Obamas’ Former Martha’s Vineyard Summer Home Coming to Market for $39M
Blue Heron Farm, the former Martha’s Vineyard summer home of President Barack Obama and his family, will soon be on the market for $39 million. The home is currently owned…
EDGARTOWN, MA – AUGUST 06: Items featuring U.S. President Barack Obama’s name are shown for sale at the Soft As A Grape store August 6, 2009 in Edgartown, Massachusetts on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. President Barack Obama and his family will visit Martha’s Vineyard and stay at the Blue Heron Farm off South Road in Chilmark while on vacation during the last week of August. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Blue Heron Farm, the former Martha's Vineyard summer home of President Barack Obama and his family, will soon be on the market for $39 million.
The home is currently owned by the family of British architect Norman Foster, founder and chairman of Foster + Partners. According to a Wall Street Journal report, the 30-acre estate features a main three-bedroom home with architectural elements dating to the 1800s.
Elle Decor noted that the 7,000-square-foot main house in Chilmark is in a classic white clapboard style with a wraparound porch. The property also includes a guesthouse, a boathouse, a 150-year-old barn from Pennsylvania, a riding ring, basketball and tennis courts, gardens, an apple orchard, and a private stretch of waterfront along the Tisbury Great Pond.
According to Elle Decor, the property dates to 1991, when philanthropist M. Anthony Fisher began developing the estate. Fisher and his wife were killed in a plane crash in 2003. Mollie and William Van Devender purchased the property and rented it to the Obamas for the family's summer stays from 2009 through 2011. The Van Devenders eventually sold the property to the Foster family.
Blue Heron Farm is no stranger to presidential guests. In addition to the Obamas, Bill and Hillary Clinton attended a dinner party there in 1998.
The sale of Blue Heron Farm will also benefit the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank, which collects a 2% fee on real estate transactions to support local conservation efforts. Assuming the property sells for $39 million, the buyer would owe the Land Bank $780,000 at closing.
