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Looking South

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Location Location Location

Pownal is a small quiet town in the southwest corner of Vermont, lying directly between nationally famous Bennington Vt, and Williamstown Ma. To the west is Petersburg NY, and east is Stamford Vt.  Stamford cannot be reached from Pownal.  The north south shape of the mountains and subsequent road building has resulted in the most movement between Bennington and Williamstown.

View Williamstown Land Prices.   Northwest Hill 112 acre farm with house is offered at $10,000,000


Williamstown is home to Williams College, it's famous for the Williamstown Theater Festival and Clark Art Museum. Williamstown is part of Berkshire County which calls itself "America’s Premier Cultural Capital"

Bennington is home of Southern Vermont College and progressive Bennington College, which has lent a laid back cosmopolitan feel to the town.

By car NYC is 3 3/4 hours away, Boston is 3 1/4 hours away, Albany is 1 hour away.

Williamstown has long had high real estate prices.  It has been the home the wealthy and famous.  Among them are Farah Pahlavi, former empress of Iran, Christopher Reeve, actor, Jane Swift, former governor, and Cole Porter, songwriter.

Much of Williamstown is owned by the college or is in land trusts.  Buyers wanting to be near Williamstown yet wishing for something more affordable have in the last few years been looking at Pownal.
People from NYC have also been buying weekend homes.  As a result Pownal land values have been rising substantially.

Spring! 1 1/2 min Slideshow

Summer Day

Looking North toward Barber Pond Road

Pasture

Northwest view

Northeast view

Ancient apple tree on the left

Looking across the meadow to the neighbors property across the road

A Couple of Building Sites

A hill with great view of the pond on one side, a view of the Dome on the opposite.  Existing poles allow easy connection to utilities.  Gravel in the hill makes extending the existing driveway a snap, plus good perc.  Site is partially wooded.  Higher hill to the west across the pond gives protection from the wind.

Or move a hundred feet and skip the view of the Dome, keep all the other advantages and build into the side of the hill or nestle next to the pond.  Drainage is still good because the land slopes down away from the pond.  

There are other great sites, on the pasture and elsewhere,  I will show them on a tour of the property.

History of the property

The dairy farm was bought from the Card estate in 1945 by Raymond and Rita Bishop. It was in the Card family for over a hundred years. The Cards were related to Addie Card whose image was put on a postage stamp. At the time the stamp was printed, no one knew who she was. Nevertheless a book was written inspired by the stamp. Diligent research later identified the subject in the picture.

There had been a barn and silo on the property, but it no longer existed in 1960.

The Card Family obtained their water from a pipe that ran from a dam on Ball Brook to an underground cistern underneath their kitchen. A pump called a hydraulic ram lifted a portion of water uphill using the kinetic energy of the flowing water. In 1958 a well was dug at the house, at 68 feet a plentiful source of water was found. Water came above the ground surface, a term called 'artesian well'

In 1900 there were almost no trees, In 1945 the land was still mostly open. Dick Sweet the farmer across the road had a dairy farm and used the land for his cows. Over the years he abandoned some fields, so gradually it became more wooded. Ray Bishop had a saw mill and cut down pines on the property to make the knotty pine paneling for his living room.

The Card house was sold in 1970, but the majority of the farmland was kept. The property now consists of 73 acres of pastures, woods and pond located one mile from route 7 in Pownal Vermont, directly between Williamstown Mass and Bennington Vt. There are 0.6 miles of frontage on Niles School Rd, starting just beyond pavement. Access to Barber Pond Rd is also available from property kept when lots were sold on Barber Pond Road in 1970. Outstanding buildings sites with views from several locations. Pond also has good sites.

Most of the land is gravel and sand based, a gift of the glaciers. Read about 'Eskers' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esker.

Stone walls running throughout property testify that the land was at one time completely farmed. They also show how important clearing the fields was to farmers. More recent barbed wire marks many of the stone walls.

The oldest woods are about 100 years old, older very large trees are found near old paths.

A pent road (private road) divides the property, natural location for subdivision.

Grace Greylock Niles described this area of Pownal and this property in her 1904 book, Bogtrotting for Orchids.

Read it for free: here
page 198 mentions the blacksmith shop that was located next to the swamp that is now the pond.

The Pond

The pond was stocked soon after it was built.  Some common fish are Blue Gill, Pickerel, and Bull Head.  Brown Trout are present also.  In the evening all summer long Bull Frogs can be heard croaking.

December 2011

December 2011

The pond was created about 1950. The fire department pumped water out while a bulldozer pushed soil into the field below it. On the side near the road near the north end was a blacksmith shop mentioned in 'Bogtrotting for Orchids' perhaps it was located there because of springs. The deepest part was measured at 11 feet deep, most of the pond is around 5 feet deep.

Washed sand was dumped in one area to make a sandy beach and swimming area.

Water lilies under the weeping willow

Early snowfall in 2009

pond movi

A warm summer day, with audio

Wildlife

This year Deer, Fox, Turkey, Kingfisher, Ruffed Grouse, and Woodchuck have all been seen or heard.  Ruffed Grouse make a noise with their wings that is so low that it sounds at first like your heart beating.  Turkeys are very common, roosting in the trees. Mallard Ducks raised a family on the pond, as did Canadian Geese.  The geese walked away for (literally) better pasture when the young were old enough to waddle.  Usually a Giant Blue Heron will show up at the pond in the middle of the summer. 

Apple Trees

There was an apple orchard on the property, which was standard in the day. Descendants of those trees are found in scattered in hedge rows and pastures.