A pub and restaurant, renewed ice skating pond, hiking trails and a bed-and-breakfast are all possibilities for the 153-acre property with a nine-hole course that Edward Snow Jr. has agreed to buy from the Northfield Mount Hermon School, through a deal that he hopes will be completed by the end of January.
A pub and restaurant, renewed ice skating pond, hiking trails and a bed-and-breakfast are all possibilities for the future of the Northfield (Mass.) Golf Club if a prospective new owner closes the deal on the 153-acre property, reported The Recorder of Greenfield, Mass.
Edward Snow Jr., of Leyden, Mass., entered into a purchase agreement with the Northfield Mount Hermon School (NMH) for the nine-hole golf course and adjacent wetlands in October. Snow said he hopes the transaction will be completed by the end of January, according to The Recorder.
Though Snow’s company, Snow & Sons Tree & Landscaping, has run and maintained the golf course since 2011, the course is being purchased by Snow and his family, not by the business, The Recorder said.
Snow, along with his wife and daughter, had an informal meeting with Northfield residents on December 3. “We’re here because we want to know what you want, what Northfield wants, for the property,” Snow told the group.
When the course went up for sale this spring, a group of residents organized to see what they could do to preserve the property and keep the 52-acre wetland protected, and save the nine-hole golf course from development, according to The Recorder.
In the December 3 meeting, Snow provided assurance that he intends to keep the property largely as is, with no plans to develop the wetlands, to add a “back nine” or otherwise to change the course layout, The Recorder said.
Members of the group, as well as residents participating in the ongoing master plan, have also said they’d like to see a pub in town, and felt the course would be an ideal setting for the establishment. Snow expressed agreement with those ideas, The Recorder said.
“We’d love to have a restaurant and pub, and have it be Northfield’s place to go, not just a place to be for golfers,” Snow said, adding that it would be included in a new clubhouse.
He also hopes to increase parking on the property, for golfers and hikers alike, The Recorder said.
At the meeting, residents asked Snow if he planned to use environmentally sensitive landscaping practices on the golf course, which is part of the Connecticut River watershed.
“We’re careful about what we use [on the grounds],” Snow replied, adding that protecting the local watershed is important to him and his family.
He said he would also like to see the course provide its own water for irrigation, The Recorder said. That water is currently supplied by the NMH-owned East Northfield Water Co., though Snow hopes to install wells or find another sustainable water source.
“There’s water all around the property, and we should be using it to water the course,” he said.
Many in the meeting asked Snow to consider ways to showcase the history of the property, including former neighbors the Northfield Inn and Chateau, torn down decades ago, The Recorder said.
Though the sale is pending, Snow has already started to improve the property. Work has begun on “Bonnie Blink,” also known as the Dickerson House, a Victorian structure on the north end of the course. The Snows hope to turn it back into the bed-and-breakfast it once was.
“Our vision is to have five bedrooms, with a couple of common areas,” said Snow’s daughter, Shelby Snow, who would live in and manage the bed-and-breakfast. “There’s a lot to be done inside and out in order to meet the building code. It’s a three-year plan.”
They’ve begun clearing brush around the house, and plan to repair the building from the outside in, according to The Reporter. Edward Snow said the structure itself is in excellent shape.
Snow has also resumed maintenance on trails in the 52-acre wetlands portion of the property, after they went unmaintained for several years. He said he would like to increase public access to the trails, as long as liability won’t be an issue.
He said he’d also like to encourage off-season uses of the property, such as sledding and cross-country skiing, according to The Recorder.
Snow said he wants to hear more Northfield residents’ opinions on the future of the golf course, The Recorder said.
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