life at the grange

The Grange at Potowomut is 10.9 acres on a Rhode Island peninsula where the mornings begin at the river, the evenings end on the porch, and the life in between is entirely yours to define.

The river

The Greene River runs along the edge of this property and out to Narragansett Bay. In the early morning before the day begins, it is the first thing you hear, water moving quietly through the trees, catching light from the sun.

Blue heron stand in the shallows. Osprey circle. Bald eagles appear with regularity. On any given morning numerous species move through the yard. Take a boat out from the property and follow the current all the way to Narragansett Bay.

The grounds

Walk the full property and you move through twelve acres of open lawn, old growth, flowers, and colonial stone walls that have been standing longer than the country has. Deer move through the tree line without announcement. A linden tree at the corner of the porch fills the air when it blooms in summer and a breeze comes through.

Six trees on this property have been certified by the Rhode Island Tree Council as the largest of their species in the state. The oaks lining the driveway were planted in the 1850s and are four stories tall today. The ginkgo turns completely gold every October. The American chestnut grove is one of the last surviving groves in New England, living remnants of a species nearly wiped from the continent.

The stone walls along the property edge were cut through at points where Nathanael Greene and his brother Elihu passed so often they made passages rather than walk around. Those passages are still there.

The tennis court

Saturday morning. The air still cool. The court is yours and there is nowhere you need to be. A few sets before breakfast, then everyone gathers on the porch. The coffee is hot, the light is coming through the oaks, and for the first time in a long time there is absolutely nothing else you would rather be

ENTERTAINING

The Grange has been hosting serious gatherings for three hundred years. A 103-person dinner party on the grounds in 1867. Generals and governors at the table. The tradition is part of what the property is.

The table is long, the porch is wider, and the grounds go as far as you need them to. At dusk, something happens to this place. The oaks close in around it, the house glows, and the people you love settle into the kind of evening that nobody plans and nobody forgets.

The SEASONS

Most properties peak in one season. The Grange is extraordinary in all of them.

Spring brings the river back to life and the grounds fill with color, the kind of color that takes people by surprise when they see it for the first time. Summer is long days on the water, evenings on the porch, and mornings that make you want to slow everything down. Fall turns this property into something that photographs cannot fully capture, the oaks and maples blazing along the river, the ginkgo turning bright yellow every October and dropping leaves like an early golden snowfall, the air finally cool enough that you want to be outside in it. Winter settles a quiet over the grounds that is rare and complete. The fireplace earns its place. The river keeps moving.

You will not want to leave in any of them.