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Friday Front Porch Feature: A Scenic Country Farmhouse

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Are you looking for a home with pleasant views and enough room for a family or big get together? Then this is the home for you.

Our Friday Front Porch is a weekly feature spotlighting attractive homes for sale in Berkshire County. This week, we are showcasing 365 Oblong Road.

Bucolic serenity surrounds you in this custom-built Federal reproduction. This three bedroom and three-and-a-half bath was built in 1995 and is 3,331 square feet with a little over five acres of land.

The house features Goshen stone steps leading to the home and wood flooring throughout with a brick fireplace and a heated sunroom that leads to a barn garage perfect for three cars or extra storage.

The property includes a bluestone patio great for grilling and having meals outside as well as a playground perfect for younger ones.

It is on the market for $1,300,000 and is listed by Terry Harron-Lamb with Double P General Contracting and Real Estate.

What do you think makes this property stand out in the current market?

Offering three to four bedrooms, 3 1/2 bathrooms. The beautifully appointed kitchen with granite countertops and Viking range opens into a family room with wood burning fireplace. Impressive foyer to open living room and dining room. Lovely center stairway takes you to a spacious second floor. Exterior blue stone patio, with Goshen steps to entrance. The house is sited on 2.5 acres with an additional 2.5-acre adjacent lot.

What type of buyer do you see this home being perfect for?

This home fits many types of buyers. From a couple to a growing year-round family, also perfect for a weekend retreat.

Are there any standout design features?

The family room is enhanced by a Rumford fireplace. Designed in 1796 by physicist Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford. Extremely efficient, it reflects more radiant heat directly into the living space rather than escaping up the chimney.

What would you say to a buyer trying to imagine their life in this space? 

The home is a blank slate! The flow of the property can either be casual or formal. Barefoot or ball gown will fit a variety of images.

What do the current owners love most about this home? 

The current owners are part-time residents and enjoy the beauty and tranquility of the property. Their children love the freedom of playing in the vast yard with their dog and have had lots of sleepovers with their friends.

Do you know any unique stories about the home or its history?

This area on Oblong Road was once owned by the Nobel Prize-winning author Sinclair Lewis. He purchased Thorval Farm in 1946 and created a gentleman's farm consisting 720 acres. The property later was purchased by the Carmelite Fathers, then later sold to private buyers.

What kind of neighborhood is it?

Oblong Road is a scenic road surrounded by beautiful private homes and working farms. It captures the essence of South Williamstown.

How would you describe the feel or atmosphere of this home? 

The home is charming and filled with natural light. The exceptional feature of the home is the expansive great room with cathedral ceilings and large windows over the three car garage.

You can find out more about this house on its listing here.  

*Front Porch Feature brings you an exclusive to some of the houses listed on our real estate page every week. Here we take a bit of a deeper dive into a certain house for sale and ask questions so you don't have to.

Coggins Classic Golf Tournament Helps Bennington Project Independence

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
05:37PM / Saturday, September 05, 2026

This was the tournament's fifth year; it combined with the independence project's annual golf outing this year. 

BENNINGTON, Vt. — Thirty teams hit the green for this year's Coggins Classical Golf tournament, helping Coggins Auto raise money for Bennington Project Independence.

Coggins Auto Marketing Director Valerie Harrington said the fifth annual tournament, which was held on Aug. 28, continued a tradition of community-driven giving. 

Harrington first helped organize the tournament in 2022. She hoped to raise $10,000, which would allow the auto group to leverage a $10,000 Toyota match program. 

The tournament has successfully raised more than $50,000 the last two years, with last year's beneficiary the Cancer Center Community Crusaders. 

This year, it raised more than $50,000 alone, including meeting the Toyota match the third year in a row.

Harrington said she wanted to help the nonprofits in the area, especially those that might get overlooked.

"The idea of it was especially for those nonprofits that are pretty small and don't have really the funds or the means or understanding of how to put on a golf tournament, and to give them an opportunity to get at least $20,000 in funds that year, which is huge for a lot of them, and it's really grown since then," she said.

"There's a lot of nonprofits that are big and big and loud and you know about them, but there are so many more that are like people don't even realize they exist. But what they do is super critical and important to the people in our community."

Local nonprofits submit an application each year explaining their mission and what they need to succeed. Coggins employees narrow the submissions to their top three choices and then let the community decide who they should pick.

Bennington has more than 100 nonprofits, and it can be hard to keep track of them all, but with the tournament, Coggins is able to have many people learn and see the needs in their community and nonprofits they haven't heard about.

"Even if they don't win, they've got in front of thousands of people who read their story and know what they need and know what they do to just spread awareness," Harrington said. "And then by having the community vote on it, then we know for sure what we're doing is what the community wants the most at that given time ...

"The community is saying, 'Hey, we want this nonprofit. We like what they're trying to do. Let's give them help because it's the decision of hundreds to thousands of people rather than just a handful of us.'"

Bennington Project Independence is an adult day service for individuals and families facing the challenges of aging or disability. This year the organization is combining its 13th annual golf tournament with Coggins.

"I think they've affected a lot of people's lives and helped a lot of families because it's an adult day facility for not just the elderly but also special needs," Harrington said. "So what they do every day to keep those folks' lives enriched while giving the family a break or allowing them to go to work and do these things. It's really important."

The 2027 tournament submissions will open in March of 2027.