they don′t build love at first sight anymore, either. but sky hill farm - a genuine 1798 federal colonial in tyringham valley - has been creating that exact feeling for over two centuries. in 1912, adele lebourgeois chapin wrote about first arriving here at dusk, walking through high grass to the old front door with its worn stone steps and feeling the homely welcome as she went in. ′'this old house was beautiful,′' she wrote, ′'the rooms perfectly proportioned, the mantlepieces charming old colonial ones... i felt as if i was at home at last.′' that feeling hasn′t changed, because neither has this house. and for the last 120 years, the same family has been its devoted stewards. first settled in the 1750′s at the very edge of america′s rugged and wild western frontier, sky hill farm′s center chimney colonial replaced an earlier colonial when the farm was prospering and the valley was coming alive. three bedrooms, two and a half baths, 3,443 square feet of authentic federal architecture where every room flows naturally into the next, where massive stone fireplaces anchor each space, where those turned balusters and wide plank floors speak of craftsmen who built for centuries, not decades. the 1970s brought thoughtful additions - a kitchen, half bath, and art studio space where an earlier ell once stood, plus a two-car garage. but the soul of the house remains untouched. those perfectly proportioned rooms adele wrote about still take your breath away. the charming old colonial mantlepieces still anchor their rooms just as they did when george washington was president. step out onto the great southern porch or the back deck overlooking beds of lush perennials, and sixty-five acres of tyringham valley spread around you - pastures rolling down to the year-round creek, woods beyond, and your land stretching all the way to aptly named breakneck road. your property includes the historic clambake field, said to be the first land cleared when this was township number 1, encompassing both present-day tyringham and monterey. they call it that, according to local lore, because the town held its centennial celebration in that very field - where the valley′s story first began. from there, breakneck road climbs steeply south to where the 18th-century shakers built their most remote settlement in america. this is history you can live in, surrounded by some of the most stunning mountain scenery in the berkshires. the same views that inspired the shakers. the same valley that′s welcomed families home for over 200 years. sky hill farm waits now for its next chapter, for the family who will walk through that high grass at dusk, feel those worn stone steps beneath their feet, and discover what adele knew in 1912 - that some places don′t just shelter your body, they shelter your soul. some places aren′t just beautiful. they′re home.
