Even the barn has a chandelier at this Beaufort County horse farm. It’s for sale
Camelot Farms Equestrian Estate, 20 minutes east of Beaufort on St. Helena Island, just hit the market. The asking price: $3.4 million.
Even the 14-stall main barn at this dreamy Lowcountry spread near the beach, which attracts riders from all over the world, has a wood and metal chandelier.
“We’re hoping whoever buys this would continue the business,” said Anne Kennedy, an expert horse trainer. “The facility is set up for business, but it could be turned into something else.”
The 64.5-acre turnkey equestrian center and private estate is listed by Jon Kohler & Associates on behalf of Kennedy and her husband, Mark.
Anne, 73, and Mark, 74, are retiring — for the second time — and selling the property, which is a stone’s throw from St. Helena Island Sound.
With access to Coffin Point beach from the Camelot Farms, seaside horse rides took off in popularity and remain a bread-and-butter income generator. Camelot Farms also offers boarding, riding lessons, house and cabin rentals and campgrounds.
“We started giving tours on our property and also to the beach,” Anne Kennedy said. “That is a lifeblood really, is our trail rides here. And we have had people here from all over the world come and ride with us.”
Lori Weldon, of Jon Kohler & Associates, said the property stands out along the entire Eastern Seaboard for its state-of-the art equestrian center and its location less than a mile from the beach and tidal creeks on the marsh.
“There’s just not a lot of places left where you are able to do that,” Weldon said.
The main barn has 14 stalls, and each one has a fan to keep the horses cool and an automatic fly spray system and screen to keep pesky flies at bay.
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That’s on top of the chandelier and stained-glass windows.
“For a horse person, when they see the barn, they are going to be like, ‘Oh!’” Weldon said.
There is also a full-sized dressage arena and a 300- by 500-foot jump arena, along with training obstacles on trails.
A 2,800-square-foot, 3-bedroom and 2.5-bath home with stucco and tabby exterior is located on the back of the estate overlooking the marsh.
A three-bedroom guesthouse also is located on the property.
Before retiring, Anne Kennedy worked in cancer detection and research for Upjohn Co., a pharmaceutical manufacturer now known as Pfizer Inc. Mark Kennedy owned a commercial flooring company.
Much of the land they purchased was previously used to grow tomatoes, Anne Kennedy said.
“We fell into a lot of ditches with our tractors,” she said.
The land is off of U.S. 21.
The Kennedys moved to the Lowcountry land in 1999 from Atlanta to retire on a farm, not to build a horse facility. They quickly fell in love with the marshes, beaches, tidal creeks and people, Anne Kennedy said, but “flunked” retirement.
Horses are Anne Kennedy’s passion and, after moving to South Carolina, and getting request-after-request for help with horses, the equestrian center was developed.
“I said ‘yes’ one too many times, my husband said, and it grew,” Anne Kennedy said.
In the real estate listing, Camelot Farms is billed as a “horse lover’s utopia” with “multiple income stream opportunities.”
The name, Camelot Farms, was a spin-off of the name sometimes given to the heady 1,000 days of the John. F. Kennedy administration before he was assassinated. Anne Kennedy’s father was a politician who was at JFK’s inauguration. And Anne, of course, married a Kennedy — just one from the wrong family, she jokes.
This story was originally published June 18, 2021 at 10:57 AM.
