Beekman 1802: Organic Farm & Wedding Cake Mansion The New York Times 2.26.09

Beekman 1802: Organic Farm & Wedding Cake Mansion
The New York Times 2.26.09

This beautiful Georgian-Federal style home in Sharon Springs, New York is the home of Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge. According to The New York Times, the couple bought the 200-year-old home (with red barn) in 2007 and named it "Beekman 1802 in honor of its original owner, William Beekman, a judge and state senator". In addition to sparsely furnishing the home to show off the architectural character, they have an organic goat farm that produces cheese and soap..

The home has four bedrooms, seven fireplaces and 14-foot wide hallways! Dr. Brent Ridge was, until last September, "vice president for healthy living at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia."

We appreciate that even though this is a HUGE home, the sparsely furnished rooms really show off the space and are clutter-free:

"The new owners took things slowly: Instead of “filling the rooms full of things from Pottery Barn,” Dr. Ridge said, the couple decided to “be minimal with the furniture; we wanted the house to shine through.”"

Read the full story, The Old House That Became a Way of Life and all the pictures in the slideshow — including goats and llamas!

(Images: Stewart Cairns)

Comments (18)

Beautiful. I love that minimal did not have to mean modern. Just classic and clean.

posted by amt230 on February 27th 2009 at 3:10pm
view amt230's profile

Ditto that.

posted by hyzen on February 27th 2009 at 3:46pm
view hyzen's profile

what a beautiful place. It reminds me not to go nuts about keeping my floors pristine. Old, aged wood floors with scratches and dings look amazing. I almost want to let the kids brings their trucks inside. Almost.

posted by vacuumqueen on February 27th 2009 at 4:37pm
view vacuumqueen's profile

I'm guessing this is the first home shown on AT that features a "family crypt."

Love the goats and llamas, and that cheese looks divine!

posted by madsarah on February 27th 2009 at 4:48pm
view madsarah's profile

I loved this article and their home - they have a great website too: http://www.beekman1802.com/1802_homepage.html

posted by bepsf on February 27th 2009 at 5:17pm
view bepsf's profile

Nice. The only drawback to living in these old places are all the ghosts.

posted by taritac on February 27th 2009 at 5:52pm
view taritac's profile

I share a house with Mary, to live in a place so beautiful. She sounds like an American Girl story, a publicity draw perhaps. Breathtaking house and the goat farm makes it beyond fabulous.

posted by Kate (NC) on February 27th 2009 at 6:50pm
view Kate (NC)'s profile

Beautiful home, I love the colors and the furniture, "I want to go to there"

posted by sarrazak on February 27th 2009 at 6:57pm
view sarrazak's profile

nice pheasant in the 1st pic.

posted by outsidenow on February 27th 2009 at 7:32pm
view outsidenow's profile

lovely eclectic home... aside from that table full of stuff in the bedroom

posted by sunan on February 27th 2009 at 8:12pm
view sunan's profile

Nice - but / and of course they could AFFORD to not have to" just go go to Pottery Barn " - ahem.

posted by mskk on February 27th 2009 at 8:42pm
view mskk's profile

it does look like a wedding cake!

posted by wampler on February 27th 2009 at 9:39pm
view wampler's profile

The kitchen table and benches clash with the rest. Also, using family portraits as wallpaper is disrespectful and very risky - in a place like this, you don't want to upset the ghosts.

posted by bromelia on February 27th 2009 at 10:13pm
view bromelia's profile

who you gonna call?
ghostbusters!

posted by gorillaglam on February 28th 2009 at 12:47am
view gorillaglam's profile

Their second home? Jeesh.

It's a dreamy house, but I think the furnishings are too spare. It doesn't look comfortable or personal. A house like that would showcase furniture so well.

I'm tickled that the guy was an ex-drag queen.

"The size of the goat herd varies according to the season" means that the kids are sold, probably, as meat animals. Dairy goats have to be kept in lactation. That means constantly producing kids, and having them taken away to be fed milk substitute and fattened (most of them) for slaughter. (Just so you know what goes into cheese production... it's true for cows, too.)

posted by Forestdweller on February 28th 2009 at 4:23am
view Forestdweller's profile

thanks, forestdweller...another reason to go VEGAN.

posted by kahlil19107 on February 28th 2009 at 7:02am
view kahlil19107's profile

Forestdweller, isn't it great to be on the top of the food chain? On the other hand, most animals are slaughtered before being eaten, unlike poor defenceless vegetables that are often eaten alive.

posted by bromelia on February 28th 2009 at 12:39pm
view bromelia's profile

Beautiful but tear-inducingly staid.

posted by luckypeach on February 28th 2009 at 3:55pm
view luckypeach's profile