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Brookside Manor House Being Transformed By New Owners

Tuesday August 7, 2007

By Ed Barna

   On a hillside overlooking the southern part of the Champlain Valley, the former Brookside Stock Farm owner's house stands as evidence of the prosperity brought in the 19th century by Merino sheep.

   Stolen from Spain by an American diplomat who happened to be a Vermonter, Merino sheep were the ultimate in wool production, with their thick, curly coats. All through the Champlain Valley there are magnificent “farmhouses” that could better be described as manor houses, all much better than a visitor would expect on a Vermont farm-but Brookside is unique.

   Not only is the 1843 Greek Revival structure on the National Register of Historic Places, it is headed for renown as one of the “Great Houses of New England,” the title of a book by Jeffrey Grossman that is scheduled to be released in the spring of 2008 by Rizzoli publications of New York City.

   Tench Murray-Robertson and Olga Sears, who took over several years ago from Murray and Joan Korda, know about “Great Houses” because they have met the author. They have also met a lot of area contractors: fine old houses have been called “money pits” under other circumstances, and this one needed slate roof repairs, timber repairs because of the roof, foundation work because of a major water flow problem (spring behind the brook of Brookside was sending water downhill against the east side, enough to make a ice wall in the winter), porch and column needs, all sorts of painting, and the incipient demise of a large carriage shed that was staved off with financial help from the Division for Historic Preservation.

   The couple are having the time of their lives. When they look at the challenges, they are foreseeing the interesting guests who will come to their upscale inn, the cultural events that might be held at Brookside, the maple syrup and other products they might sell from the farm's 267 acre, the boost to area organic production from marketing a Maine fertilizer made with ground shells of lobsters, crabs and clams, and Belties.

   Expect that handy popular name for Belted Galloway cattle to become much better known in Western Vermont as the years go by. Named for a white vertical band around their middles that the black (usually) or brown beef cattle probably got from Dutch Belted cattle through crossbreeding in the 1600's and 1700's, this old breed of Scottish cattle started in a rugged seacoast area where only the tough could keep going. What you won't see at a glance on these Angus with bar codes is that they don't have a back fat layer, instead being insulated by “soft, wavy hair with a mossy undercoat,” as the Belted Galloway Society of the USA puts it (more at www.beltie.org).

   It's a heritage breed, said Murray-Robertson, with only about 8,000 in this country. Like the Merinos and the late 19th century Morgan horses that Brookside was known for (tycoon J.P. Morgan bought some of the latter) they will be raised primarily to sell as breeders-though apparently they produce very lean and flavorful meat.

   Speaking of heritage: Brookside has also preserved some of Addison County's most amazing trees. For instance, there is a Norway Spruce, dated to 1813 (farming began at Brookside in 1789), that looks from a distance like a grove of about a dozen good-size trees, but is actually one tree that sent limbs out and then up.

   Preservation building is no good if the building burns down. The 12-gallon-per-minute spring that has been causing architectural problems will, once diverted, go to a fifth-of-an-acre pond with a dry hydrant so the water can be used to fight fires.

   Picturesque now, Brookside is on its way to becoming preserved and presented in grand style, thanks to a former research scientist and his partner. Not only that, it is going to be the living place of the managers of a working farm, not a tax writeoff for remote owners.

   Which brings us back to the new fertilizer. Gardeners and farmers who already use seaweed-based products, or those who use sea salt, are aware that land-based minerals have been going downstream for ages.

   Here's something you can also read at www.www.Winterwood-Farm.com: “Winterwood Farm™ Premium Shellfish compost contains a high percentage of feed stocks harvested from the processing of fish, shrimp, lobster, and crab. Winterwood Farm™ Premium Shellfish compost is made by combining these ingredients from the sea with bedding collected from area farms and stables.”

   To answer a final question: Civil War reenactors have not been barred from the new Brookside, but they may not deploy in quite the same way as before. If they do, they might find themselves in a rural Vermont version of the running of the bulls rather than Bull Run.

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