Arnold Home Farm

For a house with what seem to be a number of additions accreted over a century (after the original house burned in 1838), the ultimate, vaguely Neo-Colonial result, with its bays, gables, and spacious porch, is surprisingly impressive. But the principal barn is exceptional—especially for Rhode Island. A large, clapboarded barn with cupola, also vaguely Neo-Colonial, this possesses an unusual cobblestone front, in the manner of some of the fencing on the property. Impressive too is the view down to the cluster of farm buildings from Narrow Lane, which runs beside the farm on a ridge. Set in a lovely vista of stone-walled fields and distant woods, the farm buildings stretch out behind the big barn in a linear cluster, dominated by another sizable barn in random masonry, which houses equipment and upstairs living quarters. Perhaps because of the dominance of the masonry barn, or more subtly because of the relatively large scale of all the buildings here, the view suggests Pennsylvania more than Rhode Island. In any event, this is among the idyllic farm views in the state. Will it remain?