Water inside your walls is a major liability.
Outside your walls, it’s a major asset.
Here are five homes with liquid assets, on the market right now.
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71 Old Toll Rd, Madison
3 bd | 3 ba | 2,092 sq ft | 2.79 ac | $549,500

This property isn’t just on a lake; it encompasses half of it. Landside, the property’s home dates to 1810, a fact visible in wide-plank floors, hand-milled beams, farmhouse built-ins, wrought-iron fixtures, stone-masonry columns and a fireplace for every 500 square feet. Modern offsets include a stylishly renovated kitchen and a heated, glass-enclosed back porch.
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30 Pleasant Valley Rd, Clinton
4 bd | 2.5 ba | 2,033 sq ft | 1.9 ac | $695,000

Also flush with antique parts, this 1790 expanded stone farmhouse nonetheless feels more thoroughly modernized inside. A “barn/garage/stable” is the property’s newest major structure, added in 2018. Nearby, “new Bluestone walkways wind through lush perennial gardens, while fragrant rose bushes line the new fencing near the home, creating a peaceful and picturesque setting” topped off by the element that qualifies the listing for this list: a stonework pond graced by a curving bridge.
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71 Main St, East Haddam
3 bd | 2.5 ba | 2,652 sq ft | 1.01 ac | $1,545,000

This elegant East Haddam home gloriously positioned on the Connecticut River offers “an incredible array of breathtaking water views from every room.” A design approach favoring simplicity touched up with tastefully bold strokes and details extends from the beautiful custom kitchen to the covered rear porch, where a 120” screen waits to be extended downward for a movie night, perhaps spruced up with a bottle plucked from the wine cellar. A secondary patio lies near the stairs leading down to the water, though there isn’t—yet—a dock to put you out over it.
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48 Andrews Rd, Guilford
6 bd | 6 ba (4 full) | 3,948 sq ft | 3.39 ac | $3,100,000

Nicknamed “The Whale House,” this towering architect-designed home with a roof line similar to Yale’s own “Whale” offers water views three layers long: salt marsh, harbor and, approaching the horizon, the Long Island Sound. Thanks to a high perch and copious windows, “natural views… flow easily through nearly every living area,” and outdoor views, including from the pool deck and a trio of patios around a small koi pond, come in a variety of tiers connected by geometrically delicious stairs and walkways.
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Rogers Island, Branford
10 bd | 8 ba (6 full) | 10,662 sq ft | 7.65 ac | $29,995,000

Surrounded by water, of course, and served by two sizable docks, this private island is one of the largest of the Thimbles. Anchored by a spectacular “10-bedroom Tudor house set amidst beautifully mature landscaping,” amenities arrayed across the grounds include a seaside pool, a tennis court, a putting green, formal gardens and a koi pond, while outbuildings include a four-bedroom guest cottage, two-bedroom staff quarters and a loft studio. Amazingly, the listing price incorporates a sister property on the mainland—“a waterfront destination of its own” located “at the end of a private peninsula,” whose dock facilitates “easy access to and from the island.”
And you don’t have to shell out $30 million to drink it in.
Written by Dan Mims. Images sourced from the linked real estate listings, where many more photos await. Top image features 48 Andrews Road, Guilford.