1,600-Acre Catskills Estate Built by One of America’s Founding Families

For the first time in its 237-year history, Lake Delaware Farm in Bovina Center, New York, has been listed for sale with Norah Burden of Brown Harris Stevens. Offered at $14,000,000, the property spans 1,600 acres in the Catskill Mountains, anchored by a 68-acre private lake.

The estate traces its origins to the Livingston family, one of America’s most prominent dynasties of the Founding Era. In 1686, the English crown granted Robert Livingston 160,000 acres along the Hudson River, establishing Livingston Manor and the family seat at Clermont. The family prospered through generations of land, commerce, and political influence, becoming central figures in early American history. Chancellor Robert Livingston famously swore in George Washington as the nation’s first president.

Through the 1708 Hardenbergh Patent—a vast two-million-acre grant from Queen Anne that encompassed much of the Catskills—the Livingstons expanded their holdings. By 1740 they controlled a fifth of the patent. When Robert Livingston “The Judge” died, his daughter Gertrude Livingston inherited 20,000 acres spanning Delhi, Andes, and Bovina. In 1774, she married Morgan Lewis, a Revolutionary War general, later governor of New York, and close associate of Washington, Hamilton, and Lafayette.

It was here, on Gertrude’s inheritance, that the couple built The Lake House in 1787, just four years after the Revolutionary War had ended. At the time, the Catskills remained largely untamed—densely forested, sparsely settled by Europeans, and still home to Native American tribes. To establish a Grecian-style mansion on a remote mountain lake was a bold undertaking, placing the Lewises among the earliest families to create a grand estate in the region. Their granddaughter Julia Delafield later described the original structure as “a well-planned and extremely pretty mansion in the Grecian style,” which was expanded across generations into the house that stands today.

While the residence is known as The Lake House, the broader estate has long been called Lake Delaware. The property remained in continuous family hands, passing from Gertrude and Morgan Lewis to their daughter Margaret Livingston, then to Robert James Livingston, and later to Louisa Livingston Gerry. Louisa’s son, Peter Goelet Gerry, inherited the estate, while his siblings built two nearby houses: Aknusti, a Georgian-style mansion designed by Thomas Hastings with grounds by Frederick Law Olmsted, and Ancrum, with formal gardens designed by Fletcher Steele that still retain their statuary and terraces today.

At its heart, the Lake House remains among the oldest surviving residences in Delaware County. Its classical façade is defined by a full-length Doric portico, while a carved spiral staircase centers the entry hall, flanked by sunlit parlors. Later 19th-century additions expanded the home to over 7,000 square feet, introducing ceiling tracery, paneled dining rooms, marble mantels, and intricate inlaid floors.

The residence today offers nine bedrooms and nine-and-a-half baths, including an attic bunkroom with double showers and sinks. A large eat-in kitchen, paneled dining room, family room, butler’s pantry, mudroom, laundry, and bar complete the interiors, all linked by front and back staircases as well as an elevator. Though imposing in scale, the house retains the feel of a grand country inn—formal yet inviting.

The approach is equally dramatic: a winding drive lined with historic stone walls and iron gates, leading to lawns that slope gently to Lake Delaware. A historic boathouse still serves as a launch for swimming or rowing, while Fletcher Steele’s hillside gardens evoke the estate’s landscaped past.

Conceived as a retreat that combined architecture, landscape, and scale, Lake Delaware Farm once included working farms, stables, and even a private chapel. Today it stands as one of the largest and most storied private holdings in the Catskills—a rare convergence of natural beauty, architectural heritage, and American history—now entering the market for the very first time.

All photos courtesy of the listing agency.