Turpin Real Estate sold White Oak, a timeless country property in Peapack-Gladstone, for $4.61 million in 2006.  Listed out of the Far Hills office, perhaps the most memorable aspect of this wonderful listing was the beautiful rolling property surrounding the main home and barns.

This Hunt Country farm presents an incredibly private setting on 50 acres with countryside views of rolling fields and distant panoramas.  The main residence, a substantial antique Colonial farmhouse, has been expanded numerous times through the decades. 

An architecturally interesting barn was built during the early 2000s on the foundation of the original antique barn that burned down in a fire.  A portion of the old barn remained and houses the horse stalls and tack room.  Outbuildings on the acreage include two cottages and several barn/garage structures. 

For recreational purposes, the swimming pool, tennis court and pond add to the relaxed country lifestyle at White Oak.  Additionally, much of the acreage is protected by a conservation easement, ensuring the future of this remarkable piece of New Jersey real estate.

Monday is Girls’ Day Out at Natirar

Here’s an idea for a delicious and unconventional way to celebrate Valentine’s Day: Ninety Acres Culinary Center at Natirar is hosting a Girls’ Day Out cooking class on Monday, February 14 from 11am to 2pm.  This workshop will cover the skills and techniques for making a crab and brie bisque with roasted garlic crostini, shrimp and scallops en papillote with fresh oranges, baby spinach with spicy pine nuts and warm pancetta vinaigrette, and a decadent chocolate cherry fondue with cream cheese pound cake and fresh fruit dippers.  These popular workshops sell out quickly, so call for availability.

This hands-on workshop is sponsored by Viking appliances, and a percentage of the $85 tuition will be donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.  The Valentine’s Day program is for students 16 and older.

Natirar (named for the Raritan River, and “Raritan” spelled backwards) is located within the borders of Far Hills, Peapack-Gladstone and Bedminster.  The former grand estate of Kate Macy Ladd, it is now home to the acclaimed Ninety Acres Culinary Center at 2 Main St in Peapack-Gladstone.  Ninety Acres is owned by the famed international businessman Richard Branson.

A regal landmark in Far Hills real estate, Natirar was sold by Turpin Real Estate in 1982 to H.M. King Hassan II, Sovereign of Morocco.  The $7.5 million transaction set a record in the state of New Jersey that year.  It was acquired by Somerset County in 2003 and a large portion of the property is used for public recreation.

Established in 1900, Gill St. Bernard’s School is an independent, non-sectarian day school for students ranging from Pre-Kindergarten to grade 12.  Pupils from a 40-mile radius attend, and enrollment totals about 700.  The bucolic 72-acre campus is located on St. Bernard’s Road in Gladstone.  Its 17 buildings are arranged in a collegiate-style setting with separate facilities for the Lower, Middle and Upper Schools.  The campus has a new environmentally-friendly library and humanities buildings as well as an athletic center, theater/art gallery and administrative buildings. An extensive array of sports and extra-curricular activities are offered for Middle and Upper School students. 

Education at Gill St. Bernard’s School focuses on “balance, integrity, excellence, creativity and leadership.”  To foster individual growth, class sizes are intentionally small, with an average of 14 to 16 students.  Approximately 90 faculty and administrators are on staff, and the school reports that 100% of its graduates attend college (many at their first choice university or college).  Honors and Advanced Placement courses are available to Upper School students as part of the College Prep program.

Another point of pride is the school’s commitment to providing vigorous, meaningful and age-appropriate curriculums.  The sense of community is further fostered by the school’s Honors System which reflects the essential elements of a Gill St. Bernard’s education: respect, truthfulness, service to others and responsibility. 

Gill St. Bernard’s School is a fully accredited member of the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools and the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.  The school maintains active membership in the National Association of Independent Schools, the National Association of College Admission Counselors, SSATB, and the Educational Records Bureau.

While academics are at the heart of an education at Gill St. Bernard’s, the staff is also committed to creating life-long learners.  Students learn the importance of integrity, compassion and respect for others both inside and outside the classroom.

A mainstay in the local community for well over 100 years, Gill St. Bernard’s is one of the area’s most-respected schools.  Attracting students from ten surrounding counties in New Jersey, the school has influenced generations of learners.  Consider a visit to one of our offices in Far Hills, Mendham, Oldwick, Bernardsville or Chatham for more information about schools in the region, and for the market updates about New Jersey homes for sale.

Teviot Farm in Peapack-Gladstone was sold by Turpin Real Estate in 2006.  Turpin represented both the marketing and sale of the property, which remains one of the areas highest sales.

The circa 1914 Teviot Farm was originally home to Arthur Turnbull, a governor of the New York Stock Exchange from 1915 to 1935, and his wife, Alice W. Post, the only daughter of architect George B. Post.  Located at the foot of the Bernardsville Mountain with extensive frontage on the North Branch of the Raritan River, the farm offered not only easy access to water and lush grazing pastures for the animals, but also a charming setting for the stone and stucco main residence.  George B. Post’s sons, James Otis and William Stone, are credited with the design of the house.

Teviot Farm was named for the Teviot River in Scotland, the family’s ancestral home.  Over a 30-year period beginning in the 1890s, the Turnbulls acquired a substantial estate in the Peapack Valley, amounting to more than 700 acres of land. 

Active in his community, Arthur Turnbull was a founding member of both the Essex Fox Hounds in Peapack and the Somerset Lake and Game Club in Far Hills.  In 1959, Arthur Turnbull’s son, William, helped found the Upper Raritan Watershed Association, one of the area’s principal conservation organizations.

In keeping with the tradition of environmental conservation begun by the Turnbulls, the current owners are true stewards of the land, choosing to preserve the vast acreage accompanying what is now known as Morangie Farm.

For more information about Teviot Farm, see New Jersey Country Houses: The Somerset Hills, Volume 1, by John K. Turpin and W. Barry Thomson.

Turpin Real Estate handled the $11.5 million sale of Vernon Manor in Peapack-Gladstone in 2005.  This distinctive property, a grandly-styled example of New Jersey real estate at its most lavish, was listed out of Turpin’s Far Hills office.

Vernon Manor, also known as Four Seasons, was built in the late 1920s for Edith Dod Blair (1896-1988) and her husband, Richard Augustine Van Nest Gambrill (1890-1952).  The main residence was set on a high knoll less than a mile from Edith’s childhood home, Blairsden, the estate of Florence and C. Ledyard Blair which was noted in an earlier post.

The Gambrills commissioned New York architect James Cameron Mackenzie to re-design the existing mansion on the property.  The renovation resulted in an elegant Georgian brick mansion containing four oval niches on the front of the home representing the four seasons.  These carved stone images were created by American sculptor Edmond Romulus Amateis. 

Vernon Manor’s gardens were designed by Ellen Biddle Shipman, a woman who was a pioneering American landscape architect of the time.  She incorporated many of her trademarks including a walled garden featuring rectangular beds, axial pathways, boxwood hedges, an allee of pear trees and a brick retaining wall with rhododendrons, azaleas and dogwoods planted behind it.  Bird-shaped topiary bushes were inspired by Mrs. Gambrill’s lifelong interest in bird-watching.

The estate included extensive outbuildings such as stables, dairy barns, kennels for the Gambrill’s hounds, cottages for staff members, a greenhouse, potting shed and poultry house.  James Cameron Mackenzie designed a handsome 16-stall, U-shaped stable and carriage barn for the estate which framed a courtyard containing a central fountain and sculpture by American artist Herbert Haseltine.  The elegant courtyard was featured in a Mercedes-Benz ad campaign in 1983. 

The Gambrills left a generous legacy to Peapack-Gladstone, donating land on St. Luke’s Avenue where the town’s First Aid and Rescue Squad building and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church rectory are located. 

For more information about Vernon Manor, see New Jersey Country Homes: The Somerset Hills, Volume 2, by John K. Turpin and W. Barry Thomson.

Recently reduced, this enchanting home represents Far Hills real estate at its most charming.  Built in around 1850, architectural elements from the Victorian and Colonial periods combine in an appealing way.  Set on top of a gently rising knoll down the street from Ravine Lake, the captivating .75-acre property presents brick pathways, green lawns, a seating gazebo, tiered landscaping, stone walls and an in-ground pool bordered by an entertainment-sized brick terrace. 

Outbuildings are painted to match the red clapboard exterior of the main house and include a storage shed and garage with loft storage.  A wide, covered front porch is a perfect place to take in the rolling scenery that surrounds this welcoming home.

An eight-room floor plan includes three bedrooms, two full baths and a powder room.  The master bedroom contains a dressing room and full bath.  Gathering areas within the home include a living room with fireplace, formal dining room, den, family room and country kitchen.  Outbuildings provide garage parking for nine cars.

Other features of this home are partial, unfinished basement, private well water and septic, multiple zones of central air conditioning and hot water baseboard oil heat.

This inviting Far Hills home has been reduced to $795,000.  Set on a winding country road, it is conveniently located minutes from Routes 202 and 206, Interstate 287, the Far Hills train station and the shops and restaurants in Far Hills, Peapack-Gladstone or Bernardsville.