One of Pennsylvania’s largest estates, founded by Quakers, is up for sale

For a long time, the property was known simply as “the Mansion.”

Nowadays, mansions may seem a dime a dozen, suburban McMansions even more so, but this property in rural Clarion County, perched high on a hill overlooking the confluence of the Allegheny and Clarion Rivers, is still a jaw-dropper, the kind of place a billionaire playboy could launch his vigilante superhero campaign, or start a small college, or just let the whole family move in.

Seriously, the whole family.

It’s for sale for $15 million, so just look at the pictures (there are more on the website) and daydream about it for a few minutes.

“It could take you a week to see the whole property,” said Mike Franklin of Jelliff Auction Group in Tioga County.

It’s the kind of house — actually, multiple houses — that needs a name. Today, it’s called the RiverStone Estate. Oddly enough, the 1,200-acre estate was established by descendants of George Fox, founder of the Quaker faith. Famed Philadelphia architect Frank Furness built a carriage house on the land that is larger than most houses. The property is 300 miles northwest of the city.

The nearby town of Foxburg is named after the Foxes, and the mansion stayed in the family until it was sold in the 1960s. The property was slated to become a 36-hole golf resort, and was later purchased by a timber company and finally by a back surgeon who grew up in the area. That man, according to a 2010 story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, invented a device to straighten spines. He later sold his business for $325 million.

The doctor, Arthur Steffee, spent $5 million for a portion of the property in 1996, the paper reported, and invested years and millions of dollars in restoring its buildings. The estate was for sale for $24 million in 2010, so someone’s getting a deal today.

“I haven’t seen anything like it,” Franklin said. “It’s pretty major league.”

The Fox mansion was built in 1828. It has 17 fireplaces, along with a library, a pub, a music room, and a wine cellar. In the ideal world, you’d never have to leave — unless you wanted to visit the greenhouse, multiple guest houses, the aviary, equestrian center, or any one of its 12 barns.