Whitehall, NY 12887(Washington County)

Highly scenic farm w/multiple homes features 31 acres of river flats, land capable of a 30 ton corn yield. Many buildings, mostly new. 3671 of road frontage and another 4100 on the Mettawee River, where one can swim and fish. A low 250 elevation means far warmer weather and a longer growing season than you'd expect this far north. Mountain views are everywhere. It sports varied terrain with maybe 1/2 wooded. There are small amounts of Wetlands and a never-failing spring that easily services all homes and dairy barns. 70 acres of Organic-certified cropland + pastures. As the owners have lots of land to rent nearby, they pasture some of their own crop land. A neighbor allows them to use his crop land and in exchange gets a few hours of help from the owners and the right to tap some of their sugar bush, a handshake agreement. There are 1700 taps and a sugar house on the property. There are some new seedings and 4.5 acres of winter spells and almost no stones here. Vergennes clay soil on the uplands and Hamlin & Teel silt loams on the river bottom.

There are two complete sets of buildings, I will discuss them separately as they are separated by the road, which would make an obvious division line if a new owner wished to subdivide.

The Main Side - The main home is less than 7 years old as are all the buildings other than part of the barn. The home sits well off the road and has ~2300 ft2 of living space + a huge laundry / storage room in addition. A 10 wide front porch affords wood and ice storage underneath it. Downstairs, all floors are red oak with painted plyboard upstairs, where are located 4 bedrooms and a storage room (positioned to serve as an upstairs bath). Downstairs, there is an open floor plan with the kitchen, dining area and living rooms forming an L. Double doors open to the master bedroom. And a pantry is off the kitchen.

The dairy barn is 38x66 with 31 tie stalls; a milk house and ice house are attached on one side (with a 16 leanto). On the other side, a hay barn (the only old building here) is attached. It is 36x100 and has a 16 leanto addition for machinery storage. There are 12x45 and 14x50 silos. 8 straight horse stalls are also in the barn.

There are many like-new barns for other purposes: a 28x40 barn intended to be used as a shop, a 26x60 machinery shed (it also has 4 straight horse stalls), a 32x50 bandsaw mill, and a 20x72 circular saw mill with attached sawdust room. There is also 20x32 drive-through corn crib.

Across the road is another complete farmstead, part of the property. The main home is an older colonial in good shape. At one end is a 28x28 2 car garage now used as a shop. It adjoins the main home (2598 ft2). First, you will enter an enclosed heated porch with a family room off this. This room has oak floors with some tasteful ceramic tile and also a sink. Then you enter the original part of the home which has a U-shaped open floor plan: kitchen / dining room with a step-down to the living room which features a painted paneled cathedral ceiling. Floors are either stained and finished plywood or painted plywood. A master bedroom with double doors is off this area. Upstairs are 4 bedrooms & a storeroom. At the far end is a laundry /woodshed which measures an incredible 30x34. It has its own attic. Adding it to the size of the main home would give us a 3600ft2 home.

Just to the right of the main home is small building now used for storage, but was rented in the recent past as a one bath, one room home.

Outbuildings include a 30x84 three sided machinery shed and of course the dairy barn, a beautiful 66x66 building with a bank entrance to a full loft. Underneath are 29 cow stalls, 8 calf stalls and 9 straight horse stalls. There is a lean-to across one end. It has 2 silos - 12x50 and 14x50.

Also in this location is the Dowdy House (30x28, 1680ft2). It has polyurethane plywood floors both up and down. Down features an open floor plan with kitchen, dining area and living room leading into the master bedroom. Upstairs is drywalled and ready to be divided into rooms any way you prefer

Taxes are insanely low for such a large property, especially so considering all the like-new buildings here - $5427 (total). The owners ask only $650000, far less than their investment here 7 years ago. they may be amenable to splitting it and making 2 farms from it.

Note: as this is Amish-owned, in respect to their religion, we do not show it on Sundays. Let me explain further about their homes as they do not permit indoor photography. I can send generic inside photos to help explain.

Each has many similarities: open floor plans, pantries, separate and large washrooms, no modern kitchens and zero baths. No electric, no septic, and only cold water plumbing. Indoor paint is semi-gloss, for easier cleaning and is either off-white or light blue. Walls and ceilings are typically sheet rocked. Downstairs floors are either 2 1/4oak or stained / polyurethane Laun plywood. Upstairs, they are typically painted plywood. Windows are single-paned, large enough to make it bright inside. Quite often the trim around doors and windows is done later on, well after they have moved in. Ditto for baseboards - sometimes. Their homes are fully insulated and they like to use steel roofing because it sheds snow well and is extremely long-lasting, looking good forever. Basements are normally full, and dry, often walk-out if the topography will allow it. Foundations are cement block, with poured cement basement floors. Heat is by efficient wood cook stoves with a parlor wood stove added in the coldest weather. Doors are normally at the bottom of each stairs to keep heat where the family spends most of its time. They use the safe triple-walled stainless steel chimneys.

As you might expect, their homes are famously well-built, spacious, and comfortable, with a traditional appearance and a good pattern for daily living. Dont expect anything fancy; these are self-styled, quote-on-quote, plain people, very friendly and refreshingly open to those they know, but otherwise somewhat private.