Some homebuyers gravitate to the charm and character of past lives lived within the walls of historic properties. Here’s our list of 10 fascinating and luxurious homes currently on the market, both rich in history and in exceptional condition.
10. The Anchorage
Easton, Md.
$3 million
The story of this 67-acre estate overlooking the Miles River begins in 1760, when a ferry keeper built a small brick house. It was occupied by a succession of persons who were in no way greatly different from their neighbors, though it was expanded in 1810. That changed radically, however, when Maryland Gov. Edward Lloyd V bought the property in 1831. Lloyd was a descendant of the prominent and wealthy Lloyd family of Wye House. (His father was a Maryland representative at the Constitutional Convention of 1788.) Gov. Lloyd dramatically enlarged the main house at the Anchorage where one of his daughters and her husband would reside. This national landmark also includes a caretaker’s house, a log smokehouse, a windmill, a Timberpeg boathouse with a substantial pier and multiple deep-water slips.
9. John B. Stetson Mansion
DeLand, Fla.
$3.2 million
John B. Stetson, the man who gave us the iconic Stetson cowboy hat, built Florida's first and only “Gilded Age” mansion in 1886, which became his winter retreat from Philadelphia for 20 years. “He was Florida’s first snowbird,” says owner Michael Solari. The opulent mansion was one of the first homes in the world designed and built with electricity, courtesy of friend Thomas Edison. Among its visitors were President Grover Cleveland, Henry Flagler, Louis Tiffany and the king and queen of England. Forgotten for 100 years, owner Solari said he had no idea what he was buying in 2005. He and his partner performed a $2.5 million renovation on the 3-acre estate, making it suitable for commercial or residential use.
8. Richardson Romanesque I
Cincinnati (or wherever you like)
$3.3 million
Location, location, location. If you subscribe to that real estate mantra, you may want to look at this 19th century, 6,700-square-foot mansion in Cincinnati. No worries if that locale doesn’t appeal to you; it can be disassembled and moved to wherever you desire. The mansion was designed by James McLaughlin, one of the most important American architects during the second half of the 19th Century. But its inner-city location has depreciated its value and the economics of maintaining it on its current site are prohibitive. ResErections Inc., which is working with the property owner, specializes in disassembling and shipping architecturally unique and historical homes that can be reconstructed on sites where the costly investment in renovation results in the creation of new real estate wealth.
7. Glenmorgan
South Woodstock, Vt.
$3.9 million
Glenmorgan is located in the premier area of South Woodstock, Vt., along a quiet country road surrounded by other major estates. This 75-acre estate was originally owned by Capt. Ebed M. Burk, who owned a tannery, around 1800. The elegant brick Federal house, with its spacious, well-equipped kitchen and five bedrooms, is just the beginning of several lying in wait. Its carriage house can be used as a guesthouse, party space or a spectacular office; the great room is centered around a stone fireplace next to a country kitchen, with a second-floor bunk room. A one-acre stocked swimming pond lies next to MacKenzie Hall, which resembles a little red schoolhouse, with a bedroom, sitting room and wood stove.
6. Morewood
Pittsfield, Mass.
$3.8 million
Not all great homes of the Gilded Age were dazzlingly opulent palatial homes glittering with gold and sparkling with crystal. Morewood’s 10,000-square-foot Tudor style main house has the feel of an English country manor. Now on the National Register, it was built in 1912 by Charles Whttlesey Power, a businessman and mayor of Pittsfield. It also has a carriage barn with vaulted ceilings, horse stalls, a tack room and a chicken house. Morewood represents the design influence of the early work of Sir Edwin Lutyens, with architecture adapted from the Elizabethan period, and nestled into its incredible English gardens.
5. Restmore
Southport, Conn.
$3.5 mllion
Restmore was commissioned in 1910 as the summer estate for industrialist Dr. Ira DeVer Warner, co-founder of Warner Brothers in Bridgeport, Conn., the women’s corset and lingerie company later known as Warnaco. Here DeVer entertained, among others, John D. Rockefeller Sr., a close friend. This landmark dwelling, with its distinctive Cape Dutch architecture, was custom-designed by renowned architect Ehrick Kensett Rossiter.
After being placed on the National Registry of Historic Places, it underwent an extensive restoration process, returning it to its original grandeur. The name Restmore was inspired by Warner’s adherence to a healthy lifestyle. "Every hour of sleep you get before midnight, is worth two following," he would say.
4. Wonderland Farms
Hampton, N.J.
$4 million
This historic home, built in 1810, is situated on 89 acres in the sweeping hills of northwest New Jersey. President Dwight D. Eisenhower was a frequent guest at this 5,600-square-foot home when it was owned by Leonard Dickson, a partner at Bear Stearns, who formed a friendship with the future president during World War II. This renovated property includes two fish-stocked ponds and equestrian facilities – two horse paddocks, a riding arena and a 19th century three-story barn. It has miles of trails ideal for hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, cross country skiing and snowmobiling. There is also a skeet shooting area, a pistol range and a private game hunting preserve.
3. Chester Forest and Farm
Chester, Vt.
$5.5 million
The main house of Chester Forest and Farm, a 1,929-acre farm in southern Vermont, was built around 1819. Over the past 40 years, it has been managed as a secluded and picturesque family retreat. The property includes the 4,930-square-foot farmhouse with six bedrooms, a guest house with two bedrooms, a caretaker house with two bedrooms, two antique post and beam barns, and a secluded log cabin. The diverse landscape has 60 acres of meadows suitable for agriculture, a stocked 2-acre pond, orchards, streams and 3.5 miles of top-grade access roads throughout the property. The 1,839 acres of carefully managed northern hard wood forest is mostly comprised of sugar maple.
2. Sycamore Creek
Pennington, N.J.
$7 million
The original farmhouse was built in the 18th century and its barn in the19th century. But it is the 20th century renovations and additions that make this estate special. Acclaimed architects Stamber Aferiat seamlessly joined the previous owners’ love of Japanese palace architecture and their collection of large-scale modern art into the architecture of this 200-year-old farmhouse, while enhancing the site’s 32 idyllic acres. Dotted with old growth trees, grassy meadows, two ponds and a swimming pool, this property also has charming outbuildings that include a teahouse, a separate tenant cottage and an of-the-moment, attached guesthouse.
1. Southmayd Farm
Stockbridge, Mass.
$7.9 million
In search of refuge from New York City in the late 19th Century, the Astors, the Vanderbilts, the Westinghouses and their peers built magnificent “cottages” in the Berkshires during the fabled Gilded Age. So too did prominent New York attorney Charles Fanning Southmayd, who purchased a tract of land called the Oxbow from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. A 2010 article in the Berkshire Eagle says: “The house Southmayd built on the Oxbow in 1870 was … almost exactly where Longfellow dreamt his castle would be: ‘on the upland of the Oxbow looking eastward across this silver bow of the Housatonic (River).’ ” In recent years, Southmayd has been fully restored and sits on more than 33 acres, within walking distance of Stockbridge. The 8,500 square-foot main house includes eight bedrooms and is complemented by a carriage house, greenhouse, guest house, pool, studio, barn complex and paddocks.
