Your Home is Your Castle in Central Vermont

Photographs courtesy of Snyder Donegan Real Estate Group

From the air, this property is as intriguing as it is beautiful (see photo). It’s something to see: a castle (or is a fortress?) on the edge of a lush forest, on a gorgeous hillside with distant views of majestic mountains. Difficult to decipher, it looks like several curiously connected structures—very tall, medium-tall, and round. And then there’s the wall (granite, maybe?) with its striking grid of windows, and the patios, the lawns … what is this place?

According to David Donegan, the real estate agent with the $3,700,000 listing in Cavendish, Vermont, it’s a modern marvel called Grahall. The 7,900-square-foot estate was built of granite quarried from the property—including that sheltering, spectacularly stepped wall—in 2000. The home has seven bedrooms and five baths. The interiors are all clean lines, a modern empty canvas that doesn’t necessarily dictate how they should be furnished.

These are statement-making rooms, many of them in the round. There are interesting combinations (traditional wainscoting next to modern railings) and an abundance of grids—from slate tile floors set on angles, to the dramatic iron balustrade that encircles a loft space and wends its way down to a central living area.

The fenestration is both thoughtful and artful (more grids). Natural materials abound—from marble kitchen surfaces to stone-sheathed baths. The sustainably built home that abuts the 2,100-acre Hawks Mountain Wildlife Management Area has been used as a retreat and rental property.

The property itself—all 241 acres of it—looks isolated, but it’s close enough to Okemo Mountain Resort (16 minutes) and the iconic village of Woodstock (45 minutes), two of the reasons people go to Vermont in the first place.

The property is listed for $3,700,000 by David Donegan of Snyder Donegan Real Estate Group in Woodstock, Vermont. The MLS number is 4509110. For more information, call (860) 928-1995, ext. 121 or visit the property website.