The Story
The Rifton has lived three lives: an 1876 stone church above the Wallkill River, then the local town hall, then a building on a duck farm — before the restoration that landed it in Dwell in 2022. The hamlet around it grew from the Wallkill’s mill settlements, and Perrine’s Bridge, the second-oldest covered bridge in New York State, still crosses the river nearby.
The restoration worked on wabi-sabi principles, preserving the building’s stone walls and original timber rather than covering them, and the result has run as a design-forward retreat between Kingston and New Paltz.
Inside
The great room rises thirty feet to the original exposed beams, framed by preserved stone walls, with a custom wood-burning stone firepit anchoring the floor and oversized glass doors opening to an elevated deck with treehouse-like views over the trees.
Four bedrooms and four baths include spa bathrooms and a vintage clawfoot tub, and a dedicated studio, gallery, and office wing gives the building a working life — equally suited as a full-time residence, a weekend house, or the income property it has already proven to be.
