23 Frog Alley

Description

Welcome to Wilbor Farmhouse, a circa 1875 Victorian on 1.4 acres in the historic hamlet of Old Chatham. A wraparound covered porch, decorative wood brackets, and custom shutters give the house its period charm, and original wide-plank pine floors carry that history inside. Fully restored from top to bottom, the 2,267-square-foot home offers three bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and a large yard, ready for full-time living or long country weekends. Deep bay windows pour light into the formal living room, and the dining room opens to a sitting room warmed by a wood stove, a space that could easily become a first-floor primary bedroom. The new kitchen is built around a farmhouse sink and a Wolf range, with Bosch appliances, quartz counters, and custom solid wood cabinetry, and it steps out to a new deck for summer dinners. Upstairs, the primary bedroom looks toward the back of the property for privacy, and a walk-in dressing room leads to a generous bath with a soaking tub and walk-in shower. A second bedroom, an open office that doubles as a guest room, and a laundry with a powder room complete the level, and a staircase climbs to a finished attic lit by a skylight, ideal for a studio or reading room. The house holds a place in Old Chatham’s written history. It was first owned by a family who ran the hamlet’s foundry and plow works, later became home to a retired editor who rebuilt the old village store, and at times welcomed guests as a bed and breakfast. Today it carries that past forward with all-new plumbing and electrical, new windows and doors, and fresh paint inside and out. Perennials and evergreens frame the front beneath custom shutters, and the grounds hold a garden, a one-car garage, a potting shed, and the original outhouse, a small relic of the farmhouse’s earliest days. Down the road, the Old Chatham Country Store & Café pours the morning coffee, and Jackson’s Old Chatham House has gathered neighbors for more than eighty years. The Shaker Museum has its roots in the hamlet, and its new Selldorf-designed home in Chatham village is slated to open in 2028. Ten minutes away, Chatham has become one of the Hudson Valley’s liveliest cultural centers: PS21 stages adventurous contemporary music, dance, and theatre in an open-air pavilion on a former orchard, and Main Street offers the restored Crandell Theatre, home of the FilmColumbia festival, along with seasonal dinners and cheese boards at Bimi’s Canteen & Bar. The trails around Sutherland Pond at the Ooms Conservation Area make for an easy morning walk, and Hudson’s Amtrak station, Albany, and the Berkshires are each about half an hour away.