This 552-acre farm for sale in rural KY comes with 4 houses. Take a look around.
A wooded, 552-acre property in Lawrence County is on the market, and it comes with four houses, three barns, a 1-acre pond and 8 miles of trails that could be used for hiking, horseback riding or off-roading.
The property, known as Witheniewe Farms, was listed for sale at $1.95 million by National Land Realty in April.
“The rolling hills of Witheniwe Farms cradle the property in complete privacy, creating a natural sanctuary unlike anything the modern market has to offer,” the property listing states. “Four residences and three barns provide immediate infrastructure for multigenerational living, a working homestead, or a private retreat compound. The possibilities are as expansive as the land itself.”
In addition to the houses and barns, there is a greenhouse, a large chicken coop and three small orchards.
The property also has an estimated $510,000 in timber that could be sold.
Maleah Crumpler said members of her father’s family have occupied part of the land since 1883.
“It’s just a slice of heaven,” Crumpler said of the property, which is about 30 minutes from Huntington, West Virginia, and about two hours east of Lexington.
The drive into Ashland or Grayson is about 35 minutes.
Crumpler said her dad, the late Jay Queen, grew up on the farm, attended Fallsburg Elementary and Louisa High School and then went on serve in the Korean War and study at the University of Kentucky, where he played football and earned an engineering degree.
He spent much of his career working for NASA and later became a partner in an engineering firm before retiring back to the farm.
When she was in her 50s, Crumpler said she moved back too, to help her parents as they aged.
She and her husband built two of the houses, the three-bedroom, two-bath lodge-style home where they live, and another home they affectionately refer to as the Hobbit House.
Crumpler’s 2,317-square-foot home sits on a basement and has a sunken walipini greenhouse on the side.
She said she has enjoyed organic growing in the place she knows as Queen Holler.
Crumpler said she initially started building the Hobbit House as her own residence when she first moved back, but once the basement was dug, she decided it would be too big, so construction was stopped.
She said she and her husband ultimately converted that space into a two-bedroom, two-bath in-ground concrete block home with an antique arched door that helped give the house its name. She said they host huge family reunions there each year, and it also comes in handy when friends visit.
There’s a solar panel system on the attached garage, a propane generator and, according to the real estate listing, “a standout bunker room” that connects the main living space to the garage. It’s described as “a hardened, versatile space ideal for a storm shelter, secure storage, or a private bonus room.”
Crumpler’s mother, Connie Queen, 92, still lives in the home she built on the site of the original homeplace when she and Jay Queen decided to move back.
The fourth house once belonged to Crumpler’s great-uncle and later a retired friend of the uncle who lived there for about 30 years, riding horses, keeping goats and “grooming” the land.
That house has 1,664 square feet, with one bedroom, one bathroom and a massive stone fireplace.
Deciding to sell
Crumpler said she and her siblings “are not spring chickens.”
“We’re all going where our grandkids go,” she said.
And while she said “it’s breaking my heart” to say goodbye to the homeplace, Crumpler said she’s had lots of lookers.
“I’ve had people come and look at it. A lot of them are resource buyers,” she said. “They want the mineral rights. They want the trees.
“My hope would be somebody that did want an organic hobby farm.”
She said she could also imagine it as a hunting club.
“I would like to see someone buy it that treasures that space,” Crumpler said.
Real estate agent Kraig Moore said he could see the property being used as a church retreat, hunting camp, commune or home for a large, multi-generational family.
“The houses are far enough apart, everyone would have privacy,” Moore said. “It’s just going to take the right person.”
Crumpler said she chose the name Witheniwe for the farm, because it means “provisions.”
“It has provided for my family for 150 years,” she said.
