The Hale family milked cows on Old Mill Road from 1840 to 1998. In 2012 Nora and Sam, the fifth generation, turned the farmhouse into six guest rooms and kept the barn, the brook and the breakfast table.
An old house tells you what it will let you change. We listened, and took our time.
1840
The farmhouse goes up
Ezra Hale builds a two-story farmhouse and a dairy barn at the end of what is now Old Mill Road.
1902
The summer kitchen
The family adds a summer kitchen off the back of the house, today the Butternut Suite.
1998
The last milking
The herd is sold, and the fields go back to hay and wildflowers.
2012
Nora and Sam come home
The fifth generation moves back from Boston with a plan for six guest rooms.
2013
Six private baths
A year of careful work adds a bath to every room without touching the pine floors or the beams.
2026
Six rooms and a cottage
The Brook Cottage opens by the water, and the porch is still the best seat in the house.
Hayfield, maple grove, brook and orchard, all a short walk from the porch and all open to guests.
The hayfield
2 acres
Cut twice a summer
Open to the ridge and the best place for stars.
Solar on the barn roof
Panels cover most of the house’s power, and the rest comes from a renewable plan.
Innkeeper and cook
Nora Hale
Grew up in this house, cooked in Boston restaurants for ten years and came home in 2012. Breakfast is hers, and so is the kitchen garden.
Nora and Sam are around every day. Ask for a tour of the barn.