The 245 houses and condos are built with local materials whenever possible views are maximized the tin roof over our heads had been treated with acid for that weathered dairy-farm aesthetic. He aims to evoke that spirit on many levels, starting with design. Meldman talked about the history of the Hudson Valley, how it had supplied New York with all its building materials, milk, and meat, how it was the city’s engine. After his death, Discovery bought the land. Greens fees were $18 per person on weekdays $24 on weekends. “It was terrible,” said Melman of the course’s general upkeep. The local golf course would not permit him to join, so he built his own. The history of Silo Ridge involves a local man named Tom Segalla, who purchased a 675-acre former dairy farm for $1.15 million in 1985. Photo: Courtesy of Discovery Land Company “As Discovery’s private clubs are apolitical, we would welcome anyone to go through the membership process,” comes the reply, with a note that they’ve hosted presidents of both parties.Īll of the buildings at Silo Ridge have been constructed using local, repurposed materials whenever possible metal roofs have been treated to appear appropriately weathered. Later, I ask Meldman if he and his partners would ever consider Donald Trump or any of his kids, if they applied. When you become a member, so do your kids and your parents. Like all of the Discovery locations and clubs, Silo Ridge has vertical membership. Whether his clients come for economic reasons (a real gentleman farmer would want to build it himself, would want it all to be his, and that takes serious money), or a simple lack of creativity, or time, what he’s offering can be best described, like the U2 song, as even better than the real thing. “If you have a ranch and you’re a gentleman farmer, the thing is you have to babysit it 24-7,” he said. He also seemed genuinely enthusiastic about creating an experience for his clients, emulating that of a gentleman farmer in Hudson (as he does for his islanders at the Baker’s Bay destination in Jamaica or the wannabe mountain men at the Yellowstone Club in Montana). Golf courses are often focal points at Discovery Land Company communities, as it is here in the Hudson Valley enclave. He has the bearing of an unpretentious, effortless salesman who’s more interested in sharing than hawking-come on in, buy a ticket, take the ride. The word “community” came up a great deal. He was self-assured and straightforward and seemed genuinely interested in his clients and their families. Despite this, I enjoyed eating with Meldman. A lot of people want to come in early, get a better deal.” He told me this over lunch in Silo’s Ridge House, where chef Jonathan Wright was serving an array of “terrain-to-table” lunch foods-the pizza came from “our wheat” and the honey on top from “our bees”-as delicious as it was mismatched: pizza, bratwurst, freshly baked sourdough, pate.Ī Silo Ridge publicist later emailed me to say that I was “incredibly lucky and fortunate” to have the one-on-one experience. He compared Discovery Land to his casino work-he’s the house. His parents spent “all their money” sending him to Stanford so he could become a lawyer, but after bombing the LSAT, he found himself dealing blackjack in Lake Tahoe and getting into commercial real estate. He was “not a country-club kid,” he said.

Discovery’s clients are the kind of wealthy people who are turned on by having a vacation home near Tom Brady (the staff at Silo mentioned his membership multiple times).Ī view of Silo’s Ridge House, where chef Jonathan Wright serves up disparate and delicious “terrain-to-table” fare. (One must be a homeowner to join the club.) They are golf-centric spots in Maui Big Sky, Montana the Hamptons Austin and the Bahamas where affluent individuals can come with their families and be completely taken care of-like they would be at a five-star hotel-but also have their own home. If you have not heard of Discovery Land, here’s the deal: Centered on members-only golf clubs, they are also turnkey real-estate developments. But the Metro-North was doing track work the day I came up from Manhattan. There is a train to the private club and gated community-the latest addition to liquor tycoon and developer Mike Meldman’s 19 Discovery Land properties-which sits on 800 pristine acres smack in the midst of the Hudson Valley, near Amenia, New York. Most members of the Silo Ridge Field Club community come by car.

Silo ridge golf course