This 1790 dairy farm lies nestled into a dynamic landscape that includes a sheer rock face, streams, woods, meadow, marsh, beaver pond, stone walls, and a cascading waterfall. The parcel lies on both sides of Norfolk Road, with a large barn sited below the house, and a separate heated art studio alongside. In the house are abundant original details, blended with contemporary touches by the artist/owner who has made the farm home and studio since 1985. The formal front door is still in use and opens into a gracious central hall. There are multiple rooms for entertaining, dining, working, and socializing, four bedrooms, two full bathrooms, two half baths, and four working fireplaces. There is a brand-new furnace and hot water system in the full-height basement. With multiple building sites and abundant natural features, this property can remain an enchanted and loved family home for artists and enthusiasts of rural life, return to its dairy farming roots, or embrace an entirely new chapter of Berkshire living. High-speed internet. Half a mile to the Southfield Store and Southfield post office, and within minutes of protected recreational land in multiple directions, farm-to-table dining, and cultural attractions. Twelve miles from the Connecticut border.
What’s the most compelling thing about this property?
Its timelessness. You have a 1790’s center hall colonial, untouched by renovation. When you open the front door, you look straight through the house to the waterfall. It’s a wild combination of 18th century roots and our modern yearning to bring the outdoors in.
For whom is this house perfect?
It is perfect for a lover of original building materials, who is thrilled by wide plank floors and four working fireplaces. Also, this property has a sense of humor. There are few straight lines, the experience of living here revolves around authenticity and creative energy.
What’s the most fun thing to do within five miles of this house?
Walk to coffee at the Southfield Store. Roam your own acreage, watch the beavers, host barn parties, attend gallery shows at the New Marlborough Meeting house, buy local meats and produce from the farm store, join the cooking club at the local library, swim in York Lake, hear live music at t Southfield church, have a popsicle on the porch of the Mill River Store, eat a candle lit dinner at the Inn on the Green, go to a pop up film series at Gedney Farm, walk 1000’s of preserved acres without ever leaving town.
If this house could talk, what secret would it tell about its history?
This house probably has a lot to say about the landscape; what it reveals, how it has changed. It is very dynamic, very alive, and the house has seen gentle and natural change to the landscape over the centuries. The name of the village, Southfield, comes from a direct reference to this property, known in the early 19th century to all as the “south field” in the town of New Marlborough. Descendants of the Palmer family, who built the house, still live in town and are eager to keep town and family stories alive.
