Sullivan County Home and Garden Tour — Phillipsport

Adaptability and resilience are much needed to keep democracy thriving.  The hamlet of Phillipsport is a prime example of adaptive re-use of historic buildings.
Meet at the Gateway Garden in Phillipsport, a volunteer effort that has created a gateway to the Phillipsport Community Center. The two distinct garden areas consist of a parklike setting with a perimeter of evergreens and ornamental trees with raised beds, planter boxes, and a mix of annuals and perennials, and a slope garden with cascading bush clover, ringed by native shrubs, and centered by willow topiaries and stands of cannas and stately perennials. Benches and a Little Free Library beckon community members and visitors to enjoy the verdant setting visible from well-trafficked route 209.
From there, the group will travel just up the hill to the Phillipsport Church House. The Phillipsport United Methodist Church, a simple rural timber framed structure clad in clapboard, completed in 1823, was converted to a private residence in 2018 after almost a decade of sitting empty without a congregation or a next life. It sat on a small parcel, less than ½ acre in the center of the hamlet of Phillipsport, next door to the original Phillipsport Schoolhouse of the early 1840’s, now the Phillipsport Community Center. Architect Matthew Bremer purchased the property along with a parcel across the road, required to install a legal septic system, and took on the stewardship of this historic structure and grounds. The 3300 SF interior has been converted to a 3 bedroom home, maintaining the open sanctuary with 20’ ceiling and huge triple-hung windows with original glass as the kitchen/ living/ dining space. Since completion, Matthew and his partner Shaun Skura have added a series of garden spaces defined by new drystack stone walls, raised beds for seasonal production gardens, outdoor dining, a firepit seating area, an outdoor shower, and a variety of local and native plantings including habitat gardens.
The home has been featured in the New York Times and Architectural Digest.
You’ll then stop for a lunch of quiche, salad and a drink at the Phillipsport Community Center, provided with a $10 donation to the PCC, payable separately.
The Phillipsport Community Center (PCC) is housed in a ca. 1850s one-room schoolhouse in the Town of Mamakating. A long-neglected public building, the schoolhouse was officially conveyed to the PCC in 1956, which has preserved its historic nature.
Since 2005, the PCC with generous assistance from the Gerry Foundation’s Sullivan Renaissance program, has transformed what was once a gravel-strewn lot into an outdoor gathering place landscaped with native shrub borders, perennial beds, a trellis garden, and a shade garden. The garden areas are composed mostly of plants native to North America and their contemporary cultivars. A garden pavilion was added to the grounds in 2018 to enhance the PCC’s accessibility as a hub of community activity.  Activities include music nights, speakers on subjects of historic or civic interest, social gatherings and seasonal celebrations.
After lunch, travel just up the hill to the Pond House, a private residence sited on a pond bordered by a naturally occurring native meadow.  When the house was built another meadow was introduced on the half acre on which the house directly sits.  Echoing the native meadow surrounding the pond, a custom seed mix was developed that spoke to the rusted steel and color palette of the house design.   The seed mix is made up of a mix of five grasses and nine flowering forbs giving seasonal interest from spring to fall.  In July the meadow is blooming with Purple Coneflower, Blue Chicory, Queen Anne’s Lace, and a variety of yellow flowering  perennials including Black Eyed Susan, Lanceleaf Coreopsis, Showy Tickseed, and Sneezeweed.

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