On the Market: A Rural Vermont Retreat with an Indoor Ice Skating Rink

A capacious, contemporary interior, a barn with a basketball court, and 200 acres make this estate the ultimate city escape.


Photo courtesy of Four Season’s Sotheby’s International Realty

1959 Cox District Road, Woodstock, VT
Price: $9,750,000
Size: 9,515 square feet
Bedrooms: 9
Baths: 6.5

Forget about elaborate crown molding, deep-pile carpet, and polished marble furnishings. When architect Rick Joy designed this simple gable house, he built luxury by sticking to the basics. In the midst of 200 acres of rural Vermont landscape, the 152-foot-long, wooden shingled home is bookended by eye-catching walls made from Lake Champlain bedrock.

On one end, the bedrock wall surrounds a fireplace, casting warmth onto the wide open living room, dining area, and kitchen, where cavernous cathedral ceilings allow the height to soar up to 18 feet. Down the hallway, the building’s exposed steel frame runs up and along the white pine walls, creating a continuous shelf. The ledge is particularly handy across from the office—a long, built-in desk that extends off the corridor.

Past the office and through the sliding doors that tuck neatly into the wall is the master suite, where the other end of the home also features a fireplace, as well as a soaking tub that sits in front of the bedroom’s floor-to-ceiling windows.

One story below, an indoor rink made of synthetic ice means you can skate (or even try out your curling skills) all year round. Land your double axel or work up a sweat with a game of hockey, then rinse off in the rain shower. Over in the barn—which is set at a slight angle like a shadow of the main home, and mimics its form—a full basketball court provides another way to stay active in the winter. The building also contains a massive hall, five bedrooms, and a five-car garage garage, along with a dock that stretches out into the middle of the nearby pond. From there, you can take views of the distant snow-capped mountains, and the untouched land all around. The best part, according to listing agent Rick Higgerson? “Just being there.”

For information, contact Richard Higgerson, Four Seasons Sotheby’s International Realty, fourseasonssir.com.

Photo courtesy of Four Season’s Sotheby’s International Realty

Photo courtesy of Four Season’s Sotheby’s International Realty

Photo courtesy of Four Season’s Sotheby’s International Realty

Photo courtesy of Four Season’s Sotheby’s International Realty

Photo courtesy of Four Season’s Sotheby’s International Realty

Photo courtesy of Four Season’s Sotheby’s International Realty

Photo courtesy of Four Season’s Sotheby’s International Realty

Photo courtesy of Four Season’s Sotheby’s International Realty

Photo courtesy of Four Season’s Sotheby’s International Realty

Photo courtesy of Four Season’s Sotheby’s International Realty

Photo courtesy of Four Season’s Sotheby’s International Realty

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