Perona Farms

The Story Behind Perona Farms in Andover

Emil Perona bought a 260-acre dairy farm in Andover in 1917, then started taking in boarders when eleven cows ate through more feed money than he had. His brother John, who ran the El Morocco club in Manhattan, sent city guests up for country air, and Perona Farms in Andover NJ grew out of that boardinghouse table. Boxer Jack Renault talked Emil into building a gym, so prizefighters trained here through the 1920s, Luis Firpo and Tiger Flowers among them. Joe DiMaggio came up to rest. Jimmy Durante, Groucho Marx and Ethel Merman turned up too. The Avondoglio name enters in the third generation, when Emil’s granddaughter Maureen married Victor Avondoglio, and the fourth and fifth generations run the 57 acres in Andover Township today. That long, slightly improbable history is baked into the place.

Three Venues on One Estate

There is no single Perona Farms room. The Barn, built in the late 1930s, keeps its silos and adds a covered patio with its own outdoor bar, seating around 200. The Reserve is the largest, with a garden ceremony space under a retractable roof and room for 275. The Refinery, redesigned in 2020, trades rustic for whitewashed brick and steel, seating 170 or over 200 standing. Outside there is Perona Lake with a small island you reach by footbridge, an orchard, fire pits, and a working greenhouse that supplies the kitchen. It is one of the more photographed Sussex County wedding venues for exactly that reason.

What You Can Book Now

Weddings are the bulk of it, but the calendar also carries showers, engagement parties, corporate meetings, bar and bat mitzvahs, sweet sixteens and proms. Off-premise catering runs out of the same kitchen under co-owner Mark Avondoglio, fourth generation, who works alongside fifth-generation Bryant and Marley and has staged everything from small dinner parties to Academy Awards events. Executive chef Kirk Avondoglio, who built the smokehouse that made the family’s salmon famous, has cooked on Food Network’s Dinner: Impossible and Ready Set Cook, and on The Morning Show with Regis Philbin on WABC Channel 7, and he has hosted James Beard Foundation dinners here. The estate has long lent its rooms to local fundraisers like A Taste of Talent for Project Self-Sufficiency.

Sunday Brunch and Perona To Go

One correction worth making, because most of the internet still gets it wrong: the legendary Sunday brunch buffet is not running. Perona Farms lists it as closed until further notice and it no longer appears in the site’s navigation. What survives is Perona To Go, a pickup-only order form for the smoked salmon, sold as a sliced three-pound side with capers, eggs and onions, alongside house charcuterie and cheese boards. Orders are prepaid, non-cancelable, and collected on site in the morning.

Perona Farms sits at 350 Andover Sparta Road in Andover, with tour appointments available daily from 10 AM to 7 PM. Call (973) 729-6161 or visit peronafarms.com for venue details, catering inquiries, and current Perona To Go offerings.