Brook Farm (Cavendish, Vermont)
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Brook Farm is a historic country estate farm at 4203 Twenty Mile Stream Road in
Cavendish, Vermont Cavendish is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. The town was likely named after William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire. The population was 1,392 at the 2020 census. The town of Cavendish includes the unincorporated villages of ...
. It includes one of the state's grandest Colonial Revival mansion houses (built 1894), and surviving outbuildings of a
model farm A demonstration farm, experimental farm or model farm, is a farm which is used primarily to research or demonstrate various agricultural techniques, with any economic gains being an added bonus. Demonstration farms are often owned and operated by ...
of the turn of the 20th century. It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1993. The property is now home to the Brook Farm Vineyard.


Description and history

Brook Farm is located on in rural northwestern Cavendish, with its complex of buildings set on the west side of Twenty Mile Stream Road. The property includes rolling fields separated by rows of trees and stone walls, and overlooks Twenty Mile Stream to the east. Most of the farm buildings are arrayed along a basically semicircular drive, with the house, horse stable, and cow barn dominating the collection of about ten buildings. The main house is a rectangular -story wood-frame structure, set on a stone foundation, with extensions in the shape of a backwards L on the west side. The main block has a gambrel roof with dormers on both sides, and a small gable above the main entrance at the center of the south side. A single-story porch, in parts with an open roof, wraps around the south, east and north sides, with projecting pavilions at the two corners. The porch projects in front of the entrance, with an open balcony area above. Both the main entrance and the balcony entrance have a Palladian arrangement of sash windows on either side of the door. The interior of house is richly decorated with woodwork and vaulted plaster ceilings in the public rooms. with Farming began on this property in 1788, and it grew over the 19th century to become one of Cavendish's largest and most successful dairy farms. In 1881 it was purchased by James H. Bates, a cousin of the previous owner, who had found success as a businessman in
Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
and
Kalamazoo, Michigan Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 73,598. It is the principal city of the Kalamazoo–Portage metropolitan are ...
. Bates transformed the property into a
model farm A demonstration farm, experimental farm or model farm, is a farm which is used primarily to research or demonstrate various agricultural techniques, with any economic gains being an added bonus. Demonstration farms are often owned and operated by ...
, and moved the original farmstead to another location in order to build the mansion house that stands today. Documentation suggests that Middlebury architect Clinton Smith was involved in its design, on which construction was completed in 1894. Most of the remaining farm buildings date to the late 19th century, although the original 1790 barn was part of the Bates's original plan. That barn collapsed in 1988. The property is now a
vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...
. The historical importance of this property and others were evaluated in a study, "Agricultural Resources of Vermont MPS".


See also

*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Windsor County, Vermont __NOTOC__ The National Register of Historic Places is a United States federal official list of places and sites considered worthy of preservation. In Windsor County, Vermont, there are 134 properties and districts listed on the National Registe ...


References


External links


Brook Farm Vineyards web site
{{NRHP in Windsor County, Vermont Colonial Revival architecture in Vermont Houses completed in 1894 Houses in Windsor County, Vermont Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont National Register of Historic Places in Windsor County, Vermont Buildings and structures in Cavendish, Vermont Farms on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont