Peaceful Meadows has a new owner. See who it is and what's planned.

WHITMAN − Peaceful Meadows will continue as an ice cream stand and dairy shop under new owner John Hornstra, of Hornstra Farms in Norwell.

Hornstra made the highest bid at $1.75 million during a much-anticipated auction held on-site Tuesday, Aug. 29. The property includes the ice cream stand, a dairy processing building, a retail store and offices, 55 acres of farmland and a four-bedroom 19th-century farmhouse on Bedford Street/Route 18. A 10% fee for the auction company brings the total sale price to $1.925 million.

A two-family home and a single-family home across the street were also auctioned off. They were purchased by a single buyer for $808,500, which includes the 10% fee.

Combined, the total sale price for all four lots comes to $2.77 million.

Al Fratali wonders what will happen to his son Michael Malif's family once the home Michael has lived in for 28 years is auctioned off. The home was part of the Peaceful Meadows auction on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023.
Al Fratali wonders what will happen to his son Michael Malif's family once the home Michael has lived in for 28 years is auctioned off. The home was part of the Peaceful Meadows auction on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023.

What was sold on Bedford Street/Route 18

The two lots on the Peaceful Meadows side had a combined assessed value of just under $1 million going into the auction, according to Whitman's property assessment website. The two homes at 67 and 81 Bedford St. facing Peaceful Meadows are assessed at about $850,000 total.

JJManning Auctioneers oversaw the auction, which drew about 15 to 20 potential buyers. About twice as many people were there as spectators.

JJManning Auctioneers hosted an auction Aug. 29 that included Peaceful Meadows, the 55 acres behind it and a four-bedroom home.
JJManning Auctioneers hosted an auction Aug. 29 that included Peaceful Meadows, the 55 acres behind it and a four-bedroom home.

Justin Manning, head of the auction house, expected the combined sale for all four parcels to bring in between $2.5 million and $3 million. The final combined selling price of about $2.77 million, including the fees, landed right between the two estimates.

The sale marks the end of the 60-year-old Peaceful Meadows business, which until last Friday also included the company's Plymouth location at Village Landing near the waterfront. Despite initial assurances by the auction house that the location would remain open, it closed Aug. 25 after serving the last of its remaining inventory.

More: Peaceful Meadows in Whitman is closing. Here's what we know.

As the bid went from $1.7 million to $1.75 million, Hornstra said he was briefly on the fence until he saw his son, who will be the fifth generation to oversee the business, roll his eyes at him. The final amount was close to his dad's last bid.

"I ended up spending a little more than I thought I would, but I didn't want to disappoint everyone on the South Shore" by letting the property potentially convert to commercial use, he said. "I just couldn't bear that thought."

Bidders and some curious townspeople listen to the bidding start on Peaceful Meadows, a longtime dairy and ice cream stand in Whitman on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023.
Bidders and some curious townspeople listen to the bidding start on Peaceful Meadows, a longtime dairy and ice cream stand in Whitman on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023.

Here's the history of Peaceful Meadows

A Peaceful Meadows shop in Middleboro opened in 1977 and the Plymouth shop four years later. The Middleboro shop closed in 2022.

After the auction, family members who had gathered on the farmhouse porch to watch the sales were greeted with congratulations, hugs and a few tears from friends of the family and longtime customers.

Mary Harris, 71, of Whitman, who has "been coming since as long as I can remember," takes a sad-faced selfie photo of the farm pasture which she is afraid would become more developments. Peaceful Meadows in Whitman was up for auction on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023.
Mary Harris, 71, of Whitman, who has "been coming since as long as I can remember," takes a sad-faced selfie photo of the farm pasture which she is afraid would become more developments. Peaceful Meadows in Whitman was up for auction on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023.

The family members, area residents and customers applauded as the winning bid was announced. Many had hoped Hornstra would win so the farm could be preserved and its equipment modernized to continue offering homemade ice cream that would be even homier if cows are brought back to the property after a decades-long absence, as Hornstra said he would like to see.

More: Ahead of Peaceful Meadows auction, an interested buyer speaks up. See who it is

In the shorter term, Hornstra said he hopes to have at least the dairy store up and running by November to fulfill the Thanksgiving and Christmas demand for eggnog.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Peaceful Meadows in Whitman sold to owner of Hornstra Farms in Norwell