Imagine if someone gave your town a farm — complete with a historic house, barn and land. Then they asked you and your neighbors to dream big and come up with a new use for the property that would strengthen your community.
That’s what happened in Pittsford in 2017 when longtime residents Baird and Betsy Morgan bought a farm and gifted it to their community.
After years of hard work and fundraising, the Morgans and others involved with the project say they're thrilled by what’s happened since.
Humble beginnings
The farm at the heart of this story is located just west of U.S. Route 7, where it bends sharply in Pittsford.
Parts of the white farmhouse date back to the 1790s, and over the centuries, it's been home to physicians as well as farmers. It's got a wide front porch, an eye-catching cupula on top and a large barn behind it — all of which need work.
"I always loved the property," said Betsy Morgan, who moved to Pittsford with her husband Baird in 1970. "We live down the street, so I drive by it all the time."
When it came up for sale, the couple bought it to ensure the house and adjoining 22 acres would be preserved for the community. To figure out next steps, they formed the Pittsford Village Farm nonprofit. In 2018, the group held public meetings and asked local residents how best to use the property to bolster the community, attract new residents and spark economic development.
Thanks to an additional gift, the Village Farm now encompasses 150 acres, gently rolling green space right across the street from Pittsford’s library, post office and busy general store.
'The most beautiful spot in Vermont'
"I love coming out here and getting away from everything," said Lauren Norford on a recent visit to the farm. "It's very peaceful and I think it's the most beautiful spot in Vermont."
Norford is one of several local residents who have been taking advantage of the farm's community garden.
"My plot is the one with all the tomatoes, because that's what I decided to focus on this year," Norford said smiling. "It definitely needs weeding."
"Plots over there," she said pointing, "will be used by kids attending the town's summer camps."
Norford was one of many people sipping drinks and enjoying hors d'oeuvres at the farm's outdoor pavilion last month, celebrating the start of renovation work on the farmhouse.
"I've been involved just on the sidelines with the Pittsford Village Farm project," she explained, "but I really wanted to come and support the groundbreaking, because it's really important for our community."
Alicia Malay, Pittsford’s state representative, agreed. “We just had the first 'Tunesday,' the Tuesdays throughout the summer where there’s live music here and food trucks. That’s been great.”
Young families with strollers were taking advantage of the children's playground, free ice cream and the evening's soft light and easy breeze.
Lorrie Byrom is the current board chair of the Pittsford Village Farm. After years of fundraising, she said it’s a thrill to see construction finally begin on a $4.3 million renovation of the farmhouse.
“As we went to renovate the house, we learned about the shortage in early childhood education spots in our town and in our county,” Byrom said. “And we also are quite aware of the housing crunch in our state. So as we looked at this big, beautiful building, we decided that we would integrate some of those needs into the reconstruction piece of this.”
The group still has to raise an additional $900,000, said Byrom. But when finished, she said the main floor of the house will include a childcare center that will accommodate 30 children, run by the Rutland County Parent Child Center. There will be a community meeting space as well as a cafe. Two second-floor apartments are also being created that will be dedicated for affordable housing.
“I'm an historian by background,” she went on, “and I don't believe old buildings should die. So we’re going to get this one going again in ways our town and county really need.”
Sending out an invitation
To Ben Doyle, president of the Preservation Trust of Vermont, it’s exactly the right approach. He believes the Village Farm can become an economic engine for Pittsford and a way to attract new residents.
“Oh, totally. I mean, this isn't about aesthetics and it's not about nostalgia," Doyle said. "It's about, how do we make Vermont thrive? And so I think by revitalizing something like this, you're sending out kind of an invitation.”
It was an invitation Melissa Smith heard loud and clear.
“It was definitely one of the first things that my realtor brought up when she brought me out here and told me that they had done all this work there,” she said.
Smith, a professional chef, had been looking for property for years to create a catering and events business. She and her husband, Monte Harhouri, had been living in northern California and concern about wildfires and climate change convinced them to move to the Northeast. Their search for a new home was chronicled in April by the New York Times in its popular real estate series "The Hunt."
Smith said the couple looked at several properties in and around Vermont before deciding on the historic red brick home just down the street from the Village Farm.
“I love that someone is saving and preserving the space," Smith said. "And I loved hearing about the concerts that they're having there and the different events. It absolutely solidified me moving here.”
Smith and her husband are in the process of renovating their house and adjacent buildings to use for weddings and corporate events as well as culinary, yoga and wellness classes. They think their business will dovetail nicely with events at the Village Farm. In fact, they brought their ice cream cart and handed out free cones at the Village Farm's recent groundbreaking to help celebrate and get to know their new neighbors.
Village Farm organizers expect the apartments and childcare center to be complete by the end of 2026, with the community meeting space and cafe done soon after.
Betsy Morgan, who along with her husband Baird got this ball rolling with their gift eight years ago, said it’s amazing how much they’ve all been able to accomplish with the farm.
“The vision is coming; and it's just too beautiful and right in the middle of the town to not be preserved for the good of the benefit of the whole community.”
