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Vermont’s Ondawa Estate is on the National Register of Historic Places with its colorful history from the beginning of the Victorian period. This is now going to auction on October 7th.
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The historic estate is measured at 37 acres overlooking the Green Mountains. It consists of three buildings. The main house has four bedrooms and five bathrooms main house. The guest house has four bedrooms and four bathrooms guest house. Lastly, there is a cabin with a sleeping loft and half bath. These are all complemented with a pristine and tamed landscape.
The auction of the registered historic place, Ondawa Estate is handled by Grand Estates Auctions in Vermont.
This is the main entrance of the main house from the driveway adorned with a park lamp and a canopy of tall trees. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
This is the front view of the main house with tall pillars, large windows and a line of shrubs on the side. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
Upon entry of the main house, you are welcomed by this foyer with black and white checkered flooring adorned by colorful murals on the walls along with a console table. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
This is the living room of the main house with a floral sofa set, a wooden coffee table and a row of arched French glass doors. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
This is the parlor of the main house with a beige fireplace mantle that blends with the walls that are adorned with wall-mounted artworks. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
This is the den of the main house with various sofas and chairs complemented by the patterned area rug, wall-mounted artworks and built-in shelves. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
This is the formal dining room of the main house with a large dark wooden dining table surrounded by matching wooden chairs topped with a small chandelier. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
This other view of the dining room shows that there is a large fireplace on the far wall with a gray mantle that matches the window frames. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
The kitchen of the main house has a large wooden kitchen island topped with a pot rack from the beige cathedral ceiling with exposed beams. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
This other view of the kitchen shows the vintage icebox on the wall by the kitchen island with a bowl sink. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
This is the bedroom of the main house with an ornate four-poster bed that stands out against the yellow sheets and beige walls with a dresser at the foot of the bed. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
This other bedroom of the main house has a couple of wrought-iron beds flanking a wooden bedside table topped by a table lamp. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
This is the private study of the main house. It has dark wooden built-in bookshelves lining the walls along with a built-in bench under the window. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
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This is a look at the back of the main house showcasing the large swimming pool. You can see here the bright white exteriors of the house accented with windows and chimneys. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
This is the wooden deck just outside the glass French doors of the main house’s living room adorned with a lush green landscape. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
This is the exteriors of the guest house with a beige tone to it that stands out against the grass lawn, thick shrubs and tall trees. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
Upon entry of the guest house, you are welcomed by this small foyer with a small bench flanked by lamps. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
This is the living room of the guest house with a large fireplace that has a wooden mantle that blends with the walls and the exposed beams of the ceiling. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
This is the eat-in kitchen of the guest house with beige cabinetry and a round wooden dining table that matches the exposed beams of the ceiling and hardwood flooring. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
This is the bedroom of the guest house with a couple of wrought-iron four-poster beds across from the fireplace with a wooden mantle. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
This is the screened porch of the guest house with multiple wooden rocking chairs around a wooden coffee table. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
This is the rustic interiors of the wooden cabin that has a beamed ceiling and hardwood flooring. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
A few yards from the back of the house is a small stream lined with decorative rocks and grass lawns. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
A few yards from the main house is a stream that can be crossed with this small white wooden bridge that stands out against the green lawn. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
This is a close look at the large pond of the estate surrounded by tall trees. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
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The property also has a wooden covered bridge with a reddish tone to its exterior walls adorned with the surrounding green landscape. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
This is a close look at the landscaping of the estate showcasing a tall tree with autumn colors. Image courtesy of Toptenrealestatedeals.com.
Anyone who loves historical homes wishes they could go back in time, even for an instant, and see what life was like when it was first built and who the people were who put their love into making it what it is today. This Vermont estate is one of the very special ones with a background that reads like a good novel. At the very beginning of the Victorian period in 1840, Jessie Hard was to be married and he wanted to build a beautiful home, a temple as it were, for his intended.
This he did with the help of his father. The home was large and gracious and was built with innovations such as stacking boards horizontally inside the walls for strength, stability, and as a bonus, excellent soundproofing from the outside and from room to room. The day of the wedding came and was presided over by local Judge Munson.
When it came time for the cutting of the wedding cake, the bride’s grandfather, still deeply entrenched in Puritan values, was appalled to see that it had decorative icing, which flew in the face of Puritan beliefs, so he grabbed it off the table and to the horror of all concerned, hurriedly ran it to the pigpen and threw it into the trough! Even with that rocky beginning, the house stayed in the Hard family until sometime in the mid-1970s when it was purchased by the Orvis family, owners of the sports outfitting company and clothiers, Orvis.
The Orvises jumped in and started restoring the home to its original beauty. Sometime in the past, the Hard family had built a small addition with a flat roof. That was the first thing to go and what had originally been a detached summer kitchen building was relocated, attached to the house, and restored into an elegant indoor kitchen. Over the years of Orvis ownership, the estate known as Ondawa, has evolved into its former pristine state including tamed and reworked landscaping.
Sited on 37 acres overlooking the Green Mountains for as far as the eye can see and with the trout-filled Battenkill River with a stream flowing through the yard and an additional stocked trout pond, superb fishing can be had without ever leaving the property.
There are three separate buildings including the four-bedroom, five-bath main house, the four-bedroom, four-bath guest house, and the cabin with sleeping loft and half bath. It’s an estate ideal for the outdoorsman and stay-over guests.
Vermont’s Ondawa estate on the National Register of Historic Places is going to absolute auction on October 7th.
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Jon Dykstra
Jon practiced law before launching his online publishing career, bringing analytical rigor to everything he builds. Home Stratosphere combines that precision with a lifelong obsession with residential design — architecture, interiors, landscape, and furniture.
His current focus is AI-driven design analysis, using artificial intelligence to study patterns in color, layout, and material choice across thousands of homes. His Personality Type Home Design Guide applies personality frameworks to interior aesthetics, helping readers design spaces that reflect how they actually think and live.
His favorite piece on the site is the 25 Most Popular Designs, is a daily-updated ranking of the top designs over the last 30 days, driven entirely by visitor activity. The feedback is invaluable for understanding what resonates most with readers. LinkedIn
