Greenwich Neighborhoods - Byram

Byram, settled in 1660, is located in the extreme southwestern corner of Greenwich. Originally a farming and fishing community, industry came to the area in the nineteenth century. The Hendroth Brothers foundry built furnaces and stoves here, employing over 700 workers. The factory occupied two blocks from the Mill Street Bridge to Willett Avenue. Proximity to the Byram River was ideal since the docks could receive barges carrying iron and coal. During the 1800's Byram was home to Slovaks, Italians, Scandinavians, Germans and Poles who came here to work in area foundries and factories.

Only one square mile in size, Byram is defined by narrow streets and homes built in the early twentieth century by entrepreneurial builders. These enterprising businessmen bought inexpensive farmland for less than $300 an acre and built hundreds of homes near the Byram River for local workers. Many of these homes are occupied today by third generation families.

There are two legends as to how Byram got its name. One is that the Siwanoy Indians and colonial settlers went to this part of town to 'buy rum' from smugglers' boats resting just offshore. The other is that a rich nineteenth century landowner fell in love with his Irish maid, Mary Bridge, or Mary B. Since he was already married, he knew she could never be his wife, so he called the area Byram, in her honor, which is her name spelled backwards.

Byram has strong neighborhood bonds and is defined by churches, social clubs, its New Lebanon Elementary School, Dorothy Hamill Skating Rink and Byram Shubert Library. Over the past century, Byram had been known as New Lebanon, Hawthorne and East Port Chester. The name New Lebanon was given by resident Milo Mead who compared the large red cedar trees of the area to the Cedars of Lebanon mentioned in the Bible.

At the end of the nineteenth century, old Byram farm families such as the Lyonses and Meads began selling off their extensive landholdings to affluent New Yorkers. Byram Shore Road then developed into a luxury estate section with breathtaking homes overlooking the Long Island Sound. Initially these estates were strictly summer residences. When the railroad and Connecticut Turnpike made travel to and from New York more accessible, these properties became year-round homes. The residents of this affluent section have been characteristically known for their dedication to philanthropic causes. The building of the Connecticut Turnpike in the 1950's cut Byram across from east to west and created a physical separation between the expensive waterfront estates of Byram Shore Road and the middle-class neighborhoods in the downtown area.

Byram Park is nestled on the Long Island Sound in the western end of town. The thirty-acre park has a harbor with 300 slips for small boats. The beach accommodates over 40,000 residents each year and has the only public swimming pool in Greenwich. The Park has lighted tennis courts and the only lighted ball field in town. The granite walls surrounding the softball diamond were part of the Ritch family quarry in the 1840's. It is said that some of this stone was used to build the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty. Byram Beach also has a clambake area with a beautiful view of the Sound and a pavilion for family and corporate gatherings.

Today, Byram remains economically and ethnically diverse. With its busy downtown area filled with shops, restaurants and its own firehouse, Byram remains a self-sufficient little village with a community spirit that keeps it one of the least transient communities in Greenwich.

Greenwich Neighborhoods - Cos Cob

Cos Cob, inhabited in the seventeenth century by the Siwanoy Indians, was originally known as Mianus, after the Siwanoy Chief, Myanos. The Siwanoy harvested clams, oysters and scallops on the Long Island Sound. Later, Cos Cob was home to Dutch and English colonists. It got its present name from an early English settler, Joe Coe. Coe owned the land around the mouth of the Mianus River and built a stone seawall to protect his shoreline. The wall was referred to as a "cob" and it ultimately became known as Coe's Cob. When Coe moved away in 1659, the name remained but the "e" was dropped over time.

Cos Cob remained an active seaport during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. A Dutchman named Justus Bush bought land with a small structure on it in 1738. He expanded this structure into what is now known as the Bush-Holley house. A dam and bridge were built across Strickland Brook in 1763 by Justus' son, David Bush. He owned a gristmill below the dam. The Lower Landing became a port where market vessels docked bringing supplies in and out of the harbor. Sea captains began building large homes along Strickland and River Roads. Horse-drawn wagons would bring fresh produce from Greenwich Farms to be loaded onto these boats, bound for New York. The area prospered, making it a target economically and strategically in the Revolutionary War. In February 1779, the British raided Cos Cob and destroyed the Lower Landing with its store houses and supplies.

At the turn of the nineteenth century, Cos Cob was a sparsely-populated picturesque community with many acres of inexpensive, undeveloped land. Because of its location on the harbor, it became a popular summer resort for New Yorkers. Cos Cob was becoming an artistic community, drawing talented writers and gifted artists. Cos Cob has been home to such artists as Jean Webster, Willa Cather, Eugene O'Neill, Walter Lippman and Anya Seton. Anya's father, Ernest Thompson Seton, owned one hundred acres along Bible Street and was the founder of the Boy Scouts of America.

In the early twentieth century, the Post Road was being developed with electric lines, water lines and trolley service. Because of its central location, this Cos Cob business district became known as The Hub. Construction of new stores at The Hub continued through the 1940's as sidewalks and gas lines were added. In 1967 the Mill Pond Shopping Center was built on the south side of the Post Road. As The Hub was being developed in the early 1900's, back country Cos Cob farmers began selling their land to New Yorkers seeking to relocate. When bus service arrived on the Post Road in 1925, it was so successful that trolley service was discontinued. Soon after, of course, automobiles became the major means of transportation. In 1938, the opening of the Merritt Parkway began to relieve traffic on the Post Road but since trucks were not permitted on the Parkway, there was still significant congestion. On August 25, 1958 the Connecticut Turnpike opened when the Mianus River Bridge was completed.

Today, Cos Cob is a small village with a mix of private residences, condominiums, its own post office, school and railroad station, the shops and restaurants of The Hub and a harbor still active with marinas.

Greenwich Neighborhoods - Glenville

Glenville was a tiny mill town founded in 1774 by Baptist settlers seeking land on which to establish a church. The area was originally called Sherwood's Bridge, named for the Sherwood family who settled here in 1634. During the nineteenth century, the name Sherwood Bridge was changed to Glenville because, history tells us, a glen was formed by the tree-covered hills that dipped toward the Byram River.

The Sherwood family owned a farm on Glenville Road that provided 1,400 dozen eggs per week and 1,000 turkeys per year. The Sherwood family began farming in 1756 and continued for nine generations. The farm, one of the oldest in New England, closed down in 1978. The Sherwoods were veterans of every American war and some of the family members are buried in the small cemetery which fronts Glenville Road.

Glenville has always been home to industry because of the power of the Byram River that flows through the area. Mill work brought many Irish workers to the neighborhood during the nineteenth century, followed by Polish immigrants during the early twentieth century. In 1790, a mill was opened for grinding Peruvian bark, used as fever medication. From the mid-eighteenth century until the early twentieth century, still another mill ground wheat and corn for area farmers. Glenville is best known, however, for the American Felt Company, a producer of piano felts and felt for cars and aircraft. The American Felt Company closed in 1979 but has always been considered an important part of the Industrial Revolution. Also known in Glenville was Russel, Fursall and Ward, a manufacturer of nuts and bolts for use in assembling stoves. Eventually, this company became a major supplier of metal fasteners. The waterfall that gave power to the mill industries still flows today. The Mill remains the heart of Glenville, consisting of upscale restaurants, condominiums, offices and retail stores.

After World War II, homes were being built on previously undeveloped land, as Glenville developed into a residential community. The neighborhood began to flourish. The original Glenville School was built in 1921 and is now the Western Greenwich Civic Center. The Glenville fire house was built in 1951 and the Glenville Post Office in 1962. Soon after, the Glenville Shopping Center opened for business. As the area population increased, the need for a bigger school became apparent. The current Glenville School on Riversville Road opened its doors in 1975 and is one of the largest elementary schools in Greenwich. In the 1930's the Rockefeller family, through their Indian Spring Land Company, began buying up land on Glenville Road, including part of Sherwood Farm. In December 1979, the remaining portion of Sherwood Farm was sold to Indian Spring Land Company for $300,000. The Indian Spring Land Company has since developed this property into a residential community of multi-million dollar estates.

The residential and commercial development of Glenville, combined with the natural beauty of the area, has made it a highly-desirable section of Greenwich. In spite of the tremendous growth that Glenville has seen in the past decades, the familiar neighborhood ambiance still thrives throughout the area.

Greenwich Neighborhoods - North Mianus

North Mianus, a small community on the Mianus River north of the Post Road was known as Dumpling Pond in the early 1900's. It was one of Greenwich's first commercial districts with large ships picking up fresh produce from local farms. Immigrants moving into the area were largely of Italian descent, many settling near the Community Center which then housed part of the North Mianus School. North Mianus was a close-knit community of hard-working families placing great importance on the education of their children. Unfortunately, it was not uncommon for many of the children to leave school in the seventh or eighth grade to help earn money for their families. Early on, the facilities of the North Mianus School were scattered, with the Community Center housing the upper grades and various nearby buildings holding classes for the lower grades. The new North Mianus School opened on Palmer Hill Road in 1926.

Today, North Mianus is a quiet residential community with an abundance of natural parkland and many homes enjoying direct frontage and activities on the Mianus River.

Greenwich Neighborhoods - Pemberwick

Pemberwick, a small residential section located just north of the Post Road on the western edge of town, borders New York State in the southern-most portion of the greater-Glenville area. Many of the homes in Pemberwick lie on the banks of the beautiful Byram River which runs along Pemberwick Road.

The community prides itself on its own Pemberwick Park, the popular site of many local sporting events. The 8-acre facility consists of a baseball diamond, tennis, basketball and bocci courts, a playground and picnic area. Other sections of the Park include a conservation area with winding trails, flowers and tall native grasses, and a heavily-wooded 21-acre area. Town legend tells us that a cave in this wooded section was the dwelling of a mysterious "Leatherman" who roamed the woods late in the nineteenth century dressed in animal skins and surviving on food given to him by local residents.

Today, Pemberwick is a great little community, sharing local amenities with its Glenville neighbors. Proximity to New York makes Pemberwick an extremely desirable location for those working in and around Westchester and Manhattan.

Greenwich Neighborhoods - Old Greenwich

Old Greenwich, the eastern-most section of town, is where the story of Greenwich begins. Unlike other New England communities, Old Greenwich was not settled by church-going Puritans. It was first settled by English nonconformists on the run from the highly puritanical Massachusetts Bay Colony. On July 18, 1640, two such agents for the New Haven Colony, Captains Daniel Patrick and Robert Feake, landed at Greenwich Point, then called Monakewego, and purchased from the Siwanoy Indians the land between the Asamuck and Patomuck rivers. The boundaries of this land are the stream that runs through Binney Park and a creek that runs through the Innis Arden Golf Course on the Greenwich/Stamford border. Greenwich Point became the special purchase of Elizabeth Feake, wife of Robert Feake, and the name was changed from Monakewego to Elizabeth Neck. The price paid to the Siwanoys for all this land was twenty-five English Coats. One of the witnesses of this purchase was an Englishman, Jeffrey Ferris, who named the new settlement after the place of his birth, Greenwich, England.

Organized religion did not begin in Greenwich until 1658, when the town held its first religious services in settlers' homes. In 1662, Greenwich and neighboring Stamford came under the jurisdiction of the Connecticut Colony. The first recorded Greenwich Town Meeting took place in 1664. Seven men petitioned the General Assembly to become independent from Stamford and create their own government. These seven proprietors were Jeffrey Ferris, Joshua Knapp, Joseph Ferris, Jonathan Reynolds, Angell Husted, John Mead and John Hobbe. Greenwich then became known for its New England orthodox religion, Congregationalism. This independently-run Protestant congregation chose their own religious leaders and governed the secular community as well. At that time, there was no separation of church and state.

As Greenwich began developing westward, Old Greenwich was renamed Greenwich Old Town to distinguish itself from the newly forming areas of central Greenwich. When the railroad came in 1848, the New Haven Railroad objected to having a Greenwich station and a Greenwich Old Town station, so the name Greenwich Old Town was changed to Sound Beach. In 1930, the village was officially renamed Old Greenwich. Today, the village's fire department and its main street still carry the name of Sound Beach.

In the late nineteenth century, a wealthy newcomer, J. Kennedy Tod, built a great home, a nine-hole golf course and a bird sanctuary on his one-hundred-forty-seven acre waterfront estate. After World War II the town bought the Tod estate which was willed to Presbyterian Hospital of New York upon Mr. Tod's death. The estate, in its entirety, was purchased for $550,000 and the beaches were open to the Greenwich public. Today, Tod's Point is known as Greenwich Point and it is the largest public beach in Greenwich.

Old Greenwich was originally a farming and fishing community. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the coming of the Greenwich Inn on the Long Island Sound attracted tourists and summer residents to the area. More and more summer homes were being built and were available for seasonal rentals. Guests at the Inn loved the waterfront area and would return to rent homes the following season. Ultimately, many of these families purchased or built residences for both seasonal and year-round use. This began the transformation of Old Greenwich into a modern, waterfront community.

In the late 1920's the site of today's Binney Park was a salt marsh, breeding beautiful wildflowers. At that time, little was known about the ecological importance of wetlands, and a development of homes was planned for the site. The two daughters of Edwin Binney, wishing to preserve the threatened meadow, suggested to their father that he buy the land and create a park for the town. Mr. Binney agreed that if the sisters arranged the purchase, he would supervise the landscaping of the property and donate it to the town. The beautiful 32-acre park was dedicated on September 28, 1933.

Today, Old Greenwich is a sought-after residential community. Homes on the Long Island Sound command extraordinary prices. Old Greenwich is best known for its excellent schools, Perrot Library, charming shopping village, picturesque Binney Park and, of course, its beautiful shoreline at Greenwich Point.

Greenwich Neighborhoods - Riverside

Riverside, known until 1870 as Mianus Neck, was a community known for fishing enterprises, orchards and farming. At that time, Riverside Avenue was called Potato Road because of the potato storage cellars near the cove. Legend tells us that the east bank of the Mianus River was named Dumpling Pond, for the colonial housewife during the Revolutionary War who threw her dumplings into the pond rather than having them taken by the British soldiers passing through after they destroyed the Lower Landing in Cos Cob. In 1870, the U.S. government approved a post office and the State of Connecticut changed the name of Mianus Neck to Riverside.

The Riverside Yacht Club, founded in 1888 was a strength which drew people from New York City and other parts of the country to settle into homes in Riverside. The shore of the Long Island Sound was extremely attractive to the wealthy in pursuit of property to build estates.

To maintain a strictly residential section of town, The Riverside Association was formed in the late 1920's. The Association was successful in shutting down several stores but they were unable to shut down the variety shop, Ada's, because it had pre-existing rights. Today, Ada's is a community landmark originally known for its penny candies. It is one of the only commercial entities in Riverside south of the Post Road.

Since the early 1900's Riverside has always been a community lacking ostentation. Its population consists of executives, plumbers, shop owners and employees of all levels, living together as neighbors. Riverside children originally attended school in Old Greenwich. In the 1930's the Old Greenwich School became extremely overcrowded. In 1933 Riverside got its own elementary school and in 1955 Eastern Junior High School was built across the street. Riverside continued to grow and develop and is now a sought-after and close-knit residential community.

About Greenwich

On scenic Long Island Sound, just 30 miles from midtown Manhattan, Greenwich Connecticut is a vibrant cosmopolitan community considered among the most desirable in the nation.

Founded in 1640, this historic town retains its natural beauty and picturesque charm, encompassing some 50 square miles stretching from the rolling hills, woodlands and meadows of the backcountry to 32 miles of shoreline on the Sound.

The town is comprised of several villages or hamlets, each with its own unique character, and many with roots dating back to the pre-Revolutionary War era. Along with prestigious country clubs, yacht clubs, and magnificent real estate, Greenwich offers more than 1,500 acres of beautiful parklands including the Audubon Center, the splendid beaches and scenic nature trails of Greenwich Point and an 18-hole town golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones.

The main business district of Central Greenwich, with Greenwich Avenue as its signature street, offers a wide range of shops and restaurants. Extensive cultural attractions include the nationally recognized Bruce Museum, the Greenwich Library, and numerous performing arts organizations.

Greenwich public schools are consistently ranked among the finest in the nation, and the town is also home to excellent private schools. Greenwich is served by convenient commuter train service to Manhattan, less than an hour's ride away, and is situated minutes from Westchester County Airport and within easy reach of three major airports.

Greenwich Estates And Manors - About Our Firm

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