Shelburne Farms was created in 1886 by
Dr. William Seward Webb and
Eliza Osgood Vanderbilt Webb as a model agricultural estate, using money inherited from railroad magnate
William Henry Vanderbilt. They commissioned landscape architect
Frederick Law Olmsted to guide the layout of of farm, field and forest, and New York architect
Robert Henderson Robertson, to design the buildings. The estate was created by purchasing a large number of mostly agricultural properties, and then adapting the existing roads and lanes (some of which were public ways the Webbs petitioned to have closed) to fulfill the Webbs' vision for the estate. The property was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places in 1980, and was designated a
National Historic Landmark District in 2001. The farm serves as an educational resource by practicing rural land use that is environmentally, economically and culturally
sustainable. ==See also==