A Century of History
At 42.1960° N longitude and 73.3620° W latitude, nestled between the Catamount mountains and the picturesque town of Great Barrington, sits the 46.25-acre Chesterfield Estate. Since 1918, this Berkshire County property has been home to four families; its main house, three cottages, historic barn, majestic chestnut trees, field, and breathtaking views providing a welcome respite from the trials of daily life for a handful of presidents, captains of industry, movie stars and professional musicians, and to many more ordinary folks.
A Place for Culture
Chesterfield’s roots are firmly established in art and culture, and it has maintained a collaboration with the visual and performing arts that spans more than a century.
The property was originally built to house the Asian Art collection of New York gallery owner, Charles Freer. In 1925, it was first rented and then sold to Albert Spalding, a renowned concert violinist, who named it Aston Magna, after a village in the Cotswolds where he and his wife, Mary, enjoyed spending summers picnicking on the village green, while he rehearsed for his world tours. Mr. Spalding’s notable contributions to the estate include the addition of an acoustically perfect Music Studio — a conservatory where he would teach students and perform recitals — and a walk-in safe in the Main House to store his beloved Stradivarius violin. [We plan to repurpose the safe as an elevator and transfer the safe door to the Games Room – more on that anon]. After Albert Spalding died, his widow, Mary, lived alone on the estate until she passed in 1970 and bequeathed it to the Berkshire Museum. The Museum could not afford to maintain the property so handed over the reins to Lee Elman, a commercial real estate attorney and early music afficionado, who with his wife and young daughter, Alex, used the estate as a country home. It was during this time that Lee Elman formed the Aston Magna Foundation for Music and hosted the first of what has become an established annual classical music festival.
An Asian Art dealer, a renowned concert violinist and the founder of the Aston Magna Foundation for Music all called this Berkshire estate their home.
A New Chapter
In August 2023, following the death of Mr. Elman in late 2022, the estate was purchased by Carrie and Jack Baughman, a British American couple, who were looking for a place to call home (situated between Boston and New York) where they could build a legacy estate for their family. Jack came up with the name Chesterfield, as a nod to Carrie’s birthplace in the UK, to the plethora of chestnut trees on the property, and to the estate’s physical proximity to Sheffield, MA which mirrors the geography in England where Sheffield and Chesterfield are neighbouring towns.
Sadly, in recent years, the estate has fallen into disrepair, its days of welcoming dignitaries, musicians, and friends, now a thing of the past. It is Carrie Baughman’s vision to change that, restoring Chesterfield not just to its former glory, but to shepherd the estate to its next iteration, one where it reconnects with the town of Great Barrington and enmeshes itself within the fabric of the community.
Chesterfield, a town in the UK county of Derbyshire, and birthplace of new owner Carrie Baughman, inspires a new name for the estate.
The goal of Team Chesterfield is simple. To transform what is now a paper dream into reality.
Follow Carrie’s journey as she documents her progress at Chesterfield through a weekly Captain’s Log.
A Dedicated Team
Carrie Baughman is an experienced, some would say serial property developer/renovator. Over three decades, she has successfully renovated/built 17 properties (including 5 historic homes) and she feels equal to the task of restoring this majestic estate. Since Carrie knows firsthand that it takes a village, she has built Team Chesterfield, a group of experienced and highly skilled professionals and craftsmen who are as motivated and engaged as she is in realizing the estate’s potential. The goal of Team Chesterfield is simple. To transform what is now a paper dream into reality. Follow Carrie’s journey as she documents her progress at Chesterfield through a weekly Captain’s Log.