...for sale. Description and details

Unusual Vermont Schoolhouse for Sale by Owner: $220,000  
We need to go. Sharp price reduction to $199,000 or we pull it off the market.

side of house, big schoolroom windows and kitchen door

Welcome to our house. We are reluctantly putting it on the market because of job and life cycle demands. This is a large Victorian era schoolhouse: two floors, with a full attic that could easily be finished for two more bedrooms, or one bedroom and bath plus ample storage. There is also a bone dry basement that currently houses a full gym/workout space, 2 root cellars and tons of storage. There is a new two story breezeway that attaches the house to the two car garage/barn/professional grade workshop or studio which is all fully insulated. Two floors above the garage are ready to be converted into a charming duplex apartment or unique space for guests, in-laws, caretaker or office. The main house as currently configured functions as a two bedroom, two bath arrangement, with a full home office/study. The schoolhouse was built by master craftsmen and converted to a home by an artesan carpenter. The house is beautifully constructed and finished for durability and warm, austere aesthetics. It is sited perfectly with a southerly orientation and enjoys year round energy efficiency. There are high efficiency windows and the house is flooded with light. The schoolroom alone has eight windows: with the four east facing huge 8’x3’ argon filled. We have fully and recently insulated the entire house, garage and shop. There are custom made door and window quilts throughout that are negotiable with purchase. We chose to heat with one woodstove, but there is also a high efficiency oil furnace and propane backup available. Average energy usage: 4 cords of wood supplemented by 350 gallons of fuel oil per year (mostly for producing our hot water). Enjoy water and food security. We are one of two homes in our village still connected to the community spring with the sweetest water we know. We also have a new (2007) artesian well that yields 55 gallons per minute. There are established blueberries bushes, 3 types of apple trees, an asparagus patch, rhubarb plants and loads of annual flower and organic vegetable beds.   side yard, composter and gardens The root cellars supplemented by freezers allow for year round food preservation. There is a fenced run behind the house for animals - we have two dwarf goats there now. The yard is flat, +/- an acre, and still has working playground equipment. "Our" back yard is a huge hayfield that belongs to the neighbor and is part of hundreds of acres of fields and woods all in the Vermont land trust - never to be developed in perpetuity. So you have the tax value of a small lot with the open sense and access of an enormous property.  view of the field in winter (from the garden) view of the field out the kitchen window at sunset  Old and new Vermont is right out your door. Central Vermont is not particularly touristy. It is beautiful, working rural. This area is quickly becoming the heart of the Vermont localvore and farm-to-table scene. There are at least a dozen small scale food producers within a five mile radius. Right out our door is easy access to miles of hiking and snowshoeing trails. The town of Braintree does not maintain a single paved road, though we have the convenience of Vermont Route 12 just down the hill. There is a network of gorgeous, quiet dirt roads all around. Yet East Braintree is convenient. The house is located in the geographical center of Vermont, just north of Randolph, and about 1/10 of a mile from paved Route 12 in the hamlet of East Braintree. It is 25 minutes to Montpelier, 15 minutes to Vermont Technical College or Norwich University, 25 minutes to the Vermont Law School. Burlington is an hour north, the Upper Valley and Hanover/Dartmouth College are 40 minutes away. Major skiing is 45 minutes away in 3 directions: Stowe, Killington or Sugarbush/Mad River Glen. East Braintree is 21/2 hours from Boston, Hartford or Montreal, and 5 hours from NYC. This is a special home for the right buyer. We have loved living in this community and being stewards of this house and are seeking a buyer who will feel the same way. Please e-mail for an appointment to come see if it might be right for you: meredithliben@gmail.com Facts: New Septic system: summer of 2013 Finished space - house: 2200 sq ft Basement full: 8' ceilings, 1100 sq ft                                                                                         Unfinished clean attic, approx. 800 sq. feet usable 2 bedrooms: master 11' x 19', 11'x12' Cozy upstairs sitting room (9'x11') 2nd floor laundry room Living room: 23'x23' (original one room schoolroom) with 8' windows 2 full baths, one with 2 person jacuzzi 20'x12' deck off kitchen Clapboard, standing seam roof (2006) Wood, oil, propane heating sources Elec: 100 amp circuit breakers, garage, shop, apartment on separate system Workshop: 23'x19' with woodstove Insulated duplex space: 23'x19', 23'x12' 2012 property and school taxes: $4900 School district: OSSU (Braintree Elementary, Randolph Union Middle and High School) Miles of Class 4 roads and trails for hiking or snowshoeing/skiing.