Campus & Buildings

Update on Coach Barn Rehabilitation

hbrough — Wed, 09 Oct 2024 13:19:54 +0000

Update on Coach Barn Rehabilitation hbrough Wed, 10/09/2024 - 09:19

Work on the Coach Barn has begun! Since August, skilled men and women in many areas of expertise have been tackling the building’s transformation. In this early stage, they’re mostly laying the groundwork for what’s to come: upgrading water service, electrical service, a new geothermal heating/cooling system, and more. They’re also focusing on completing exterior work before the snow flies.

Each step is bringing us closer to a barn that will function beautifully—with improved access—as a renewed gathering and learning space. And each step is working within the building’s historical fabric, keeping as much of what’s original as possible. The “new” Coach Barn will still be the Coach Barn that is loved by so many.

Here’s a look at just some of what’s been happening–what is and isn’t changing inside and outside this historic barn. Pardon the mess!

We began in early August by improving water drainage around the barn. As any homeowner knows, a water-tight building is a building that will stand the test of time. (Some roof repairs were done, too, for the same reason.)

Early interior work is making way for upgraded water service. Pipes are being run under this hallway floor from right to left into the new kitchen. (The ceiling wood panels are being saved to reinstall later.) The barn needs a strong water supply for its new fire-suppression system, kitchen, and geothermal heat pump heating/cooling system. In the photo on the right, you can see a new wall opening that will lead to four accessible restrooms.

Perhaps the biggest change to the Coach Barn interior is the conversion of the old boiler room into an all electric-powered kitchen and pantry. It’s probably a room you’ve never seen! To date, workers have removed all the boiler-related infrastructure that dated to the early 1990s, graded the floor (it used to be two levels), and poured a new concrete subfloor.

While the weather holds, workers have dismantled the Coach Barn chimney and are reconstructing it according to the original building plans. The chimney vented the old furnaces, a role it will no longer serve. However, because many of its bricks and flashing were deteriorating, the reconstruction effort is needed to keep the interior safe from the elements and animals, and to preserve this iconic feature of the historic barn.

Workers have drilled and installed the ten metal casings (pipes) for the barn’s geothermal heat pump heating/cooling system (see bottom of this blog). Two separate sets of plastic pipes will be run through the vertical, 500-foot-deep casings and into the Coach Barn to the heat pump system. We’ll ultimately cut the metal pipes six-feet down and recap them, so the top of each pipe will be buried. The next step is installing the interior ducts, and prepping and insulating the mechanical rooms for the system. We’re really excited for the ground-source system: it is instrumental to making the Coach Barn a net zero building.

Coordinating and executing the ongoing work is a huge effort. Our thanks to all the people, contractors, and their skilled staff who are making it possible.

SAS Architects
Naylor and Breen, project managers, carpentry
Builders Installed Products, insulation
JL Masonry, masonry
Omega Electric, electrical upgrades
Spafford and Sons, geothermal drilling
Thomas Mechanical, plumbing, HVAC
White Falcon Solutions, sitework, below-grade masonry

The Coach Barn Rehabilitation Project is part of the Campaign for Shelburne Farms and has a price tag of $10M. Thanks to a generous challenge, if we successfully complete the $50M Campaign by December 31, 2024, the Robert. W. Wilson Trust will contribute an additional $5M to fully fund the Coach Barn project. We have just over $1.6M left to raise and are truly grateful to everyone who has supported this transformational work to date! We invite you to learn more and support the Campaign.

The Language of Historic Preservation

In the world of historic preservation, construction-related words have very specific meanings. Here’s a primer. (These terms can apply to entire properties and landscapes as well.)

Preservation: Sustaining a building’s existing form, integrity, and materials. The focus is to maintain and repair historic materials and features, rather than using new construction, additions, or extensive repairs.

Rehabilitation: Making a compatible use for a building possible through repairs, alterations, or additions, while preserving the features that convey its historical, cultural, or architectural values. [This is Shelburne Farms’ sweet spot!]

Restoration: Accurately depicting the form, features, and character of a building as it appeared at a particular period of time. Features from other periods can be removed and/or missing features reconstructed to make the building conform to the historical era.

Reconstruction: Using new construction to depict the form, features, and details of a lost structure. Reconstruction is used primarily for interpretive purposes, to replicate a building’s appearance at a specific time period in its historic location.

Complete definitions from National Park Service

Holly Brough

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I don’t see an click for donating!

Sorry! You may click on the "Campaign for Shelburne Farms" link at the bottom of the blog, or you can simply click here!

You are doing great work!
We are so fortunate to have Shelburne Farms in our community!

My favorite building- so wonderful you are devoted to it’s restoration and maintenance. Can’t wait to see it. Happy Indigenous Peoples Day!!

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October 9, 2024

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Saving an American Treasure: The Farm Barn

hbrough — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 20:34:56 +0000

Saving an American Treasure: The Farm Barn hbrough Wed, 09/25/2024 - 16:34

The Farm Barn, photo credit: Orah Moore

Since 1890, when the last shingle was secured and wood trim painted, the Farm Barn has been the nerve center of Shelburne Farms. It has been home to, and seen so much. And through all the years, it has been the breathtaking building that first welcomes people to this farm.

Now, thanks to a recently awarded Save America’s Treasures grant, Shelburne Farms will be able to restore a piece of the barn that has been much-weathered by time—its historic courtyard walls.

The $500,000, subject to a dollar-for-dollar public match, will help Shelburne Farms’ signature barn continue to safely welcome people to our learning campus and the many education programs that begin at its doors.

The Farm Barn is one of the original four principal buildings on the farm, all designed by Robert H. Robertson. It helped earn Shelburne Farms recognition as a National Historic Landmark District in 2001 (it’s a “contributing structure” to that designation). The Breeding Barn and Coach Barn were also contributing structures, and both have also received Save America’s Treasures Grants in recent years.

At the turn of the 20th century, this barn was farming central. Farmworkers cared for teams of mules here, loaded hay in the mows, cleaned harnesses and tack, repaired metal wagon parts, painted, built, and more. And in its corner offices, staff balanced ledgers, placed orders, kept records, and planned.

A busy Farm Barn courtyard in 1889 (Shelburne Farms Collections)
The Farm Barn circa 1900. Photo by T.E. Marr
The Farm Barn, 1975. Note the sheds in front of the courtyard's north wall.
Concert-goers enjoy summer music inside the courtyard walls.
Visitors enjoy seasonal horse-drawn wagon rides in front of the Farm Barn.
Wall entrances for pedestrians offer safety to more than just humans!

Today, the Farm Barn is equally busy–in a different way. In the early 1990s, generous donors helped transform the declining building into an education and administrative center for the nonprofit. Now within its walls and fields, people of all ages can learn about the role of farming in their lives and ponder the food systems of the future. Depending on the day or season, they can taste cheddar, hand-milk a cow, craft a garden pizza, walk a sheep, picnic… the list goes on.

Small wonder the Farm Barn is getting a bit of the TLC it now needs, specifically on its courtyard walls.

What's in the Farm Barn?

The McClure Center for School Programs
The Children's Farmyard
Cheesemaking Operations
O Bread Bakery
Beeken Parsons Fine Furniture
Administrative Offices

Although the barn’s historic courtyard walls define one of the most public places at the farm, they weren’t designed in the 1890s to accommodate the pedestrians who now regularly pass through them. That’s permanently changing with this grant.

And the walls, made of locally quarried redstone, need work. A lot of the mortar has failed, leaving open joints where water has been entering and compromising the walls. Some large wall stones have fallen out; other areas have collapsed completely. The grant will allow us to rebuild, repoint, and repair the walls.

“We applaud Shelburne Farms for the tireless efforts to ensure its preservation and accessibility to the public,” said Laura Trieschmann, Vermont’s State Historic Preservation Officer. We are excited to continue doing just that when work on the Farm Barn begins, planned for in spring 2025.

Farm Barn renovations are a component of the Campaign for Shelburne Farms. We are grateful to everyone who has supported this transformational project to date, and we invite you to learn more and support the Campaign.

The Save America's Treasures grant is from the Historic Preservation Fund, administered by the National Park Service, Department of the Interior. It is a dollar-for-dollar matching grant that requires Shelburne Farms to secure an additional $500,000 in private charitable investment.

Holly Brough

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Wonderful information in this article and through all the "links". Thank you!

Thank you for supporting this beautiful historic site.

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September 24, 2024

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Windmill Hill Conservation Project

hbrough — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 17:05:14 +0000

Windmill Hill Conservation Project hbrough Tue, 09/03/2024 - 13:05

“It’s a National Park-quality landscape,” says Shelburne Farms President Alec Webb, gesturing across the fields and woodlands of Windmill Hill.

The reference is fitting, and not just because Windmill Hill is beautiful. The conservation of these acres, like the creation of the National Park Service itself, was inspired in part by the ideas of Frederick Law Olmsted. He believed that access to nature is vital to public well-being and should be available to all, not just the privileged few. The story of Windmill Hill is rooted in that same big idea. It’s a story of creative land conservation, generous supporters, and staying true to a nonprofit vision. Now this land is back in the Shelburne Farms fold, and the story can continue.

Windmill Hill lay near the southern boundary of Shelburne Farms after “Southern Acres” passed to Webb descendants in 1913. (Its name is likely tied to a windmill on the shoreline of Lake Champlain that could be seen from the hill. The windmill was part of the former Hart Farm purchased by the Webbs in 1886.)

This nitrate negative (c.1880s-1890s) shows a windmill along the Lake Champlain shoreline that possibly lent Windmill Hill its name. It stood on the Hart Farm, which the Webbs purchased. A windmill also shows up on an 1886 planning drawing from A. R. Dow, Civil Engineer. (Source: Shelburne Farms Collections)

When Derick Webb died unexpectedly in 1984, his will gave Shelburne Farms’ 1,000 acres (including Windmill Hill) to the education nonprofit that several of his grown children had founded over a decade earlier. In those early years, it was offering modest programs for youth, educators, and the community. Derick’s gift radically changed what could be possible. “If he hadn’t done that, the whole vision for the nonprofit probably wouldn’t have happened,” reflects Alec.

That vision included reinvigorating the farm not only as a campus for learning, but as an alternative to the suburban sprawl that was inching out from Burlington, and swallowing thousands of acres of productive farmland nationwide each year.

Journey through the fields and forests of Windmill Hill.

Derick’s gift was an enormous, generous windfall with a big asterisk: there was no endowment. There were no funds available to maintain–let alone restore–the property’s buildings and infrastructure, which were all crumbling from long-deferred maintenance.

To stabilize the nonprofit financially, the Board of Directors launched a fundraising campaign in 1985 and sold three house sites on the property’s outer margins–on Windmill Hill. “That transaction gave us hope.” says Alec. “It was a compromise that had to be made in order to achieve the vision.” In fact, he continues, “Those two things: the gift of the land and the generosity of those first buyers, really tee'd up the work from the mid-80s until now.”

But a decade later, in 1994, when Shelburne Museum transferred “Southern Acres” back to Shelburne Farms, the Windmill Hill sites effectively became a private and developable island in the heart of the farm. That made their conservation an even higher strategic priority.

Shelburne Farms was able to secure two of these parcels (one included a home), in 2013 and 2020 with the help of low- and no-interest loans. Then in 2021, we went for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire the third and most prominent lot.

What did we get in return? “We created the largest block of conserved farm and forest land with the most beautiful views,” Alec responds, “and with some of the most productive soils on the property.” (The Vermont Housing and Conservation Board and Vermont Land Trust will eventually hold a conservation easement on 65 acres.) “We have the opportunity to extend the trails and link the trail system internally, too,” he adds. “It just furthers Olmsted’s idea of nurturing well-being by connecting people to the land.” That’s a lot in the ledger’s plus column.

Windmill Hill House also increases our capacity to host educators for residential programs. “Combined with the Coach Barn and Orchard Cove House, it really opened the door for the vision for increasing the power of convening and learning at the farm.

Educators in our 2023 Education for Sustainability Leadership Institute gather for a discussion outside Windmill Hill House, on the flanks of Windmill Hill.

“If you look at it as a true endowment,” Alec sums up, “it’s one of the best investments we’ve made. It will pay public, agricultural, and ecosystem dividends forever.”

The Windmill Hill Conservation Project is a key component of the Campaign for Shelburne Farms. We are grateful to everyone who has supported this transformational project to date, and we invite you to learn more and support the Campaign.

Donate to the Campaign for Shelburne Farms

Holly Brough

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From June 1988 thru June 2000, I had the honor and privalage to be the Superintendent of Farms at the University of Vermont. Because of an arrangement between then UVM president Lattie Coor and Sam and Marshall Webb whose home was at the edge of the Windmill Hill lot, my responsibilities included care and maintenance of the entire Southern Acres property, a rent free home at the Kennel Cottage just south of the Breeding Barn for my wife Kate and son Kai and most importantly for me, inclusion in the community of folks who lived and worked at Southern Acres during those years. Kai was born there, each morning started out for me tending the 100+ dairy animals housed in the Breeding Barn that belonged to the University and managing the many acres of crop and grazing land of Southern Acres for those 12 years. I met Watson Webb and counted him as a friend and helped others living there keep the roads at the property open during blizzards and through the ice storm of January 1998. Those 12 years at Southern Acres were the absolute pinnacle of my life and that place changed and blessed me forever.

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September 3, 2024

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The Artisans Behind the Scenes at the Inn

hbrough — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 14:22:18 +0000

The Artisans Behind the Scenes at the Inn hbrough Fri, 08/02/2024 - 10:22

Shelburne Farms has long been committed to reimagining historic spaces and infusing them with new purpose. The Farm Barn is an education center and more, the north gate house is a Welcome Center & Farm Store, the Coach Barn is being rehabilitated as a gathering center for educators and the community.

Shelburne House, once a family home, was transformed into an Inn in 1987. Its original furnishings (75-80%), are not displayed as a static exhibition, but used continuously by visitors to give each person a living historic house experience. And as a sustainability practice, we maintain (repair, reupholster) what we have rather than buying new furnishings. Here’s a look at some of the artisans and the conservation projects they took on at the Inn this season to ensure the spaces will be enjoyed now and into the future.

Carolyn Frisa: Wallpaper Conservation

Carolyn (right) and her studio manager, Ada Brown (left) in the final stages of inpainting areas of loss.
Where areas of white plaster were exposed (at lower left), Carolyn infilled with a heavy, off-white Japanese paper that she tinted to match the wallpaper using a palette of watercolor, gouache or acrylic paint (right).
The Fr. Beck wallpaper, pattern #674, hung in the main corridor between the Tea Room and the Marble Dining Room (pictured), and in the Tea Room. (photo: Thomas E. Marr, ca. 1900 -1903, Shelburne Farms Archives)

Carolyn Frisa is head conservator and owner of Works on Paper in southern Vermont, where she specializes in the preservation and conservation of paper. She has helped Shelburne Farms conserve a variety of objects from the collection, including framed photographs, engravings and watercolors, and wallpaper dating to 1890 and 1899.

Carolyn returned this spring to clean and stabilize the wallpaper in the corridor leading to the Marble Dining Room. In addition to cleaning the wallpaper surface with soft brushes and vulcanized rubber sponges (or "soot sponges"), she paid special attention to re-adhering the largest and loosest sections with wheat starch paste to avoid future losses. She and her studio manager Ada Brown then infilled areas of complete loss and minimized areas stained by previous water damage. "Preserving these materials for staff, guests, and visitors to use and enjoy is part of what makes working here so rewarding,” Carolyn says.

The neoclassical designed machine printed wallpaper, with white, green, and metallic decoration on a distinctive Prussian blue ground, was manufactured by F(rederick). R. Beck & Co. of New York City. Numerous Fr. Beck & Co. wallpapers were used throughout Shelburne House between 1895 and 1899. The company and its employees were well-respected for their artistry and ability to utilize modern printing techniques to create fashionable wallpapers. An 1893 article about Beck wallpapers in The Decorator and Furnisher extolled the “efforts that combine the genius of the artist with the trained skill of the practical mechanic,” and went on to say, “...and so it is that the blank roll of wall-paper is swiftly emblazoned with the most beautiful conceptions by the simple turning of the wheel.”

Judith Eisenberg: Silk Wallcovering Conservation

Textile conservator Judith Eisenberg examines how a new cotton underlayment fabric, selected for its complimentary red color and lack of sheen, appears with the original silk. (May 1, 2024)
Silk damaged beyond repair was removed to reveal the original white cotton interlining that supported it (left). The treated area (right) has a new crimson colored cotton fabric mounted beneath the original silk to mask the loss.
The original wall covering appears in this c. 1900 photo (photo: Thomas E. Marr, ca. 1900 -1903, Shelburne Farms Archives).

This season, textile conservator Judith Eisenberg treated the original crimson silk damask wall covering in the Marble Dining Room, stabilizing areas that have been damaged over time by tables and chairs. The silk was too vulnerable to repair with stitches, so she relied on an archival adhesive to secure it to newly mounted cotton fabric (see images). Future conservation will be necessary to address splitting seams.

The silk fabric was custom woven for the Marble Dining Room in August 1898 by Prelle et Cie, located in Lyon, France. Family-run since 1752, Prelle still designs and weaves silk today. The Frick Collection, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the Biltmore to name a few have a long history of using Prelle silk on walls.

As Judith worked through the challenges with Shelburne Farms’ original silk, she fondly reminisced about tackling painted silk panels made in the 1970s by Robert Rauschenberg—perhaps one of her favorite conservation projects ever in a career spanning four decades. Prior to her recent move to Vermont, Judith ran her own textile lab in New York City. Judith enjoys projects of all sizes and while Shelburne Farms has been her largest since relocating to Vermont, she also recently completed work on a Torah mantle (cover) for Ohavi Zedek Synagogue in Burlington.

Mike Williams: Upholstery

Upholsterer Mike Williams on the job at the Inn. He often makes “house calls” for quick repairs and does small jobs onsite.
After taking the Tea Room sofas to his workshop and removing the worn and torn fabric, Mike carefully stretches and tacks on the new “Ancient Canopy” woodlands-inspired fabric by Sanderson.
The newly re-upholstered sofas in situ in the Tea Room at the Inn.

Mike Williams has been upholstering furniture for over 40 years. He learned the trade from his father, whose business A&R Interiors was located on St. Paul St. in Burlington. (Coincidentally, Mike’s grandfather, Maurice Bushway, worked for Shelburne Farms’ dairy in the late 1950s.) Mike has a vast knowledge of fabrics, a sharp attention to detail, and a love of historic furniture—and Shelburne Farms. He literally knows our furniture inside and out –having reupholstered some pieces twice. As he tries to ease into some sort of retirement, he is selective about the projects he takes on, but this spring, he agreed to upholster the two large Empire sofas in the Tea Room, which he had last upholstered in 2014. He relished the challenge of securing the woodlands inspired fabric, “Ancient Canopy”, to the sofas' seats and backs while matching its repeating pattern. “This project has been one of my top three career favorites,” he shared.

Jennie Baker: Painted Furniture Conservation

Jennie Baker (right) with upholsterer Mike Williams. Over the years, these two have often collaborated on a variety of furniture conservation projects requiring both of their areas of expertise.
This washstand from the Blue Room is part of a suite of furniture that was originally painted “green and white,” but it had additional paint layers as well.
Using dental instruments for the small carved details, Jennie carefully removed multiple layers of paint (note both the green and cream paints), revealing the intricate carved flower and ribbon wreath.

Local conservator Jennie Baker, typically arrives at the Inn each April to work through a list of annual conservation projects. As a trained conservator, she combines her expertise in chemistry with a vast knowledge of furniture making. For over 25 years, Jennie has been instrumental in helping Shelburne Farms with a myriad of projects: she has cast new pieces to replicate losses to interior plaster moldings and gilded wood frames, repaired furniture, preserved varnished, gilded and painted wood surfaces, and provided creative and invaluable advice on a multitude of projects.

Most recently, Jennie completed the treatment of five pieces of painted furniture that were purchased as part of a suite in 1899 from Schultze, Dowling, & Butler, an interior decorating firm in New York City. A 1915 Shelburne House inventory lists many such pieces of “enameled” furniture, and over time, many have been repainted, often in different colors. During treatment, Jennie removed contemporary layers of paint to reveal early paint colors and long-obscured carved details (floral wreaths, ribbons, finials, bellflower edging), then helped us determine the proper final color and finish. “The most gratifying part,” Jennie shares, “is revealing the exquisite carving that has been obliterated under layers and layers of paint. Especially that carving on the back of the Blue Room washstand.”

We are so grateful to each skilled professional who helps us care for and maintain Shelburne Farms’ buildings and landscape. We are also grateful to the generosity of donors who have made this year's ambitious conservation/preservation projects at the Inn possible.

NOTE: As a National Historic Landmark, Shelburne Farms adheres to the Secretary of the Interior’s guidelines for the treatment of historic properties: We use the “Rehabilitation” approach to conservation, which “acknowledge[s] the need to alter or add to a historic building to meet continuing new uses while retaining the building’s historic character.”

Specifically, rehabilitation is defined as “the act or process of making possible a compatible use for a property through repair, alterations, and additions while preserving those portions or features which convey its historical, cultural, or architectural values.”

Julie Eldridge Edwards

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I love this level of conservation for Shelburne Farms!!

Want an amazing group of artisans

Oh thank you for the work you all do!! preserving every detail of this national treasure right in our midst!!

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August 8, 2024

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What on the Farm? Three Sisters Garden

aestey — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 13:56:50 +0000

What on the Farm? Three Sisters Garden aestey Fri, 08/02/2024 - 09:56

Judy Dow, in striped shirt at center, speaks with educators in the Three Sisters garden. (Photo: Andrea Estey)

Around the south side of our Farm Barn is the Children’s Farmyard Garden, full of plants to taste, smell, and touch: sweet cherry tomatoes, tart ground cherries, fragrant herbs, fuzzy lamb’s ears, and more. We’re honored that, for four years, the garden has also hosted a trio of heirloom crops planted by our partners at Gedakina.

This triumvirate of plants—corn, beans, and squash—is called the Three Sisters. These three crops have been companion planted by Indigenous peoples in North, Central, and South America for millenia! When grown together, each plant has a mutually beneficial role to play in the growth and flourishing of the others. Gedakina’s executive director Judy Dow explains the Three Sisters (plus one):

Corn is planted first in the center of the plot. Corn provides a stalk for the beans to climb.

Beans are planted next, at least two weeks later, in a circle around the corn. Beans, as a legume, put nitrogen back into the soil, helping the other plants thrive.

Squash is planted last in the outermost circle. Squash provides shade that helps prevent the soil from drying out, while its prickly leaves keep predators away.

Sunflowers, the Fourth Sister, are planted along either end of the garden bed. Sunflowers distract birds from eating the corn, pull heavy metals from the soil, and serve as a windbreak. Ants help to herd aphids onto the sunflowers, increasing the production of the other plants.

Together, the family of plants in a Three Sisters garden create a healthy, balanced, self-sustaining ecosystem that both provides food and gives back to the soil, Judy says. This reflects the wisdom of traditional farming methods, which recognize and celebrate the ways in which all living things are interconnected and interdependent.

“Three Sisters: A Healthy Ecosystem” tapestry by Judy Dow. On right, you can see the way that bean vines climb the corn. (Photos: Sarah Webb and Andrea Estey)

Gedakina will share the seeds that these Three Sisters produce with other Indigenous gardens around the Northeast. Through this collaboration, it’s our hope that the plot will serve as both education and inspiration to learners of all ages, spreading the wisdom of Traditional Ecological Knowledge.

Fiber hemp grows in Gedakina's plots, alongside tobacco and medicinal flowers like calendula, coneflower, and yarrow. (Photo: Andrea Estey)

In addition to the sisters, you’ll see several other crops planted by Gedakina staff in the Children’s Farmyard garden, including tobacco and fiber hemp. Tobacco is considered sacred by many Indigenous people and is grown here for use in ceremonies.

As for fiber hemp, it has been cultivated for centuries for its slender, strong, durable fibers, explains Gedakina staff member Jen Daniels. Once dried and processed, the fibers can be used for textiles, weavings, animal bedding, even building insulation! Hemp also sequesters carbon at a higher rate compared to other crops and even young forests, and its deep root systems are able to clean soils, a process known as bioremediation.

Stop by to see, learn from, and enjoy the Three Sisters on your next visit to the Children’s Farmyard!

Andrea Estey

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August 2, 2024

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The Coach Barn Rehabilitation Project

hbrough — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 12:45:24 +0000

The Coach Barn Rehabilitation Project hbrough Mon, 07/22/2024 - 08:45

The historic Coach Barn will soon be undergoing a transformation. Already a gem in the fabric of Shelburne Farms, the renovated barn will be an even more inspirational place for gathering and learning. It’s just been waiting for its moment to fully shine!

With its spacious halls, large enclosed courtyard, and sweeping lake-side lawns, the Coach Barn has long served the nonprofit as a space to convene educators and gather our community. It is, after all, home to the Institute for Sustainable Schools, which serves more than 1,500 educators a year through nationally recognized programs like the Farm to School Institute and our new Education for Sustainability (EFS) Graduate Certificate Program with UVM.

Our community celebrates here, too, at events like the Vermont Fresh Network dinner, the Rotary annual fundraiser, and the Waldorf School year-end party to name just a few.

Yet despite decades of use, the Coach Barn has had few improvements over the years. It’s been functional and beautiful, but its electrical, lighting, water, and heating systems are all overdue for upgrades. Its fire suppression and detection system needs an upgrade, too, especially in the wake of Dairy Barn fire in 2016. The Coach Barn will be the last major barn to be outfitted against fire.

We’ll also be addressing the barn’s “food system.” Few experiences bring people together like preparing and serving food, and delicious farm-fresh food has been foundational to the Coach Barn experience throughout its history as a gathering space. To strengthen the ties to the working farm landscape and between our learners, the transformed barn will include a new kitchen.

To give you a fuller picture of the Coach Barn's transformation, here are schematics of the project from our partners at SAS Architects. And for a full immersion, watch the virtual tour of the future building.

All of these systems are essential to the success of the Coach Barn. And in a world that’s warming, energy efficiency is essential, too. So after we extract the Coach Barn’s aging boiler, we’re planning on a radically different solution to heating and cooling the building: a ground-source (geothermal) heat pump system that is fossil-fuel free. (More below)

To give you a fuller picture of the Coach Barn's transformation, here are schematics of the project from our partners at SAS Architects. For a full immersion, watch the virtual tour of the future building.

The courtyard will be regraded to move rainwater away from the building walls, then resurfaced with granite pavers. Trees and plantings will enhance the space.
The West (and East) Hall will have new glass doors to address fire safety. (The sliding wood doors will be fixed open.) In the Elevator Room (foreground), the floors will be cleaned, patched, and repointed.
Both East and West Halls will have their southern yellow pine floors sanded and refinished, and all thresholds made accessible. Ceiling mounted projectors, retractable screens, and an AV system will unite the spaces.
The new teaching kitchen will be located off the hall to the stables, and will have doors to the courtyard.
This bird's eye view shows how all the various ground-level spaces will be used. (Note that stables will become breakout spaces for small groups.)

Even with all the wonderful changes, the Coach Barn will remain the Coach Barn. The historic structure—integral to Shelburne Farms’ National Historic Landmark designation—will continue to anchor the viewscape south of the Inn, and welcome guests with the warmth of its wood interior. The marrying of the old and the innovative makes this project signature Shelburne Farms.

Work on the Coach Barn begins in August 2024, but with an estimated $10 million price tag, bringing this vision to life won’t just happen. In 2022, a $500,000 Save America’s Treasure grant from the National Park Service got the ball rolling, along with several generous gifts from individuals and foundations, and we now have a challenge!

The Robert W. Wilson Trust is challenging us to raise the funds needed for the Coach Barn project, which is part of the larger Campaign for Shelburne Farms. As of July 2024, thanks to generous support from hundreds of donors, we have just over $3 million to raise towards our Campaign goal of $50 million. If you can help us reach that goal by December 31, 2024, the Trust will contribute an additional $5 million to fully fund the Coach Barn rehabilitation project.

Donate to the Coach Barn Project

New Ground-Source Heat Pump System

A solution of water and glycol will circulate through a closed loop of ten, 500-foot pipes positioned upright underground. The solution absorbs heat from the surrounding earth (its temperature hovers around 50℉ year-round), and transfers it to a heat pump inside the building to warm the interior spaces. In the summer, the flow is reversed: heat from the building is slowly releases it into the ground.

BENEFITS:
• Coach Barn can be used year-round.
• It is very energy efficient
• It is mostly carbon-neutral (Vermont electricity is 90% carbon-free)
• After higher upfront costs, it has low operating and maintenance costs
• It yields high indoor air quality

More about heat pumps

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The Coach Barn: Welcoming Educators & Guests

The Coach Barn is home base for much of our work with educators every summer, and welcomes our community in various ways. Here's a peek at its evolution over time.

Shelburne Farms Awarded a Save America’s Treasures Grant

A new award will help the nonprofit protect and preserve the historic Coach Barn as a hub for professional learning for educators.

Holly Brough

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Forest as a Classroom

Sarah — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 13:07:09 +0000

Forest as a Classroom Sarah Fri, 10/20/2023 - 09:07

Andy Duback

During foliage season in Vermont, it’s all about the trees and forests, and the canvas of color they create. At Shelburne Farms, our woodlands are more than a beautiful backdrop (although they’re looking great right now!). They're filled with activities that bring people into the forest to learn—about mushrooms, horse-drawn tree harvesting, the effects of climate change, where to find salamanders and lots more. Over the past couple of weeks, as colors have been peaking, we’ve been tagging along behind the many programs and activities here that rely on the beauty and ecology of our woodlands to inspire learning. Tag along with us!

Oct. 1: Horses Harvest Trees

As the calendar turned to October, teams of horses and oxen were at the farm demonstrating their skill at performing farm-related tasks. Nowhere was this more evident than in our woodlands, where several horse teams moved with strength and confidence to pull cut tree logs out of the woods (called “skidding”). In large forestry operations, big tractors typically do this work, but on smaller lots, horses can be more nimble among the trees, and can skid logs on steeper slopes. Bonus: they have less impact on the forest, and they don’t rely on carbon-emitting fossil fuels. Shelburne Farms partnered with the Draft Animal Power Network to host the weekend event. Find out more about horse logging.

Sarah Webb

One of the most exciting finds of the day: a lion's mane mushroom growing on a birch log.
Sarah Webb

Melany Kahn (left) led participants through the woods in search of mushrooms, stopping to identify any discoveries.
Sarah Webb

Everyone got the chance to investigate the dozen or so different mushroom varieties found that morning.
Sarah Webb

Old stumps offered a treasure trove of mushrooms.

Oct. 8: Family Foraging

Dead man’s fingers, lion’s mane, horse’s hoof, and turkey tail — mushrooms and fungi aren’t lacking inventive names — were spotted all along our trail up to Lone Tree Hill this fall. Local children’s author and foraging enthusiast Melany Kahn led a family program introducing children and their families to mushroom foraging: where to look for them (rotting stumps and logs!) and how to identify some commonplace varieties. “It’s a way to get kids to connect to this place they call home and as a result, maybe care about it and want to steward it,” Melany says. Check out Melany’s book, Mason Goes Mushrooming, and watch more from the program on WCAX.

Oct. 9: Forest Adventuring

If you’ve ever meandered up the hill behind the Farm Barn, you’ve likely come upon our outdoor classroom: our first sugarhouse, rough-hewn wood tables, a circle of log benches, and a mud kitchen (which has, as the name implies, pots and pans ready for all the mud recipes imaginative kids can cook up!). This magical space is home base for our preschool Adventures Program, where kids cook (both mud and actual food), play games, and explore the woods. The kids’ days begin and end here. “We often explore other parts of the campus, too, like the dairy, farmyard, or market garden.” shares Educator Jed Norris. “But I always notice a difference in the kids’ moods when they’ve had time in the woods. They need that chance to explore, relax, and play in the mud kitchen.” Their weekly routines deepen their relationship to place, and, as Jed adds, “they start to remember where they found the salamander family the week before, or where they found a mushroom growing off of a stump—they build memories here.”

Holly Brough
Holly Brough
Holly Brough
Holly Brough

Oct. 10: Hand-crafted Wood

Joe Carney carefully demonstrates to Luca Karki how to attach iron legs to a board of Shelburne Farms sugar maple in order to make a table. Luca, a high school senior at the Center for Technology Essex High School, has spent previous visits finely sanding and oiling the board to a soft finish under Joe’s watchful eye. “It's gorgeous,” Joe says, running his hand across the grain. “It's absolutely beautiful.” Joe is the craftsman behind the tables and benches that are for sale at our Farm Store. Luca is studying forestry at the Tech Center, hoping to make it a career, and is doing his co-op at the farm to learn all he can–in the forest and in the wood shop. “I love the woods,” he says. “I love working out in the woods and I love the science. Forest management just pulls it all together.” Then he adds, “And I love doing this!” Joe smiles, “Having a young man with this level of interest and engagement is awesome. He's willing to learn anything you throw at him. How cool is that!”

Oct. 10: Forest To Furniture

In the fading evening light, ecologist Walter Poleman guides a group of budding woodworkers through an edge of farm forest. He chats about the nature of this Champlain Valley woodland and introduces different trees as if they’re actors at a casting call. In a sense, they are. Each tree’s wood has different characteristics—dense, soft, light or dark grain—and after the walk, each participant will select which wood (already harvested and aged at the farm) they’ll use to construct a side table. “Forest to Furniture” is a long-standing program offered with the Shelburne Craft School, and its essential lesson, according to Walt, is that, “The stories of place can permeate whatever you make.” As evidence, he pulls out his guitar that was handmade from Shelburne Farms Butternut and Sugar Maple. And stories shape relationships. “I thought I knew the forests,” said SCS Director Heather Moore, “and then I went walking with Walter. I look at the woods differently now.”

Oct. 11: Forest Edge Research

It’s a drizzly morning as Jess Rubin arrives to check on research plots aligned along a wooded drainage at the farm. For the past four years, she has been studying how native pollinator plants and mycorrhizal fungi in the soil can help facilitate phosphorus uptake into the surrounding plant community to improve the health of our shared waterways. The three plots include a “control” (full of invasive buckthorn), and two fenced areas replanted with native riparian species, one inoculated with commercial mycorrhizae and one not. Nearly 90% of the selected plants are traditionally harvested by the Abenaki, adding a layer of potential positive impact to her project. To date, she’s observed significantly lower phosphorus concentrations in both planted plots compared to the control, with the mycorrhizal plot indicating more reductions. Jess and her MycoEvolve team, in collaboration with UVM's Plant Soil Science Department, is seeking additional grants to expand and improve these research trials in the future.

Andrea Estey
Andrea Estey

Oct. 13: What’s Alive in the Forest?

Charlotte third graders Malual and Wilder are on a hunt in the woods—a scavenger hunt, that is. “What about a snake? We haven’t found that yet,” says Wilder. (Farm and Forest Educator Mallory Schmackpfeffer weighs in that it’s likely too cold to see a snake today.) By the end of the morning, students had found nearly everything else on their list, looking under logs and rocks, along the forest floor, and up the sides of trees for millipedes, worms, spiders, and salamanders. Third graders were on the farm for an all-day school program to learn about the forest, build a sense of place, and utilize maps. “We like to think of these activities as curricular on-ramps,” explains School Programs Coordinator Courtney Mulcahy. “An activity like a scavenger hunt helps kids slow down and connect to where they are.” Scroll to see students’ illustrations of favorite moments from their visit.

Oct. 13: Into the Future

The forest floor around Windmill Hill is carpeted in six year-old sugar maple seedlings. “They’re going to grow up in a much different climate,” Woodlands Manager Dana Bishop tells a group of teachers, on-site for professional learning. “It’s the same as the six year-old humans you all teach, really. Your kids will be growing up in a much different world. How do we help them grow?” The group entered the forest to try their hand at collecting data, marking plots and counting and measuring the largest trees. A prism (pictured) is a handy tool for spotting the biggest trunks, trees that could someday be thinned to allow more sunlight to hit the seedlings. “My six and seven year-olds would love using these tools to count trees,” says one teacher. “In my class, we’re trying to learn the balance of what is a forest—what it was before, and what it will be tomorrow.”

Oct. 14: Slow Down

Sit silently in the forest for a period of time and you’ll experience just how much is alive around you. Led by certified nature guide Duncan Murdoch, two groups spent Saturday on the farm “Forest Bathing.” In simplified terms, the research-based therapeutic practice is about using each one of your senses to tune into what—or who—is alive on the land. In the afternoon, a group of educators in A Forest for Every Classroom joined for a “bath” along Orchard Cove. Reflected one teacher: “I’m trying to get my students to appreciate nature. But this experience really made me wonder, am I taking the time to do this myself, to use my senses? I want to remember this experience when I’m thinking about my students, and give them more time, more quiet. It feels really good.” Over the next year, these fifteen teachers will gather seasonally, gaining more strategies for learning with the land.

Oct: 14: Time Travelling

Ecologist Walter Poleman and Indigenous scholar Judy Dow are, in a way, time travelers. During a Sunday morning walk, the duo wove a story through time of how the farm’s forests came to be and what forests of the future might look like. Walter and Judy call their dialogue a “braiding” of Western science and traditional ecological knowledge. “Teaching both perspectives is courageously teaching,” Judy tells educators, here as part of A Forest for Every Classroom. On the left, Judy notes trees’ adaptations to survive the cold nights and warm days of early spring, a season the region’s Indigenous people call “the moon of the popping trees.” On the right, Walter points out the calcium-rich rocks that lie beneath our soils.

Holly Brough
Holly Brough
Holly Brough
Holly Brough

Oct. 16: Forest Stand Check

“Maximizing carbon storage in the forest means leaving the largest trees even if they’d make fine lumber," Connor Stedman says as he evaluates a tall, straight sugar maple. Connor, our Climate Action Advisor, is joining Woodlands Manager Dana Bishop on one of many “stand checks” to help develop a revised Forest Management Plan for Shelburne Farms that will center climate resiliency and carbon sequestration. This particular stand along the Butternut Trail is relatively homogenous and even-aged: lots of similarly sized sugar maple trees (14-18 inches in diameter at breast height), rise above a carpet of maple sugar seedlings. “Anytime you have low species diversity you have vulnerability,” Connor remarks. But a more even-aged stand also allows you to harvest some trees without disrupting the forest’s overall structure. It’s all food for thought and planning as the pair moves through the woods. Whatever the future, these woodlands are golden, green, and beautiful in this moment.

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Expanding a Sugarbush, Tending the Woods

As we expand our sugarbush to increase production this year, we invited long-time sugarmaker David Marvin to assess our strategy and plans for the woodlands.

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October 25, 2023

Where on the Farm? Lone Tree Hill

hbrough — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 17:25:13 +0000

Where on the Farm? Lone Tree Hill hbrough Wed, 06/07/2023 - 13:25

Daria Bishop
Sarah Webb
Daria Bishop
Daria Bishop
Daria Bishop
Daria Bishop

If you go searching for the namesake tree at the top of Shelburne Farms’ tallest hill, you sadly won’t find it. And–spoiler alert–we don’t know what species it was or where the tree stood. But we know roughly when it existed, and we know a lot more about this favorite walking destination on our campus.

The hill, of course, has existed far longer than any tree growing on it. It was shaped and scoured by massive glaciers, then submerged under water. When Lake Vermont inundated the region some 20,000 years ago, sealed in by glaciers retreating north, local Mt. Philo was tall enough to be a small island, but not Lone Tree Hill.

Then, 12,000 years ago, Lake Vermont’s glacial ice dam failed. Even as ocean water from the St. Lawrence flowed in to help form the Champlain Sea, the water level overall fell nearly 300 feet. Lone Tree Hill emerged for the first time.

Lone Tree Hill was under the waters of Lake Vermont 20,000 years ago. When the Champlain Sea took over, the hill formed a small island. (Source: Walter Poleman, UVM)

Slowly, unburdened of ice, all the land rose and pushed out the salty sea, leaving today’s Lake Champlain. The land began to nourish life: lichen, birches, deer. It became the home and hunting grounds of PaleoIndians, then, much later, of their descendants, the Western Abenaki. The Abenaki undoubtedly hunted and foraged on hills like Lone Tree, and the entire Champlain Valley was, and is, central to their identity. If they had a name for Lone Tree Hill, however, it has been lost to time–erased.

“Our” tree likely enters the story sometime later. The name “Lone Tree Hill” seems to first show up on the 1869 Beers Atlas of Chittenden County, noted as “Comstocks or Lone Tree Hill.” It suggests that a tree was standing on the hill for some time before 1869, perhaps one of the long-lived red oaks or white pines that thrived in the valley.

The Beers map from 1869 records "Lone Tree Hill" by name.

The Comstocks were among several early European settlers of Shelburne, arriving shortly after the Revolutionary War, serving the town in various capacities, and establishing farms that they later sold to the Webbs. Colonizers like the Comstocks had displaced the Abenaki and cleared most of the Champlain Valley of forests by the mid-19th century. The Lone Tree either escaped the saw, or grew after an early cut.

Whatever the tree’s origin, we know it didn’t survive long into the 20th century. In 1908, Lila Webb recorded its loss in one of her scrapbooks:

“Mr. A. Taylor died in Aug. 1908 - and in the same month the ‘Lone Tree’ on ‘Lone Tree Hill’ blew down.”

The tree was lost, but the name has endured. So has the place. Since at least the 1880s, its rounded crown has been mowed to hold back successional trees. Interestingly, though, as thousands of trees were planted around the estate in its early days, a brief article in the St. Johnsbury Caledonian in 1898 notes that, “What is known as Lone Tree Hill has been nearly covered.”

Article in the St. Johnsbury Caledonian, May 4, 1898, courtesy of Vermont Historical Society

Nearly, but not quite. The Webbs built carriage roads traversing it to enjoy its unobstructed views both east and west. (Aerial photos from 1927 show the hill still bald.) Years later, the nonprofit wove walking trails to the top for students and visitors to enjoy those same views. We continue to mow the area annually, creating a meadow of orchard grass, brome grass, goldenrod, vetch, and more. People instrumental to the nonprofit are honored here. Lone Tree Hill has been, and continues to be, a place of reflection, gathering, and learning.

In this 1927 aerial photo, you can see the manicured crest of Lone Tree Hill. (source: Shelburne Farms Archives)

It was also, briefly, a place of battle. During World War II, farm employees and Shelburne residents volunteered to watch for enemy airplanes from a lookout station on top of the hill. A small wooden shack was equipped with a telephone and a pair of binoculars, and papered with silhouettes of Japanese and German war planes. (No planes were ever detected.)

Observation Post at top of Lone Tree Hill, Summer 1943 (source: Shelburne Farms Archives)

From the Abenaki, to the settlers, to the Webbs, and all the visitors and learners who now enjoy Shelburne Farms, Lone Tree Hill has witnessed and shaped a thousand memories, a thousand stories. In an April 1922 letter to her husband, Lila Webb wrote,

“I walked up to Lone Tree Hill this afternoon, & spent over an hour there... My, but it was beautiful this afternoon. I wish you could have seen it, with the snow on [Mount] Mansfield, & yet the sun so warm & bright, & no wind.” Lone Tree Hill, she went on, “seems to me like heaven.”

Few would disagree.

Do you have a memory of Lone Tree Hill? Share it in the comments.

Sources:

Walter Poleman, University of Vermont, Presentation on Shelburne Pond, 2022

Map of Shelburne, Vermont in Frederick Beers, Atlas of Chittenden County, Vermont (New York, 1869). Special Collections Library, University of Vermont

The St. Johnsbury Caledonian (St. Johnsbury, Vermont), Wednesday, May 4, 1898. From Newspapers.com, courtesy of the Vermont Historical Society

Letter from Lila Osgood Webb (LOW) to William Seward Webb, April 16, 1922, Folder 20, Deed Box Collection, LOW Papers, SFC, Shelburne Farms Archives

Oral History Interview with Samuel B. Webb Jr., Wednesday, October 18, 2004, Shelburne Farms Archives

Oral History Interview with Keenis Patterson, April 2007, Shelburne Farms Archives.

Holly Brough

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Lone Tree Hill is a place that evokes a spiritual reverence for the natural world. It awakens you to the knowledge that we were created to be the Earth's primary steward and friend; that this immense view of beauty is our responsibility alone to preserve.

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June 7, 2023

Enjoy the Children's Farmyard this summer!

admin — Thu, 16 Jun 2022 17:09:00 +0000

Enjoy the Children's Farmyard this summer! admin Thu, 06/16/2022 - 13:09

The Children’s Farmyard is alive this summer with animals and activities to keep your family busy exploring and learning for an afternoon – or a whole day! The Farmyard brings you up close and personal with many of the animals that are typically out on pasture and hard to find and connect with. Here, you can truly see and experience them, a starting point for understanding how our own lives depend on these creatures, on farmers, and on the land that supports us all. Here’s SEVEN things that you can enjoy during your visit.

photo: Holly Brough

1. Daily Tractor Shuttle from the Farm Store & Welcome Center
It’s a glorious ¾-mile walk from the Farm Store to the Farm Barn, but there’s nothing quite like riding the shuttle through the farm landscape, sitting up high with the breeze on your face, and catching your first sight of the Farm Barn or grazing cows. From now until Labor Day, the shuttle runs daily, every half hour.

photo: Andrea Estey

2. Farm Animals!
Horses, and rabbits, and cows, Oh my! And lots more. We’ve got sheep, pigs, goats, and calves, too. Come learn about the role that each of them plays on a farm and in your own life, and just spend some time around their munching, breathing, furry selves. Because an avian flu has been circulating in the United States that is especially dangerous to poultry, we’ve been keeping our chickens and turkeys safe in quarantine – away from the public eye. But we hope to return them to you soon! We know the rascally chickens in particular are a kid favorite.

photo: Holly Brough

3. Forest House
Up on the hill, this refurbished animal shed has become another kid favorite. Stocked with “loose parts” to play with – wood blocks and more – as well as forest-themed books and activities, it’s a kid-scaled portal into the forest, where their imagination can roam. With help from a team of high school students this spring, there’s even a human-sized “nest” outside! It’s a cool place to be when the sun’s beating hot, and it will only get better as the season goes on because this is an evolving space.

photo: Bashaer Moledina

4. Raptors in Residence
Also up in the forest, we’ll be visited regularly by wild hawks and owls, courtesy of our wonderful friends at Outreach for Earth Stewardship. Join us on Mondays, Fridays, and Sundays at 1PM (now through Labor Day), to be charmed by a face-to-face experience with one of these amazing creatures and to learn more about their fascinating lives.

Photo: Andrea Estey

5. Hands-on activities
This summer, we’ll be offering lots of pop-up activities, including some old favorites like spinning sheep’s wool into yarn bracelets and feeding the pigs. Keep an eye on the Farmyard chalkboard for what’s happening on the day you’re visiting, or check in with a Farmyard staff member.

photo: Holly Brough

6. StoryWalk: The Hike!
Read about a hike while you hike! You can follow along with The Hike, a children’s book by Alison Farrell, as it’s displayed page by page along the trail behind the Farmyard. Finish up at Lone Tree Hill for the most beautiful views across Lake Champlain. We’ll be sharing two additional books as the season progresses, so come back more than once! StoryWalk® was created by Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, VT and developed in collaboration with the Kellogg-Hubbard Library.

photo: Sarah Webb
7. Cheesemaking!
Don’t leave without peeking your head into the cheesemaking facility to see our cheddar being made from the raw milk of our Brown Swiss cows. You may even get to meet a cheesemaker!

See you at the Children's Farmyard!

Cat Parrish

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June 16, 2022

Olmsted's Vision at Shelburne Farms

admin — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 16:36:43 +0000

Olmsted's Vision at Shelburne Farms admin Mon, 02/28/2022 - 11:36

This blog was originally published by the National Association for Olmsted Parks in their "Spotlight" series, in honor of the ongoing Olmsted 200 celebration. The original piece, along with information on Olmsted 200, can be found here.

Portrait photo of Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr.
“We have an interesting private work in a great stock farm for Dr. Webb near Burlington, Vt. with a magnificent view over Champlain to the Adirondacks. I propose a perfectly simple park, or pasture field, a mile long on the lake half a mile deep, the house looking down upon and over it.”

– Frederick Law Olmsted to Charles Eliot, July 20, 1886 (Manuscript Division, Library of Congress Collection)

Shelburne Farms is an education nonprofit working to inspire and cultivate learning for a sustainable future. Our campus, a 1,400-acre working farm and National Historic Landmark designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., makes that work a lot easier. The themes and beliefs that run through all of Olmsted’s projects: that nature is a balm for the human spirit, and that access to nature is essential for all, are evident at Shelburne Farms, and the landscape he inspired here is fundamental to our educational mission.

Shelburne Farms’ campus was once the agricultural estate of Lila Vanderbilt and Dr. William Seward Webb. Between 1886 and 1902, the couple bought 32 farms on Shelburne Point, amassing 3,800-acres framed by the blue waters of Lake Champlain, the tumble of the Adirondacks, and the rolling Green Mountains of Vermont. It was an ideal canvas for Olmsted.

Olmsted visited Shelburne Farms in June of 1886 and offered ideas on the function and design of the assembled property and its future buildings. Within a year of visiting, his original plan delineated a division of the property into farm, forest, and parklands (or park), a plan that was modified and carried out by Dr. Webb and Farm Manager Arthur Taylor.

In addition to this organizing concept, Olmsted borrowed design principles from the English naturalist landscape tradition of the early 18th century, whereby parks were built around three elements: broad meadows, diverse woodlands, and water reflecting the sky. All of these features were–and remain–abundant at Shelburne Farms.

Credit: Marshall Webb

To highlight the features, roads were laid out through the natural topography of hills and hollows to alternately obscure and reveal vistas, creating mystery and surprise in the landscape, and framing the magnificent buildings designed by Robert H. Robertson. As the property was described in New England Magazine in 1901, “… fine macadam roads now stretch for miles in every direction, making graceful sweeps around the gentle hills, and with the constant turns new vistas are presented which delight and surprise one. The roads pass through magnificent avenues of tall pines, whose rich foliage meeting overhead gives a cool and refreshing protection from the sun.”

While Olmsted’s involvement at Shelburne Farms was brief, his imprint here is unmistakable, and his vision and ideals even more relevant in today’s world. How fortuitous that when the education nonprofit was formed in 1972, this landscape became its campus for learning, as a way to connect educators, students, and visitors to the natural world, just as Olmsted intended. And since the pandemic began nearly two years ago, this place, designed so intentionally to offer solace in nature, has provided that for countless visitors.

Credit: Sarah Webb

Holly Brough

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It's so true that the SF property, as designed by Olmsted, "a balm for the human spirit". We considered moving out of state last year, but one of the major reasons why we decided to stay and continue to be stewards of SF is our proximity to it and being able to walk through its forests, meadows and wetlands.

Holly, Thanks for posting this. I've often wondered, while exploring the estate, are there any of Olmstead's designs of the original plans for the land? That would be so interesting to see.

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