THE RIVERSTONE ESTATE
Foxburg, Pennsylvania - $15,000,000
A unique opportunity to own one of the East Coast’s most historic properties, with ties to the founding of the Quaker religion and a young Benjamin Franklin.
Text: Genelle Browne
Foxburg is named after James Fox, brother of Quakerfounder George Fox who purchased 5,000 acres from William Penn (the State of Pennsylvania is named after the Penn family) in 1685. The Fox family had vast investments, business holdings and wealth and employed hundreds including Benjamin Franklin as a young accountant. In the early 1800s, the Fox family began to build their extensive homestead legacy at the confluence of the Clarion and Allegheny Rivers in western Pennsylvania as their summer home from their native Philadelphia.
In 1828, the original section of the five-bedroom family mansion began construction. Completely built of sandstone from the property’s land, the mansion took eight years to complete. More additions and renovations to the home were added in 1845, 1877, 1910, and 2002 to include four powder rooms, wine cellar, conservatory, music room, 17 fireplaces, and English-style pub.
The family continued to own the property until 1964 after which it passed through several owners, including a lumber company, until the current owners, an Ohio family who purchased the estate in 1996, and then went on to expand the property even more. In 2002, the mansion was taken down to the bare stone walls and meticulously renovated and enlarged to include modern amenities and stunning interior and exterior architectural elements. The original dairy barns were converted to horse stables as part of the equestrian complex with the addition of a riding arena, two viewing rooms, vet space, horse showers, and two attached residences.
Today the estate includes six miles of river frontage, twenty six more structures with several more homes, one-of-a-kind carriage house, greenhouse, timber-stone cottage, chicken house, sugar house for the estate’s maple syrup, equestrian center, several barns including a sheep and an alpaca barn, an aviary, and the commonwealth’s first complete arboretum. The grounds are equally extensive with 23 ponds, onsite graystone walls, miles of trails, and a cemetery where members of the Fox family are buried.
Located near I-80 and the Emlenton Municipal Airport, it no longer takes two weeks of arduous journey over the Allegheny mountains to get to Philadelphia as it did the Fox family. Foxburg is a charming riverfront historical town with restaurants, shops, library, and an art gallery.
The Riverstone Estate in Foxburg is listed at $15 million.
Presented By:
Randy Jelliff
Jelliff Auction and Realty
T: 570-835-4214