History-rich Fogland Farm traces back three centuries

Only three families have owned this 84-acre farm for the past three centuries

By Lucy Probert
Posted 8/27/24

Tiverton’s Fogland Farm, built in 1730 on an elevated rise overlooking views of Nonquit Pond with the Sakonnet River and the ocean in the distance, is on 84 acres and steeped in history. Only …

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History-rich Fogland Farm traces back three centuries

Only three families have owned this 84-acre farm for the past three centuries

Posted

Tiverton’s Fogland Farm, built in 1730 on an elevated rise overlooking views of Nonquit Pond with the Sakonnet River and the ocean in the distance, is on 84 acres and steeped in history. Only three families have owned this home in its nearly 300-year history, with the most recent residents the Taradashs, who purchased it in 1977.

“Right after the Bicentennial there was a great deal of interest in Colonial America, and my father, who is a big antiques collector, bought the house, with all of the contents included, some from when it was originally built,” says Nick Taradash, son of the owner Bernard.

Grander than most farmhouses of its day, the home was originally built as a Georgian with a prominent portico entryway into a hall with parlors to the left and right and a staircase ahead. Around 1812, a Federal-style addition was added for a new kitchen, and a Victorian mansard roof was built around 1870.

With hardwood floors throughout, six over six sash windows fill the house, with more on the second floor extending up to the Victorian cornice level. There are eight bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms in more than 4,500 square feet in the main house, which also features two drawing rooms, a living room, four working fireplaces and a screened-in porch on the east side. Along with the original home, the property also includes two smaller houses and three barns.

Growing up on Fogland Farm, Nick will always remember the details within the walls. “One of my favorite features is the fireplace in the formal dining room,” he said. “When the house was being restored, the fireplace was boarded up, and when we reopened it we found that it had been decorated with original English delft tiles from the 18th century, which depict scenes from Aesop’s Fables.”

Family lore and history of the house and property include stories of a battle during King Philip’s War fought on or near the property before the house was built, and it is rumored that in the early 18th century the farm was attacked by pirates who stole their livestock. Colonel John Cook, a relative of the home’s original owner, served in the American Revolution from 1775 to 1779 in Newport’s 2nd Regiment. Cook’s son-in-law sold it to the Bateman family in 1819, and it remained in their hands until the Taradash family bought it in the mid-1970s.

The two other smaller homes on the property, both built in 1990, are a one-bedroom, one-bath Cape-style and a ranch with two bedrooms and a bathroom.

A 12,000-square-foot horse barn, built in 1984, includes an indoor rink, 15 stalls, high ceilings and a heated tack room. Another almost 3,000-square-foot gambrel-roofed barn was put up in 1950 and has seven stalls. A smaller two-level barn with a loft is currently used as an art studio.

At its height, the larger barn housed more than 20 horses. Nick Taradash has many warm memories of his mother Martha, who participated in dressage events, raising horses and riding on the farm. “She would wake up at the crack of dawn and ride her horse down to Fogland Beach, where they both would take a swim in the river,” he said. “And at Christmas time we would hitch a pony up to the sleigh, adorned with bells, and ride through the snow.”

There are also stone walls and trails throughout the 84-acre property for riding or walking as well as an old growth apple orchard “Prior to Prohibition, cider was the drink of choice in New England,” said Nick. “We have a rare variety of apple cider trees growing here, as well as old cider equipment still here from previous owners.”

The farm and properties are being offered for sale at $5,950,000, with Liz Kinnane and Cherry Arnold, sales associates at Mott & Chace Sotheby’s International Realty. “There really is no other place quite like it,” said Nick. “What I would love for the next owners of this very special property is for them to love and cherish it as much as we have, to keep some of its unique historic elements, but at the same time see its incredible potential, to add some innovation, bring new life in and make it shine.”

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