M. Night Shyamalan Buys Former Rockefeller Farm In Chesco For $24M

WILLISTOWN, PA —Movie director M. Night Shyamalan has bought a 218-acre estate in Chester County owned by descendants of the oil magnate, William Rockefeller Jr., for $24 million, according to records.

Shyamalan, a writer and director of The Sixth Sense and Knock at the Cabin, grew up in Penn Valley, Lower Merion, and resides at Ravenwood, Willistown Township, Chester County.

The deal was sealed using limited liability companies.

Woodkirk LLC sold the Kirkwood Farm on Providence Road in Willistown Township to 944 Providence Road LLC on March 16, a county official said Friday.

The specific details for the sale are not yet on the public court records, the official said.

Kim Whetzel of Kurfiss Sotheby’s International Realty, Chestnut Hill, who represented the buyer, said the important aspect of the sale is that the sellers and the buyers want to save the property from development.

The property is located between Providence and Plumrock roads and is surrounded by rolling hills, woodlands and small streams which feed into Ridley Creek.

The property was occupied as early as the late 1700s and includes five historic farmhouses ranging in size from 1,750 to 2,900 square feet and two barns.

The estate was sold by descendants of Rockefeller, who helped build Standard Oil. It recently has been used by a hunting club and several residences were rented.

The Willistown Conservation Trust, a nonprofit, has been working for years to save the property as an open space for the community.

Kate Etherington, executive director of the Willistown Conservation Trust, told the Inquirer that the nonprofit is thrilled that the farm is not being sold to a developer.

Etherington, on Feb, 24, notified the community in a letter that the farm was for sale. She said the farm provides prime habitat and nesting for numerous species of wildlife.

The registered address for 944 Providence LLC is on Campus Boulevard in Newtown Square. That is the same address used by the M. Night Shyamalan Foundation Inc., the director’s charitable organization.