Oscar Hammerstein’s Highland Farm in Doylestown to be Preserved After $2M Raised

The Doylestown home of Broadway musical legend Oscar Hammerstein has received a $500,000 posthumous gift that ensured the property will be purchased and preserved, writes Bo Koltnow for the WFMZ 69 News.

“This is a huge deal,” said Mandee Hammerstein, whose husband Will is the artist’s grandson.

The pair launched fundraising efforts to save the 5-acre Highland Farm from development. They consider the property to be a national treasure, as the lyrics for “Oklahoma”, “Carousel”, “Sound of Music”, and “South Pacific” were all written there.

The saving gift that helped them reach the required $2 million came from a family friend, Ronald Pratt.

Now that the money to purchase the home has been secured, the Oscar Hammerstein Museum and Theatre Education Center nonprofit is planning to turn it into a multifaceted, dynamic museum experience that will have a strong theater education component.

But to achieve that, the farm now has to raise another $1.5 million.

Still, Mandee Hammerstein believes that the hard part is over.

“There is a lot of Sound of Music fans, the list goes on on how many people would find inspiration and excitement behind this and really make the trip and support it,” she said.

Read more about the property in the WFMZ 69 News.

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