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Silver Lining Bringing a Touch of the West to Rhode Island Story by Roland Sweet • Photos by George Riley Reprinted with permission of Log Homes Illustrated, December 2000.
When Jay Forge relaxes on the porch of his log home and thinks about how well his life has turned out, he remembers that he owes his good fortune to a flat tire. It occurred some 25 years ago while he was driving along a country road near Gloucester, Rhode Island, one hot July day. As he sat under a big pine tree waiting to change the tire, his hand slid on the pine needles, uncovering an old painted sign underneath. He turned it over and saw it said "Property for Sale." Curious, Jay began walking around the land and liked what he saw. He called the real estate agent whose number was listed on the sign. The agent said the property had been off the market for close to 10 years. Jay then called the owner, which happened to be the local Methodist church. "As luck would have it, they turned out to be zealous about selling it because they wanted to put up a new recreation hall at their camp up the street," he says. Jay thought the property might have been 10 or 12 acres, but when he found out it was 120, he felt he was in over his head. The church was asking $120,000. "I said I could never afford that, but the church said, 'make us an offer.' I said, 'No we're too far apart.' But they kept calling me back, and finally I said the only way to get rid of them was to lowball them, so I did. I said, 'I'll give you $60,000.' They said they'd never take that. I thought, good, that's it, now I can go get on with my life. A few days later they called me back and said they'd take it. Now I had to scramble to come up with $60,000."
He borrowed half the money from a relative and bought the land. He also bought an old farmhouse on adjoining property and started Turbillion Farms, a modest business selling horses to riding academies for about $700 each. Again, he got a lucky break and wound up owning a horse that had been sired by a champion Thoroughbred. He sold it for $20,000, which was enough to launch a business breeding race horses. One finished sixth in the 1994 Kentucky Derby and another was fourth in the 1990 Hong Kong Invitational. Jay also expanded his operation to include selling horse trailers. More good fortune came Jay's way soon after he acquired the land in 1978 when he learned Narragansett Racetrack in Pawtucket was closing and selling off its old barns for $750 apiece. He bought two of the classic buildings for a fraction of their worth and reassembled them at Turbillion Farms. He also subdivided some of the property, selling off 30 acres and keeping 90 for himself. "Everything just fell into place," he says. Click here to continue the story |
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