Sky Farm, a "great piece of ground"

Sky Farm, a 490-acre tract of land including the northern peak of Monument Mountain and approximately two miles of frontage along the Housatonic River was placed under a conservation restriction by its owners, Peter and Lila Berle, in the closing days of 2000.

Map by Alison Kolesar

The Berles, who will continue to own and occupy theproperty, are giving the conservation restriction to the Berkshire Natural Resources Council.

Sky Farm comprises much of the northern end of Monument Mountain, and is a dominant landmark in southern Berkshire County.

"We want to protect the open space, the farmland, the views and the wildlife habitat in perpetuity," said Peter Berle. "This is the best way to do it."

Sky Farm is the centerpiece of splendid views from a number of special places in the Berkshires, including Chesterwood, the former home and studio of sculptor Daniel Chester French, Naumkeag and Tanglewood.

French called the view of Sky Farm from the front porch of Chesterwood the "best dry view" he had ever seen.

Lila Berle said, "Early in the 1970s, Paul Ivory, director of Chesterwood, told us that the National Trust for Historic Preservation - which owns Chesterwood - was anxious to preserve the historic view from French's home. Paul has spent many years advancing the protection of Chesterwood and other significant historical and cultural sites in the area. Now as he is retiring, it is fitting to give this restriction in his honor. He is part of the soul of the Berkshires, as is Monument Mountain."

If Paul Ivory and Monument Mountain are part of the soul of the Berkshires, Sky Farm is as surely part of the soul of the Berles.

Since acquiring the land nearly 40 years ago, the couple has raised a family on the land, and has brought back the farm. As was the case with most of Berkshire County, 100 years ago Sky Farm was mostly open, its slopes cleared of trees and converted to agricultural use. When the Berles took over, there was hardly an open spot to be found. Today, some 50 acres are open for farming, and the Berles can personally testify to just about every stump and rock that was pulled out of the ground to make the fields friendly to tractors and grazing stock (the rocks in the house's chimneys came, one by one, out of the fields).

Today, a herd of beef cattle grazes in the pastures (the cattle are his - Lila's sheep live on a farm in Egremont), while a clutch of other creatures, including a number of peacocks, roam the barn and farmyard. The remainder of the property, save Hatch Pond, is forested.

Peter and Lila Berle at Sky Farm one frosty morning in December

Walking the property with the Berles, pausing now and then to admire the "Shep Evans Vernal Pool," to break stream ice to nibble on suspected watercress (suspicion incorrect, as it turned out), or to check out the view into the village of Housatonic, the stories spill out: of hair-raising winter descents of precipitous Sky Farm Road; of abuttors caught driving bulldozers in the Housatonic River; of trains derailing time and time again; of old apple orchards now lost to time. As Peter Berle says, it is a "great piece of ground."

This great piece of ground is located along a great stretch of river. One of the Housatonic's most beautiful reaches, a stretch of rapids along Route 183, makes up the tract's northerly and westerly boundaries.

Conservation restrictions, the mechanism by which Sky Farm will be protected, are perpetually binding legal agreements between a landowner and a conservation organization that limit or prohibit development of a property.

The protection of Sky Farm is the second major preservation effort on Monument Mountain. The Trustees of Reservations protect much of the southern end of the mountain, including popular hiking trails and the rock formation known as Squaw Peak, from which an Indian maiden is reputed to have jumped.

Lands subject to conservation restrictions remain in private ownership, and may be passed to subsequent generations or sold on the open market. The public is not granted any right of access to lands subject to conservation restrictions unless the owner grants permission.

As holder of the restriction, Berkshire Natural Resources Council will enforce the terms prohibiting development or other destruction.

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