The True Line of Stewardship at Four Brooks Farm

Reese Denny Alsop Gilder Palmer

For more than four decades, Reese has lived, worked, and sacrificed at Four Brooks Farm. He inherited the responsibility of daily labor, land management, caregiving, repairs, and the emotional weight of maintaining the ancestral home. He has no children, which makes the preservation of this property even more essential to continuing the family’s legacy.

Reese remained on the land through every hardship—weather, isolation, illness, financial strain, and decades of caring for both parents. His life’s work has been the protection and survival of Four Brooks Farm.

Walter Walker Palmer

Walter left Four Brooks at 18 years old and never returned to live on the property. He established his life and career first in Boston, then in Wake Forest, North Carolina, raising his family away from the land his parents had intended for him.

George Gilder

George has never lived at Four Brooks Farm—not one day. He did not share in its labor, its maintenance, or the caretaking of the Gilder Palmer parents.

Comfort de Kay Gilder (later Gordenier)

Comfort spent her youth between Four Brooks Farm and her grandmother’s residence in Europe. She later married Camp Gordenier and did not live at or maintain Four Brooks.

What the Parents Promised Their Sons

Fairview → Promised to Walter Walker Palmer

Walter was told he would inherit the entire Fairview property, having the ability:

•   to build a home on the lot,

•   to earn rental income from the structures,

•   and to sell extra acreage if necessary for his family’s future.

Four Brooks Farm → Promised to Reese Denny Alsop Gilder Palmer

Reese was promised all of Four Brooks Farm in recognition of:

•   45+ years of farming,

•   land stewardship,

•   caring for both parents through illness and old age,

•   and the fact that he remained devoted to the property his entire life.

This inheritance was not merely symbolic—it was a direct acknowledgment of his lifelong labor and responsibility.

The Passing of the Parents

•   Gilder Palmer died in 2006

•   Anne Alsop Gilder Palmer died in 2020, fourteen years later

Both were lovingly and consistently cared for by Reese.

After 2020: Four Years of Turmoil and Erosion

Since 2020, Four Brooks Farm has been destabilized by:

•   inheritance conflicts,

•   financial strain,

•   legal pressure,

•   and outside interference in the estate.

What should have been a simple fulfillment of parental wishes became a prolonged battle for survival.

The Estate Erosion and Asset Removal

In the years following the deaths of Gilder and Anne Palmer, Cornelia Gilder, who had long-standing access to the family’s networks and materials, became deeply involved in estate handling.

Her actions, together with those of George Gilder, contributed to:

•   the redirection of assets,

•   the removal of documents and family materials,

•   the depletion of property holdings,

•   and the consolidation of nearly all remaining family assets into their control—

except for one final piece:

Four Brooks Farm remains the lone surviving family property.

The Present Threat (2025):

Forced Sale, Pressure Tactics, and Undermining Preservation.

The combined actions over the past several years have led to:

•   attempts to artificially depress the property’s value,

•   interference with legitimate preservation sales,

•   community influence used to obstruct the family’s rights,

•   delays designed to exhaust resources,

•   and efforts to push the farm into bankruptcy or forced auction.

This would erase parental wishes, decades of labor, and the historic significance of the site—all for the purpose of private acquisition rather than preservation.

Why Four Brooks Farm Must Be Saved

If the farm is lost:

•   The last physical Gilder–de Kay–Palmer homestead disappears.

•   A vital link to Gilded Age art, literature, and social reform is destroyed.

•   A property with ties to presidents, artists, authors, architects, musicians, and reformers is removed from public access forever.

•   The promise made to Reese and Walter by their parents—after 45 years of loyalty—is broken.

Four Brooks Farm is not merely land; it is a historic American chapter still standing.

Mission of the Four Brooks Farm Preservation Initiative

Our nonprofit exists to:

•   honor the intentions of Gilder and Anne Palmer,

•   protect Reese’s decades of stewardship,

•   prevent forced liquidation or hostile takeover,

•   secure the grounds and artifacts for future generations,

•   and transform Four Brooks Farm into a protected historic landmark.

The fight for Four Brooks Farm is not only legal or financial—it is a fight for history, fairness, and the preservation of a cultural legacy entrusted to Reese Denny Alsop Gilder Palmer by birthright and by duty.

Four Brooks Farm must be preserved.

Four Brooks Farm must endure.