Shelburne Farms

SHELBURNE. In 1886, Dr. William Seward and Lila Vanderbilt Webb began acquiring land on the Champlain in hopes of creating a model agricultural estate. To that end, they recruited two of the era's most prominent planners – landscape designer Frederick Olmstead and architect Robert Robertson – to design the grounds of what would become the 3,800-acre Shelburne Farms. The property featured a hackney horse breeding facility and an elegant Big House, whose Gilded Age "excess" included centralized heat, electric lighting, and indoor plumbing. Today, the manor home serves as a popular inn, and the estate itself is not only one of the area's leading tourist attractions but a model of conservation and stewardship.