Posted on 10/31/2005 5:48:36 PM PST by nutmeg
(New York-AP, Oct. 31, 2005 2:30 PM) _ Martha Stewart tells Fortune Magazine she plans to sell her famous Turkey Hill Farm in Westport.
She says she hardly ever goes there anymore and does not miss it.
Stewart now spends most of her time at her home in Katonah, New York, on 153-acre estate in the rolling horse country 40 miles north of midtown Manhattan. She bought the property in 2000 for $16 million .
Stewart had been a fixture in Westport since 1971, when she and her former husband, Andrew, purchased the nine-room, 19th-century Colonial house and gated Turkey Hill estate for $50,000. They spent the next decade renovating the home and added chicken coops, barns and gardens.
But in 2000, Stewart said Westport had changed from a small town where butchers knew their customers' names to a place with a "more elitist, and much less charming, retail scheme."
Any Westport FReepers out there? ;-)
Please Freepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent Connecticut ping list.
Westport has always been liberal and artsy, but the "Gucci set" has taken over in spades, just as they have Greenwich and the Hamptons.
She bought that property in Westport in 1971 for $50,000. Can you imagine what that piece of Fairfield County property goes for today? Yowsa... I can't wait to hear what she gets for it...
I wonder if her probation officer instructing her not to
leave the State of New York had anything to do with this.
You know, I thought I sensed a more realistic, down to earth atmosphere here in Hartford. I didn't have that strange urge to go out and shoot my own turkey and grow my own pumkin or dig up my own potatoes for Thanksgiving.
Well, well, well. Moving on. I ALMOST moved there in January. Beauty of a home. Small. Brand new. Out at the beach. 1.6 mil. Wonderful place, actually, but still living in Westport adds, or should I say, takes fours hours from your day each and every day -- the commute. You just can't get around it.
Love Westport. Couldn't handle the commute.
Sad, when you have to down size:')
Just out of curioisity tb, what do you do for a living? I would venture most Freepers couldn't afford a $1.6 million home.
Hey,I live in a .10 million dollar home.
Close. I've lived a stone's throw (literally) from Westport for a few decades. I would not argue with Martha's assessment of the town. Whatever charm it once possessed is completely overshadowed by an overweening sense of entitlement and outright snobbery. The stores in downtown have gone from locally owned, well run boutiques and shops to the usual assortment of stores you would find in any mall in America.
Interesting story there in your profile. You had me going there for a minute! So I presume you are Janis????
Si. You want to talk to Cindy?
No thanks,I imagine she's the quiet type.
We just moved into our new, self-built house a month ago. My husband, exhausted and burned to a crisp, wasn't even sure he was happy to finally be in after two long years.
While eating dinner, looking out the dining room windows, a solitary doe strolled down our driveway and decided to give us a dinner show. She munched on whatever greenery the hoarfrost didn't kill, then casually went back into the woods.
"Now I feel at home," hubby said.
:')
I doubt tb will answer, but 2 married lawyers could easily bring in $400K a year in NYC.
Even by 1971 standards $50,000 seems like a low ball number. Lived in the immediate area (Weston, Fairfield, Easton) from the mid- 70's thru the early 90's ... and prime real estate (like Turkey Hill) with a few acres was expensive. Some of the highest per capita income in the nation is found in the aforementioned towns. As far as Martha is concerned ... we use to see her from time to time ... as well as Paul Newman, who lives in Westport, CT.
Our trial lawyers around here could bring that much in, with one case.
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