In a certain sense one can regard Esperanza, as deeply uncomfortable as it is, as a forerunner of the McMansions. It was built as a second home, on a hilltop, with a commanding view, and is large… The differences, of course, are a) it wasn’t built on an ingenious scheme of credits and mortgages but on hard cash; b) it was architecturally designed for its location; and c) the size comes from being designed to house a multi-generational family as opposed to DINKs (lovely acronym that). It has also stayed in the same family for 140 years, rather than being abandoned after a decade for sunny Arizona/Florida. Age creates respectability. Or something.
Still, it was a little shocking today to realize that the people on the next hill over have cut down quite a number of trees, thus giving them and us entirely uninterrupted views of each other. The property in question is a hay-field currently (it looks like they took out a hedgerow), but it could easily sprout a house or five. This would be exceedingly unfortunate from our point of view, but my selfish side must wage war against my philosophical side: it is their property, and their right after all. That I think it would be criminal to turn a ridgeline hayfield, a rarity these days, into houses is my opinion only. (I’ll still whine)
Might consider some strategic white pines…
* Or not, several generations of settlers, and several Thousand years of Native American settlement demolish that conceit.
Acair Fearann 
It’s dark out.Ican’t see it but, Ihope they just want more hay!
I think one can take the “seven generations into the future” approach when being the current steward of a piece of land. . . and add to that a healthy helping of what might be called “geologic time scale humility”! Couple that with the photos adjacent of flowers and garden corners and feel comfortable that the current stewardship is, if nothing else, giving a certain aesthetic grace to this little bit of the planet.