michael kittredge yacht

Haute Yacht: 197-foot Feadship Yacht Paraffin Listed for $57 Million

Formally owned by Mike Kittredge of Yankee Candle Company, Paraffin is a 197-foot yacht that is back on the market for $57 million.

Kittredge sold Yankee Candle Company in 1998 for $500 million and named his Feadship superyacht Paraffin. The extremely luxurious yacht was first launched in 2001 and subsequently refitted in 2010. Kittridge and his wife, Lisa, redid the yacht to maximize entertainment options by adding a small bar in the entry foyer, traditional raised panel mahogany interior, a 400 bottle wine cellar with storage for one glass per bottle, as 12-person gym, a steam room, a whirlpool, accommodation for 12 guests and 17 crew, a large bath outfitted in yellow Onice marble and heated floors, a large walk in closet, a full-beam VIP cabin (with an extra bed, games room, flat-screen TV and home movie system) and enough space for 20 to dine.

The large Master Suite spans the full beam of Paraffin on the main deck and all guest accommodations feature full CD/DVD/entertainment centers with video on demand. All rooms on board are totally sound-isolated from the hall to ensure vibration free quiet and privacy, even when the yacht is moving.

Fraser Yachts is now selling the yacht for $57 million.

Source: James List

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Feadship 197 Paraffin

• By Yachting Staff
• Updated: October 4, 2007

With a traditional raised panel mahogany interior highlighted by carved rope moldings and inlaid stars, the 197-foot motoryacht Paraffin has a New England feel about her. That, and her name, are entirely appropriate, given that owners Mike and Lisa Kittredge tasked Feadship to build Paraffin after selling their business, the Yankee Candle Company.

Active owners who enjoy the yachting experience to the fullest, the Kittredges spent as many as 25 weeks per year on their previous yacht, a 142-footer built on spec by another yard. This gave them lots of time to document what they liked, what they didn’t like, and what they wanted on the next boat. The list focused on their three main interests: wining and dining, music, and exercise. The details, and there were many, filled in around these areas. For instance, Paraffin ‘s dining room has a 400-bottle “wine cellar and stowage for 450 wineglasses.

“At this stage of my life, I’ve learned a lot about potential mistakes when entertaining, and hurriedly washed wineglasses are one, Mike Kittredge said. “If we decide to hold an impromptu dinner aboard this yacht, there’ll be no need for any apologies.

The emphasis on guest enjoyment is apparent in one feature that brought a smile to my face. The main starboard entry foyer, a space that gets little use on most yachts, is enlarged just enough on Paraffin to include an intimate three-stool bar. Newly arrived guests, needing to unwind from their travels to the yacht, can get a quick snack and a drink while the crew gets their luggage to the proper stateroom.

In addition to the dining room table for 12, there is a dozen-seat table for alfresco dining aft on the bridge deck. Here, a separate pantry allows the crew to serve without disturbing guests in the sky lounge.

Between that open afterdeck and the bridge is a lounge where Mike Kittredge’s musical interests are addressed. A complete professional recording studio is integrated into the various lockers and pieces of furniture, stowed out of sight until needed. The mahogany tops slide off the custom tables, and the equipment is then raised to the proper playing height. Should nice weather beckon, most of the instruments can be moved to the main deck or aft bridge deck, where plugs await to tie them back into recording equipment in the bridge deck lounge.

Lest too much evidence of the good life start to accumulate in unwanted places, Paraffin is outfitted with a 12-person gym Feadship says is the largest and best equipped yet to grace one of its yachts. Located on the top deck, the glass-enclosed area is air conditioned, but sliding doors fore and aft open to allow a breeze through on pleasant days.

“Exercise is a high priority in our life, Lisa Kittredge said. “With each workout station having its own flat-panel TV and splendid views through the large windows, we have deliberately made the gym as appealing as possible.

After exercising, guests have access to an adjacent steam room or to a large whirlpool spa outside. In a clever bit of multitasking, the spa converts to a table that can seat 20 by adding a white multisection tabletop with teak inlays.

Even with a yacht as large as Paraffin , the inclusion of such amenities takes careful planning. Feeling that no one else could better understand what they wanted in their new yacht, the Kittredges undertook to design the yacht’s interior themselves, without a stylist or interior designer.

As Lisa Kittredge explained, “We have long enjoyed the challenge of altering, extending and redecorating our homes. While working with professional designers has many benefits, it also entails making compromises. The combination of our strong opinions and a dislike of hurting other people’s feelings made the shift toward a do-it-yourself philosophy inevitable.

Although the owners directed the design, they readily acknowledge that such a Herculean task must be a team effort. De Voogt Naval Architects, which carries out the naval architecture and marine engineering on all Feadships, worked closely with the Kittredges to integrate their ideas into the overall design.

“The great thing about De Voogt was that they didn’t seem to recognize the word ‘no,’ Mike Kittredge said. “Whatever ideas we came up with, they always tried to accommodate.

Another critical element in the design effort was the early involvement of the Kittredges’ crew, particularly Capt. Niels Ackermans and chef/personal assistant Robert Shepherd.

“We constantly asked the opinions of the entire crew, the people who really know the practical ins and outs, Lisa Kittredge said. “Mechanical functionality is equally essential to the aesthetics, and in this sense we were leading a team.

The crew’s input led to such design features as a bridge that affords a nearly 360-degree view from the helm, and a hidden niche in the guest lobby that opens to allow luggage to be brought through an after door directly to the guest staterooms. -D.D.

Contact: Feadship Holland, (011) 31 23 524 7000. Feadship America, (954) 761-1830; [email protected] ; www.feadship.nl .

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The CEO Bought a Yacht?

Then it’s time to sell..

Bill Miller has compiled an astonishing long-term record as manager of the Legg Mason Value Trust . He is one of the only big-time mutual-fund managers to have beaten the S&P 500 for 15 years running. But as Barron’s reported on Saturday, his streak is in danger. Through yesterday, according to Morningstar , the fund was down 10.14 percent, compared with a 2.78 percent gain for the S&P 500. Miller has clearly been the victim of some bad luck and poor stock selection. But Barron’s offered an alternative theory why Miller is flagging: This summer he bought a humongous yacht.

When someone who’s supposed to be looking out for public shareholders is instead mulling over wallpaper samples for staterooms, it’s time to sell. The yacht has long been the classic indicator of someone who has so much money that he doesn’t need to make any more. Unlike a jet, which can speed busy executives to their offices efficiently, a yacht has no useful purpose. And who has time to play with such an over-the-top toy? Someone who doesn’t work weekends figuring out how to make money for other people. A classic 1940 investment book, aimed at debunking the practices of Wall Street, was called Where Are the Customers’ Yachts? Today, you should ask: Where are the shareholders’ yachts? If you look at the recent record of CEOs who have become yachtsmen, it’s clear that when they buy a boat, it’s the shareholders who usually get soaked.

Check out Power & Motoryacht ’s list of the 100 largest U.S. yachts , connect them to the CEOs or chairmen of publicly held companies or mutual-fund managers who own them, and then see how their companies and funds have performed since the vessel was acquired. (For the consumer-porn voyeurs out there, the magazine also compiles a list of the largest yachts in the world .)

The largest boat in the United States, Rising Sun , belongs to Oracle founder and CEO Larry Ellison . It was completed in 2004, and it is 452 feet long. Here’s a chart of Oracle’s stock against the S&P 500 since January 2004—a slight underperformance.

The second-largest American yacht, Octopus , completed in 2003, belongs to Paul Allen , the co-founder of Microsoft who left the company in the early 1980s and has acquired an eclectic group of assets, including the Seattle Seahawks and the Portland Trail Blazers . Allen also owns the fourth-largest American yacht, the 300-foot Tatoosh , built in 2000. Since 1998, Allen has been chairman of the board of publicly held cable company Charter Communications . During Allen’s boat-buying spree, Charter’s stock has been a disaster : It has lost about 90 percent of its value since January 2000. Since the beginning of 2003, the stock has basically remained flat , in large part because, at about $1.40, it literally can’t fall much more.

Ron Perelman, the financier who has long headed the publicly held cosmetics giant Revlon, checks in at No. 26 on the list, with the 188-foot Ultima III , which he bought in 1998. Alas, Revlon since 1998 has been a Titanic (the boat, not the movie) . It has lost more than 90 percent of its value since its corporate chieftain became a maritime captain. And it’s hard not to reach the conclusion that Allen and Perelman regard both yachting and running public companies as expensive hobbies, not as their life’s work. That may be very entertaining for them, but it’s costly for their shareholders.

(This year’s list doesn’t include one former fixture on the list. In 2000, hard-charging Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski bought a 130-foot sailing yacht, Endeavor . In June 2002, Kozlowski was forced to step down amid charges of corruption; he was convicted last year. As this chart shows, from the beginning of 2000 until Kozlowski’s resignation, Tyco’s stock fell nearly 70 percent.)

There are some exceptions to the Yacht of Doom Rule. Leslie Wexner, chairman and CEO of Limited Brands , has owned the nation’s third-largest boat, the 315-foot Limitless (get it?), since 1997. The stock of the parent company of the Limited and Victoria’s Secret has done remarkably well in the last nine years . Andrew McKelvey, the CEO of Monster.com , in 2005 purchased the 160-foot Discovery , and his stock has done well . Michael Kittredge, founder and chairman emeritus of Yankee Candle Company, has owned Parrafin (No. 18) since 2001, and the company’s stock has handily outpaced the S&P 500 since then.

In the end, the results are less than heartening. The successes in the bunch don’t come close to making up for the disasters. Does the yacht warning mean investors should dump shares in Bill Miller’s Legg Mason Value Trust? No. It’s very difficult for small individual investors to find managers with excellent long-term records. And Miller’s long-term record is still phenomenal. Besides, there are signs that his approach to yacht ownership differs from those of Allen and Perelman. Many gazillionaires are content to see their boats and crew sit idle while they party elsewhere. Miller, according to Barron’s , plans to rent his vessel out for charters. After all, he’s a value investor.

Michael Kittredge II, Candle Pioneer and Philanthropist, Dies At 67

Michael Kittredge II, the founder of Yankee Candle Company in South Deerfield, Massachusetts, has died after several years of failing health.

The self-made business leader was known as an innovator and philanthropist, as well as a fun dad and generous friend. 

Though Kittredge would become a legendary business giant before the age of 50, his beginnings were humble.

He grew up poor in South Hadley in a “very much a rags-to-riches story of the American dream,” according to his son, Michael Kittredge III.

As a teenager in the late 1960s, Kittredge worked in a burger joint while learning how to make candles from melted crayons in his basement. His parents had little faith in his plan to create a candle company.

“They just wanted him to take the safe road. Be a janitor. [They'd say,] 'Cut this candle stuff out. What are you doing with that?'” said his son, Michael. “Initially, all he wanted to do was save enough money to buy a cool car and maybe impress a girl someday.”

He went quite a bit further than that, transforming the Yankee Candle Company into one of the biggest employers in Franklin County and one of the most prolific candle producers in the world -- known especially for scented candles.

"Prior to him doing that, scented candles existed. They just were more of a novelty and they were more of an, ‘Oh, that's funny. [It] smells a little bit like root beer,” said the younger Kittredge. “But he put the maximum amount of fragrance in and kind of created a whole 'nother industry of household fragrance.”

Kittredge also pioneered a type of experiential shopping, attaching a Christmas and toy store to the candle shop, including a replica of a Bavarian village that he had once visited in Germany. 

“It’s recognized as one of the most active tourist attractions in the commonwealth,” said Diana Szynal, executive director of the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce. “It certainly has had an impact also on other businesses in the area. And it means that Franklin County is recognized as a destination.”

Szynal also happened to get her first job at Yankee Candle in the 1980s, and remembers Kittredge as a friendly, hands-on boss.

“I can remember him taking a small group of us sales associate out to Fitzwilly’s in Northampton one night, and just getting a table and some appetizers and just chatting with us," she said.

Kittredge was known for a personal, charismatic style of management. At one legendary company breakfast, his son Michael said, Kittredge intentionally placed a piece of trash in the middle of the crowd.

“Most people would go by and not pick up the garbage, but one person stopped and picked it up and they looked at it and it had a note on it from him,” he said. “And the person who picked it up got a big cash prize in front of everybody at the breakfast.”

In many ways, the company was Kittredge’s family, his son said, “because he lost his parents pretty early on before they got to see his successes."

Kittredge ran the company until he sold it in 1998 for a reported $500 million. His son Michael said that's when the family began to live more luxuriously. 

“He wanted to make our lives so much better than what he had as a child growing up,” he said.

Kittredge would rent the Batmobile -- the one from Hollywood -- for his children's birthday parties. He owned dozens of vintage cars, a yacht, a private jet and an elaborate wine cellar in their house.

His longtime friend Rob Cohn said much of Kittredge’s lifestyle stemmed directly from his modest youth.

“He would tell me stories about Thanksgiving when his aunt told him he was eating too many shrimp, and these shrimp were like the tiniest little shrimp you’ve ever seen,” Cohn said. “So when Mike started having parties, the shrimp were so big, they [required] four or five bites.”

Still, there was enough wealth left over that Kittredge gave a lot of it away. He became a major philanthropist around western Massachusetts. He donated large sums of money to institutions such as Holyoke Community College and Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, which both named buildings after him.

Szynal said Kittredge bought an ambulance and police cruiser for South Deerfield, as a way to compensate for the town services his company used.

He also bought expensive gifts for close friends, according to Cohn, who said his own house is full of furniture and artwork given to him by Kittredge.

“He was so well guided by his past and present and what he could do for others,” Cohn said. “It gave him more joy than Santa Claus.”

Kittredge had three marriages and three children, and in his later years, he helped his son start another candle company, Kringle Candle, in Bernardston. 

Kittredge also struggled with serious health problems, including several bouts of cancer and a disabling stroke in 2012. He died July 24 from liver failure.

Kittredge's son Michael said he plans to carry on with the lessons he learned from his father, in business and in life.

“He liked to make everything fun,” he said. “If it wasn't fun, it wasn't worth doing.”

Michael Kittredge II was 67 years old.

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The Fun Factor

This article has previously been published in the 18th edition of PILOT.

In the year 2000 Feadship came up with a new slogan: ‘There are yachts and there are Feadships’. Obvious to those who recognise the truth of the statement, getting this motto accepted by the no-nonsense Feadship directors was not so easy. As a member of the Feadship board then and now, Dick van Lent decided to call a Feadship owner to ask his opinion...

When the slogan ‘there are yachts and there are Feadships’ landed on my desk, my initial reaction was that it was too arrogant. That evening I called my friend Michael Kittredge, for whom we were on the point of completing the build of the 60-metre Feadship Paraffin. Mike was renowned for his exceptional understanding of marketing within his own line of business, and I had seen first-hand how good he was with people and presentations. His answer was clear: ‘If clients don't feel comfortable with this slogan then they’re probably not Feadship clients.’ I was convinced. 

I often get asked what the essence of a Feadship is. People expect me to start talking about quality and the ways that Feadship has managed to consistently set standards to which the rest of the luxury motoryacht industry aspires. Or to name-drop some of the many incredible projects with which I’ve been involved since starting at the Feadship Kaag Island yard in 1974. There is, of course, much I could write on these points, but for me the essence of the Feadship experience can be summed up in this story about the slogan. 

Close friendships

It was no coincidence that I had become such good friends with Michael Kittredge during a build. Throughout the decades, the Van Lent, De Vries and De Voogt families have struck up some close relationships with many owners. The warmth of the informal contacts between clients, their families and the Feadship directors and project managers is a very important part of the success of any build. Feadship directors have attended weddings, been present at christenings, even gone on holiday with clients that became pals. 

I once went to the fiftieth birthday party of one of our clients... In New Zealand!

Convivial atmosphere

These first meetings are also a great time to get to know each other. Many of the meetings involved in turning ideas from creative dreams to on-paper reality have happened in our Tante Kee restaurant opposite the yard, as well as at similar venues close to the other Feadship yards in Aalsmeer and Makkum. There are serious benefits to be accrued when multi-million-euro projects are conducted in a convivial atmosphere. I cannot stress enough the importance of owner involvement in a successful project. The more you do together, the cosier it becomes and the more you go on to create. If there are two things that set Feadship apart they are the resources we use – both material and human – and the enjoyment that owners have building with us. 

Honest and frank

The Dutch are known for their frankness and you shouldn't believe those who say anything is possible on a superyacht. It's not – we will make sure that a Feadship is comfortable and safe, and if the client’s ideas might compromise that comfort or safety then we’re not afraid to say ‘no’. The same applies to keeping to budgets and schedules: It is part of the experience at Feadship to also know that your boat will be ready on time at the price you agreed. 

Adding value

The fun part of a Feadship build is also that every owner is doing his own thing. Each Feadship benefits enormously from these individual touches. Our role is to build custom superyachts but we cannot do that if the owners don’t have original ideas. Open a yacht magazine and every yard claims to be a bespoke builder: the truth is that there are very few of us left. 

There are yachts and there are Feadships.

Personal business

Building a Feadship is a personal business. The client who was here yesterday said “I always want to make sure that I can always look my clients in the eye.” And I replied that we are the same. We are, of course, quality-driven, but Feadship also prides itself on being relationship- driven and service-driven. People think they can buy everything for money, but it’s very hard to ‘buy’ a truly memorable experience. That is why we put so much effort, energy and creativity into this aspect. 

Social occasion

After the initial meeting we spent a good year working on possible designs and features. The owners really took the time to do everything their way and we had an exciting time with lots of social occasions with their children and friends. Once the hull was completed at the Feadship yard in Rotterdam it had to be transported to the yard on Kaag Island. The owners and a party of friends wanted to watch the hull as it passed the locks at Gouda. So we arranged a meeting to have breakfast together with members of the Feadship team in the historic city centre. A truck then arrived containing forty bicycles and they had great fun cycling along to watch the hull arrive and go through the dock. 

Meet Moon Sand in all her glory

Feadship owners look forward to disappearing act

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Paraffin: From Concept to Caviar: The Building of a Luxury Motor Yacht Hardcover – January 1, 2004

• Print length 128 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Juggler Meadow Publishing
• Publication date January 1, 2004
• Reading age 18 years and up
• Dimensions 10.25 x 0.75 x 13.5 inches
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Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B007PA9LSU
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Juggler Meadow Publishing (January 1, 2004)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 128 pages
• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.5 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 10.25 x 0.75 x 13.5 inches

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Founder of Yankee Candle Lists His Florida Home for $22.5 Million

The founder of Yankee Candle, Michael Kittredge, has listed his beachfront home on Jupiter Island in Florida, for $22.5 million. According to it’s online listing, this luxurious oceanfront estate spans across 3.7 acres of lush, tropical landscaping and offers a spectacular view of the Atlantic Ocean. The two-story, Bermuda-style home was renovated back in 2002 to showcase truly luxurious architectural details such as it’s column-lined hallways, immaculately polished marble floors, and romantic lighting. The home has nine bedrooms, including two large master suites, 14 full bathrooms, and three partial baths. The property comes with a 12-seat home theater, a 2,500-square-foot rooftop with a fireplace, grill station and bar, as well as a swimming pool with a cabana and spa, among other amenities. 

Yankee Candle Founder Michael Kittredge Had an Impressive Net Worth

Michael Kittredge had a net worth at least in the hundreds of millions, possibly even $2 billion, as the Yankee Candle founder.

Sept. 2 2022, Published 11:20 a.m. ET

Michael Kittredge, who made a fortune from his company Yankee Candle , died in 2019 at the age of 67. A 60-acre portion of his Massachusetts estate has been listed for sale for $23 million. Kittredge started Yankee Candle Co. as a teenager and built it into a very successful company. What was Kittredge’s net worth upon his death?

Kittredge had said he made his first candle at age 16, melting crayons to make a present for his mother. When a neighbor liked the candle, she bought it from him and Kittredge began to build the business from there.

Michael Kittredge

Entrepreneur

Net worth: $2 billion (unconfirmed)

Michael Kittredge was the founder of Yankee Candle Co., which now has several hundred physical stores and a thriving online business. The company sells candles as well as other scented home items such as air fresheners, wax melts, room sprays, and various related accessories. Kittredge died in 2019, and a portion of his estate is now being offered for sale.

Birthdate : February 1, 1952

Birthplace : Holyoke, Mass.

Spouses : 3 (all divorced)

Children : 3 (1 son, 2 daughters)

Yankee Candle has hundreds of stores and sells well online.

Michael Kittredge made his wealth from founding the Yankee Candle Company.

Kittredge started The Yankee Candle Company, Inc. initially when he made a candle as a 1969 Christmas present for his mother. The teen rapidly began impressing neighbors with the product. The company website says it now has over 300 company-owned stores, plus significant online and catalog sales.

Although his net worth isn’t officially documented, some sources claim Kittredge was worth about $2 billion upon his death.

Kittredge had stepped away from the business in 1993 after a bout with cancer, and in 1998 he sold 90 percent of the company for $500 million to a private equity company, leaving behind the company he built after 29 years. That firm took Yankee Candle public a year later.

Kittredge helped his son, Michael "Mick" Kittredge III, found the Kringle Candle Company.

Michael "Mick" Kittredge III, son of the Yankee Candle founder, followed in his footsteps with the Kringle Candle Company.

Michael Kittredge’s luxury estate is listed for $23 million.

Although the home Kittredge had bought in 1984 was priced at $144,000 and only three bedrooms, the candle company founder converted it into a luxurious mansion and estate. As The Wall Street Journal reported, the elder Kittredge bought up surrounding properties and financed massive renovations. His son Mick Kittredge said, “It was like having Disneyland in the backyard.”

Mick estimated that his father spent about $50 million on updating the home and estate over time. Now it spans a 25,000-square-foot main house, two guesthouses of 4,000 square feet, a pool, a clubhouse, and two car barns.

Kittredge had an impressive car collection.

At the family estate, Kittredge built two car barns that hold a combined 80 vehicles. He had a car collection of vehicles that were all registered and ready to drive, though he lamented not having enough time to drive them all.

“Every car in here is a ‘statue’ to me, representing the best mankind has developed,” said Kittredge in an interview with The Chase Magazine . His first car, a gift from his parents, was a ‘59 Ford . He later collected a wide range of vehicles, including Porsches, Ferraris, Aston Martins, Jaguars, and Bentleys.

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BRIGGS CUNNINGHAM: American Racing Tradition TALE OF AN AMERICAN SPORTSMAN

The america's cup, the america’s cup – 1958, text by kane rogers.

View photographer Cory Silken’s “Yacht Columbia – America’s Cup Winner 1958” gallery here .

Click here to read “The America’s Cup: An Insider’s View,” by Bob Bavier.

Prior to 1958, the last defense of the America’s Cup had been in 1937, by the J-Class yacht Ranger , owned by Harold S. “Mike” Vanderbilt. The J-Class rules prescribing a vessel of some 120 feet in length were promoted by Vanderbilt and others for the defense planned for 1958, but economic concerns and the desire among aspiring competitors to employ smaller dual-purpose yachts won the day. The New York Yacht Club settled on the twelve-meter class rules, reducing the length of the average vessel to around sixty-five feet. Harry Sears, then the club’s commodore, formed a syndicate to build the ship and asked Briggs to join to help with finances.

Although building and racing his cars had long been Briggs’ primary field of endeavor, he had never stopped sailing, and he agreed to join the effort. Sailing legend Cornelius Shields was appointed as the team’s skipper but, when he suffered a heart attack, Sears asked Cunningham to take Shields’ place.

As a member of five East Coast yacht clubs, with almost thirty years’ experience racing several different classes of vessel, Briggs was a solid choice to lead. The one thing he lacked was experience with the starting strategy required by the head-to-head style of America’s Cup competition. Shields, a master of this type of racing, was happy to impart his knowledge to Cunningham, who proved an able student.

Unfortunately, as skipper it was Briggs who had to inform Shields that he could not remain a member of the crew; if he suffered an attack during competition and had to be taken to the hospital, it would leave them a man short and result in their disqualification. It was a tough moment for both men, but it was also characteristic of both to do what was best for the team.

The eliminations for the American side would prove to be more exciting than the final races. Four twelve-metre yachts, Easterner , Weatherly , Vim and Columbia , survived two months of run-offs to compete in the final eight-day round of match races to determine the defender of the America’s Cup. Of the four contenders, only the Vim had raced previously, but the nineteen-year-old vessel was so completely refitted as to be virtually brand new. The Easterner and Weatherly had been hurriedly completed and neither was fully prepared to compete, although the Weatherly would successfully defend the Cup in 1962.

Columbia benefited from a strong syndicate whose membership included Harry Sears, Olin Stephens, the designer of the Vim , and Cornelius Shields, Jr., who occasionally spelled Briggs as skipper. The competition finally narrowed to Vim and Columbia , which prevailed by virtue of her ability to better handle rough seas and strong winds.

The British challenger, Sceptre , entered by the Royal Yacht Squadron and skippered by Graham Mann, was a quite rotund 68,000 pounds compared to the svelte Columbia at 57,000 pounds, and the event was decided in four straight wins by the Americans.

During the post-race celebrations, Briggs located a pay phone and called Alfred Momo at Watkins Glen, where Ed Crawford had just won the main race. As Briggs was returning to join his crew, a reporter approached and commented, “Briggs, that was a fine race!” to which Briggs, still with the Glen on his mind, replied, “That’s what I just heard. I wish I could have seen it.”

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‘Disneyland’ Leverett estate of Yankee Candle founder Michael J. Kittredge II for sale at $23 million

• Published: Sep. 01, 2022, 5:41 p.m.

10-13-11 - Bernardston- Republican staff photo by Don Treeger- The Kringle Candle Company is opening their Christmas Barn and Farm Table Restaurant. Here, Michael Kittredge II, shows candles in the company's line for men.

• Jim Kinney | [email protected]

LEVERETT — The home of Yankee Candle founder Michael J. Kittredge II has two car barns with space for a total of 80 classic cars, a concert space where Hall & Oates once performed, 16 bedrooms, a nine-hole golf course, pool, indoor water park and an two-story arcade.

All on 60-plus acres at 113 Juggler Meadow in the Franklin County town of Leverett, it could be yours for $23 million.

Three years after his death, Kittredge’s son, Michael J. “Mick” Kittredge III, who founded Kringle Candle in Bernardston with his father, is putting the property on the market. The news landed this week in major national publications, including The Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times, which headlined its story, “In Massachusetts, a candle mogul’s stunning spread lists for $23 million.”

The elder Kittridge founded Yankee Candle as a 17-year-old in the garage of his childhood home in South Hadley. He made his first candle out of melted crayons as a gift for his mother.

Kittredge built up the company to include a factory , warehouse, a Christmas wonderland flagship store in Deerfield and a network of mall storefronts across the country. He sold 90% of the Yankee Candle in 1998 for an estimated $500 million. He died in 2019 at 67 years old after suffering a debilitating stroke.

His son told The Wall Street Journal he’s selling the property because it’s simply too big for one person.

Kittredge said his parents bought what was originally a three-bedroom colonial-style home in Leverett for $144,000 in 1984. Then, over the years, the elder Kittredge built and added land, eventually amassing more than 60 acres in Leverett and Amherst.

What evolved was a fantasy just as whimsical as the flagship store.

“It was like having Disneyland in the backyard,” Mick Kittredge told the Journal.

The property is offered through Johnny Hatem Jr., of The Sarkis Team at Douglas Elliman Real Estate .

The Journal said an adjacent apple orchard and third 10-acre parcel with a large home and guest house are being sold separately.

In 2019, just a month before his death, Kittredge auctioned off more than 400 pieces of his art and collectibles collection. That followed the sale of his Nantucket compound “ACKlandia” for $19 million.

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