tisbury town line.

“It was once one big property and it made sense to bring it back together from an ecological and historical perspective,” Mr. Lengyel said. “Bringing these fields under common ownership is a sound way to manage them.”

The new purchase adds to the land bank’s desire to create “green archipelagos,” Mr. Lengyel said. It connects land bank properties on Duartes and Blackwater Pond to John Presbury Norton Farm.

“This fits right into it,” Mr. Lengyel said.

The property will now be studied and it will be about a year before it is accessible, Mr. Lengyel said.

“But because it is an addition there is plenty of visual access now,” he added.