by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine The owner of the Three Stallion Inn in Randolph, Jesse "Sam" Sammis, has sold the iconic property to a prep school in Connecticut, of which he is a graduate. After nearly a year of research, planning, and a site visit/inspection in April by members of the Board of Trustees, Brunswick School in Greenwich announced on Tuesday it took ownership of its new campus on September 14.
The property encompasses more than 650 acres of wilderness, hiking trails, and open fields — providing the ideal environment for a permanent, fully integrated, off-campus wilderness-education and applied-classroom-learning program now under development by Brunswick faculty and school leaders, Headmaster Thomas W Philip said.
Brunswick alumnus Jesse F “Sam” Sammis III ’56, chairman of Greenwich’s New England Land Company, approached the school in 2016 with the idea of establishing a permanent home for an “away” program at the vast Green Mountain Stock Farm and surrounding hills and woodlands.
He’d owned the property since 1971.
The purchase price was $2.14 million, entirely covered by “extraordinary and exceptionally generous gifts” from two anonymous donors, Philip said.
Green Mountain Stock Farm includes Three Stallion House, a three-story, 6,100-square-foot farmhouse with six bedrooms. In addition, Morgan House, sited nearby on one acre, is a 3,500-square-foot residence with seven bedrooms.
The property also encompasses 668 acres and a 35-kilometer network of trails.
“We’re very fortunate that the site not only includes so much wilderness, but also buildings that can be so easily adapted to house visiting faculty and students,” Philip said.
“In the meantime,” Philip said, “Brunswick faculty and staff will be visiting Randolph and staying on site as our plans continue to evolve.”
Philip sees the Vermont initiative as the “capstone” of the Brunswick Trust, the school’s overall program to ensure excellence in character-and-leadership education.
“In an ever more technological world, having the sensitivity, self-awareness, skill, and patience to communicate directly, to communicate in a human way — in person, eye to eye, in the same space with others — will, in our ‘new’ world, serve as the defining characteristic of those most successful in both business and in life,” Philip said.
“That’s what we’re focusing on here,” he said. “In Vermont, there will be no televisions, no iPhones, or Netflix.
“Boys will prepare their own food, clean their own rooms, read and work together in groups, and, yes, make their own beds — just as Admiral William H. McRaven suggests in this past summer’s Brunswick Trust read, Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life and Maybe the World.
“More than anything, the Vermont experience will be real, not Photoshopped. Inclusive, not exclusive. Unpredictable, not staged. Such is the stuff, we believe, that serves to prepare young men for life in the near- and long-term.”
Sammis, whose properties include several commercial entities in downtown Randolph, also owns the Montague Golf Club adjacent to the inn. Sammis earlier this year sold land at Exit 4 on I-89 after a three-decade effort to develop the land. That development would have included commercial and residential properties and a new rest area/state promotional facility, along the lines of the ones in Sharon and Guilford.
Sammis, still facing a long legal battle, finally sold the piece earlier this year after striking a $1.2 million deal with environmental groups to preserve the land for agriculture.
Sammis owned the property with his wife and said in April: “While Jinny and I were very excited about our proposed development of the Exit 4 project which would have been great for the Randolph community and much more profitable for our family, we have decided to work with our friends at The Preservation Trust of Vermont, Conservation Law Foundation, and Vermont Natural Resources Council to conserve these valuable lands for agricultural use by local farmers.”
Sam and Jinny Sammis at their home in Randolph. VBM file photo.
Sammis told VBM in an email: "I definitely have a long term interest in Randolph and have no intentions of moving."
He still owns the following properties:
- Green Mountain Stock Farm – 16, 10+ acre building sites totaling approximately 170 acres
- Depot Square - The beautiful, historically-renovated Canadian National Railway building in the heart of downtown Randolph totaling 4,207 SF. This property is for sale for $800,000.
- Two South Main Street - A two-story, 10,000 SF retail/office building in the heart of downtown Randolph. The entire ground floor measuring 5,000 SF is for lease. The entire 10,000 SF building is for sale $1,250,000.
- 24 Pleasant Street, Unit B – A 7,800 SF condominium space on the ground floor in the heart of downtown Randolph. This property is for sale for $450,000.
- Two Park Street – 3,200 SF, retail/office building located at the entrance to downtown Randolph. This building is for sale for $450,000.
- Montague Golf Club – 18-hole Montague Golf Club golf course, which is privately owned and open for play to the public.
"Jinny, my wife, and I also own a home in Randolph where we spend a great deal of time" Sammis said. "Jinny and I are at a point in our lives where we are consolidating our real estate holdings, which is the reason why we are selling some of the properties we own in Randolph."
The historically renovated Canadian National Railway building in the heart of downtown Randolph. Courtesy photo.
Set to start at the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year, Brunswick’s Vermont program is now in the planning stages. When the new initiative gets underway, plans now call for small groups of students to spend approximately 10 days in Vermont, with activities beyond normal classroom time including rural and farm upkeep, and potential local internship opportunities.
RELATED STORY: Castanea Foundation acquires Exit 4 land from Sammis for $1.2 million
Source: Brunswick School 9.19.2017