[1] The district covers 30 acres (12 ha) of what is now the main campus of the World Learning organization, a larger subset of the original Dickinson Estate.

In 1899 the Bliss Farm was purchased by Frederick and Harriet Dickinson; he was a prominent local businessman, she the daughter of a New York City millionaire.

The only older building to survive on the property is an 1860s Greek Revival cottage, in which the Kiplings gave birth to their daughter while construction of nearby Naulakha was underway.

That organization bought a subset of the estate (excluding the main complex of farm buildings) in 1962, and gradually expanded its holdings to more than 160 acres (65 ha).

[2] The property is historically significant as having one of the few surviving country estate houses left in Brattleboro, and for its remarkably well-preserved early-20th century farmyard, which was also designed by the architect Fornachon.