106 Fitzpatrick Drive, Fort Edward, NY 12828

Introducing ''Wide Open Spaces'' Some houses are named for what they have. This one is named for what surrounds it. East of the front porch, the Washington County Grasslands opens and keeps opening. Fields, then more fields, then mountains holding up the far edge. 478 acres of it are a state Wildlife Management Area, which is to say the view is not a matter of luck. This is one of the great birding grounds in the Northeast, drawing short eared owls and harriers in winter, meadowlarks and upland sandpipers in summer, nearly two hundred species across the year. People drive hours to see what you will see every morning. The next thing you notice is what you do not hear. No traffic, no compressors, no highway underneath. Just birds working through their morning and crickets that never really stopped overnight. Noon sounds close to midnight here, and that is not something you can manufacture. West of the house, a different kind of open. Seven acres fall away from the back deck...