In the tiny town of Weston, Connecticut, sits a five-bedroom country home plopped in the middle of 7 acres of farmland. The home has been there since the 1830s and it's so unique that locals affectionately call it Chestnut Farm.
The farm has plenty of chestnut trees growing across the grounds, but that's not why the house drew its nickname. The bones of this home — including the beams, posts and studs — were built with lumber from chestnut trees found on the property nearly two centuries ago, said Vickie Kelley of Camelot Real Estate, the agent who now has the property listed at $3.9 million on Homes.com.
Whoever buys this property will "get this protected, wonderful, rural setting," Kelley said in an interview. "It's mostly farmland."
Farm history
The land that now holds Chestnut Farm was once part of a larger farm estate owned by Thomas Banks II of Weston, according to the Weston Historical Society. Banks' son Samuel bought a large chunk of that land from his father and eventually built the beginnings of the home that's on sale today. Samuel Banks lived in the home, worked the farm, got married and had one daughter.
In the 1850s, Samuel Banks took in a young Black woman named Hettie who likely escaped slavery from the South. Samuel Banks died in 1873 and left Chestnut Farm to five women: his wife, his daughter, the runaway slave and his two granddaughters, historical records show.
"Without husbands or fathers to run the farm, the women did quite well engaging the services of workmen to plant and harvest the fields, and to cut and saw standing trees for lumber," the Weston Historical Society said in a 2001 publication. "Diaries left by the women of the house showed that although they were struggling to keep things going, they also had many, many social engagements, including social visits to and from friends and relatives as well as a visit to the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876."
The Banks family eventually sold Chestnut Farm and the home has only had two owners since then. The ideal new owner would be someone who wants to work as a country farmer, someone running a home-based business or someone who wants to have their kids and grandparents under one roof, Kelley said.
Nature's picture frame
Chestnut Farm is country living in every sense of the word, according to Kelley. There are no sidewalks or streetlights along Lyons Plain Road leading up to the property. A woman farmer, who owned Chestnut Farm between 2013 and 2017, now lives next door to the property, she said.
One of the property's most notable features is the drive-through barn, Kelley said. The structure has 35 tons of white granite around the base and, if you step through the doors and look forward "it looks like a picture frame to nature," she said.
Another striking feature of Chestnut Farm are the apple, cherry and white peach trees, Kelley said. The home's current owner has kept those plants in good condition, and they continue to bear fruit every year, she said.
"In the spring, this is a menagerie of colors," Kelley said. "It's like going to an arboretum."