ADAMS — Gould Farm, a historic town farmhouse sitting atop more than 200 acres adjacent to the Greylock Glen, has been listed for sale by Steepleview Realty after earlier marketing attempts by the owner failed to generate interest.
The Steepleview listing names an asking price of $779,900, while company representatives called the property "attractive for many different buyers" and "a rare find."
"This is a unique piece of property with enormous potential and enormous history sitting in one of the quaintest towns in the Berkshires," Jason Nocher, the Steepleview associate handling the Gould Farm listing. "It's like a museum up there."
The farmhouse, which dates back to the early 1900s, features three bedrooms and two bathrooms within 2,610 square feet of space.
"Many utility updates have been made over the past few years," Nocher said.
Several other buildings exist on the property, which are slightly more run-down, and formerly served as a water shed, a cow barn, a blacksmith shop, a storage shed and more.
The house sits atop 228 acres, 90 cleared, adjacent to the Greylock Glen, a popular 1,000-acre walking and hiking parcel that the town has long sought to develop in order to bring in more traffic.
The current Greylock Glen plan calls for Adams to develop 56 of these acres into a campground, environmental education center and a lodging and conference facility.
Nocher said the current Gould Farm owners, the Dean family, find the property too much to handle.
"While Dave [Dean] would like to keep the property and the memories, it is a lot to tackle for just him and his wife," Nocher said. "He hates to let it go."
Reached by phone by The Eagle this week, the Deans declined to comment on developments at the farm.
Before the Deans took ownership in 2010, the farm had been in the hands of the Gould family for decades. Margery Gould, who was a well-known and loved figure in the community.
"If you grew up in the town or neighboring towns you most likely stepped foot up here at Gould Farm — whether it was to say 'Hi' to Margery, to enjoy what the farm had to offer, for a shortcut to the state's largest park [Mount Greylock], or just being a nosy teen on a summer's night," Nocher said.
David Dean and his father, Joseph, worked on the farm for years. Margery Gould deeded the property to the Deans at the time of her death in October 2013 at age 95.
In 1990, the property rights were sold to the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, meaning some land-use restrictions exist on Gould Farm. An agreement with DCR has placed the property under conservation.
Select Board Chairman Richard Blanchard said he could see many potential uses for Gould Farm, but the town hopes to see it put to good use.
"Ideally, I would support the town buying it to tie it into the Glen project, but with our economy it's just not feasible," Blanchard said. "But if someone else were to buy it and develop it alongside, wouldn't that be nice?"
Contact Phil Demers at 413-496-6214.