Stone Acres Farm
Stone Acres Farm
Stonington, CT
At once visionary and practical, the Stone Acres Farm Framework Plan lays out a series of phases for the revitalization of a historic family dairy farm and estate in Stonington, Connecticut. Once a prominent dairy provisioner for steamships crossing the Long Island Sound, Stone Acres has been owned by the same family continuously since 1765. To meet the needs of its next generation of enterprising young owners, the Stone Acres Framework Plan draws from the site’s most important historical assets, structures, and landscape zones to establish a phased revitalization of the site’s uses and facilities.
With forests ravaged by invasive species and fields depleted of nutrients from continuous hay farming, the Framework Plan introduces new, ecologically restorative farming programs. These include successional plot rotations of grasses, vegetables, flowers, and small livestock paddocks, designed to complement and enhance the biota of the surrounding wetland forest, stream habitats, and native meadows. Through aligning old and new, the plan maps out a holistic integration of the agricultural, amenity, and ecological features of the site.
Spatially, the Framework Plan realigns the site’s most distinctive historic features, which date from the mid-19th century—including a farm court, a Georgian manor house, a glass flower conservatory, and old barn foundations—and overlays new programming opportunities. These include an events space, educational meeting rooms, and outbuildings for local artisanal foods enterprises, such as a farm stand and flower shop, cheese production space, and a tap room. Through the Framework Plan, Stone Acres achieves a union of historic features with new uses, creating a distinctly communal, agricultural, and commercial identity for the farm and the surrounding Town of Stonington.
While at Reed Hilderbrand, Unknown Studio’s Nick Glase served as Project Manager, and Sr. Landscape Architect on the project through the Framework Plan phase. Throughout this project Nick worked closely with the client team and design team Principals Doug Reed and Adrian Nial.
Project timeline: 2015 - ongoing
Client: Stone Acres Farm
Scope: Framework Plan
Size: 63 acres
With: Reed Hilderbrand LLC, Landscape Architecture, Nick Glase, Project Manager & Landscape Architect
Awards:
2017 BSLA Merit Award in Analysis Planning, Stone Acres Farm
