As developers carve up Loudoun farmland one piece at a time, even historic farms are going under the bulldozer.

Farm owners are faced with the dilemma of whether they should sell their farms or try to continue to survive dwindling incomes and high taxes.

As Loudoun’s farmland disappears, one Round Hill farm is beginning a new life.

On March 10, Sullystone Farm—which housed three generations of laughter, tears and memories – passes to its new owners, Richard and Jamie Pantel, of New Jersey, who will restore it to a working farm.

The Sullivan family lived at Sullystone Farm on Paxson Road for 45 years. They are moving to Lexington.

From inside the rich red walls of the kitchen, you can look out the window past the giant tree, to the sloping 91-acre expanse of Sullystone Farm.

Stone fences outline sections like dotted lines on a map. Three greenhouses and a barn sit within easy walking distance of the house.

It’s a landscape the Pantels don’t want to change.

This isn’t the first time that the farm has been given another chance. When Neil “Gramps” Sullivan, Ann’s father-in-law, first saw it, he thought it was a “rundown shack.”

But after renovations, the additions transformed the house, originally built in 1751, into a 9,000-square-foot home.

Sullivan, 93, originally bought the property in 1963, when he ran a steel fabricating business in Sterling. He renovated it in 1964 with his son, Tim Sullivan, who was in sixth grade at the time. Tim is Ann’s husband. The family moved in in 1965.

Sullivan also discovered the crumbling stone fences on the property and had them mended. He wanted the farm to remind him of his Irish heritage. He planted ivy around the greenhouses to please his wife, named Ivy.

Sullivan raised hogs, since they were quick money. Once he had established himself, he switched to cattle.

Tim and Ann married in 1977, when the farming business was just starting to go downhill. They moved to the farm, where they raised six girls, three of whom are now married.

If you visited Sullystone Farm, Ann Sullivan might have sat you down for a cup of herbal tea and a banana nut muffin. The kitchen table sits eight easily, and Ann remembers many noisy Sullivan dinners.

“We’re Irish,” Ann said. “We let it all out.”

In addition to raising six girls, the Sullivans also took in girls who were hurting. They helped a total of eight girls. Since they are Catholic, they also held prayer meetings on the farm.

The Pantels also want to use the farm to serve the community.

Jamie practices dressage, and hopes to use the farm to support the equestrian community. While she’s never lived in Virginia before, she’s showed in Virginia, and fell in love with the area.

The Pantels also believe strongly in the humane treatment of animals and hope they can use the farm to support animal rescue organizations.

The Pantels want Sullystone farm to be a fusion of old-fashioned charm and modern technology. The historical details of the house and the stonework on the farm will be maintained, but the outbuildings will be updated to use solar technology, so that the farm can be “green.”

Though every day Gramps leans a little more heavily on his cane made from a tree root in Ireland, he still made it up the stairs every day to sit at the kitchen table and look out at the farm he had brought back to life. He wanted to live at Sullystone until the day he died. But the Sullivans knew the offer from the Pantels couldn’t be passed up.

“It’s the winter of this farm, and this is the winter of our lives,” Ann Sullivan said, “but we’re heading into a new season.”