Tag Archives: Westport Historical Society

The Cold War’s Hot Exhibit

Posted on January 26, 2012 | 19 Comments

The 1950s: McCarthyism. The Cold War. Nike Sites, fallout shelters and elementary school “duck and cover” drills.

Those were the days!

Well, yeah. In many ways they were — especially around here. We had a real-live Main Street, with actual grocery stores, hardware stores, and merchants who knew your name. Kids romped in the woods free from parental worries.

And Westport was growing rapidly. Every day, it seemed, another family moved in. Many were arts-types: novelists, TV writers, playwrights, admen. They were drawn by the town’s reputations as an “artists’ colony” — and as each one arrived, more followed.

Starting this Sunday (January 29), you can revisit those days. The Westport Historical Society presents 2 exhibits looking back on that golden/scary era.

“Next Stop: Westport, The Inspiration for 1950′s TV & Film Writers” takes its title from “A Stop at Willoughby,” one of “Twilight Zone”‘s most memorable episodes. In it, an ad executive on his way home to suburban Westport repeatedly finds himself in a pastoral town called Willoughby — in 1888.

Westport’s role in “The Twilight Zone” was no coincidence. Rod Serling wrote the episode when he lived in Westport.

Fellow residents included novelist Max Shulman, whose Rally ‘Round the Flag, Boys! satirized life in a suburban town when the Army selects it for a missile base. (Which actually happened here; the subsequent film led Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward to move to Westport.)

It was quite a time. There were so many creative types, says Linda Gramatky Smith — the daughter of “Little Toot” creator Hardie Gramatky — that there were regular writer-vs.-artist basketball and softball games.

The Historical Society exhibit features all that, and more — like Sloan Wilson’s novel The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, which was set here (the subsequent movie, starring Gregory Peck, was filmed here), and the final year of “I Love Lucy,” when the Ricardos and Mertzes move to town.

Video of a different kind will be shown at the WHS too. “The Cold War in Our Backyard” — a fascinating, chilling (and at times laughable) film compilation by Lisa Seidenberg, including everything from instructions on removing radiation from food to the still-frightening “Twilight Zone” episode on barbarism in a fallout shelter — will play in a continuous loop. (You can also click here to see it.)

Nearby, images and artifacts will recreate the fears that filled that “golden” era.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” Charles Dickens wrote.

He didn’t live in Westport.

But so many other famous writers did. Starting Sunday, the Westport Historical Society shares their stories with the world.

(The exhibit’s opening reception is this Sunday, January 29, 3-5 p.m. Click here for more information, or call 203-222-1424.)

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Posted in Arts, Entertainment, Looking back, Organizations, People

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Susan Wynkoop Walks The Talk

Posted on January 24, 2012 | 31 Comments

If you’re going to lead an organization, you should walk the talk.

The CEO of Ford should not drive a BMW. The Secretary of Education should not send his kids to private school.

And the head of the Westport Historical Society should not live in a brand-new McMansion.

Susan Wynkoop does more than just walk the talk. She sprints it.

Since 1990 the new president — she takes over from Dorothy Curran this Sunday (January 29) — has lived in a house built around 1683. It’s not only the oldest house in Westport — it’s the only pre-1700 structure in the entire town.

The Wynkoops' home: 187 Long Lots Road. (Photo by Larry Untermeyer)

Though she’s a native Virginian, Susan is not one of those I-always-wanted-to-live-in-the-past people. As a child, she says, “I visited Williamsburg. But there weren’t a lot of pre-Revolutionary houses where I grew up.”

She worked first for Wachovia, then the FBI. (There’s a connection: While she represented the bank at a recruiting fair, an FBI agent at an adjacent booth convinced her to switch careers.)

Serving in the agency’s New York office, she met her future husband, Morgan (aka “Dutch”). After they were married, he inherited his mother’s home — the oldest structure, at 187 Long Lots Road. He asked Susan if she’d like to live there.

The rest is history (ho ho).

Susan, Katherine and "Dutch" Wynkoop.

Over the years, she’s become passionate about preservation. “It’s hard not to let an antique home get in your blood,” she says.

Two years ago, the Wynkoops embarked on the long process of gaining WHS “local landmark” certification for their home. As a result, she says, “it can never be torn down.”

Voluminous research by the Historical Society’s Bob Weingarten revealed that the house was nearly a century older than previously thought. The dating process included examination of wood beams (possibly from ships sailing to America), and the foundation. Susan has “no idea how it survived all these years.”

Her mother-in-law bought the house in 1971, saying, “It’s stood for hundreds of years. It won’t come down now.” It’s so well built, in fact, there are almost no water leaks into the basement.

The original home consisted of 2 rooms downstairs, 2 above them. More rooms and baths were added in the 1800s, but the house has remained essentially the same. The Wynkoops have done some work — “you could see daylight through a few beams,” Susan says; they’ve modernized the upstairs, and re-insulated — but the outside looks the same.

An upstairs bedroom in the Wynkoop home. (Photo by Larry Untermeyer)

Inside, the exposed chestnut beams and original dining room pine flooring look just as they did in 1683.

“It’s not for everyone,” Susan admits. The ceilings are low, the stairs steep. But she wouldn’t live anywhere else.

“It’s been my home for 22 years — longer than anywhere else,” Susan says. “I find it very warm and welcoming. I can’t imagine a new house, where all the lines are straight and everything is perfectly plumb.”

Her involvement with the Westport Historical Society is, however, relatively recent. She’d always been a member, but not until the landmark designation process did she realize how important the organization is.

She went on the 2010 Holiday House tour, met many interesting people, and was drawn in.

Her job as president will involve fundraising and education — including raising awareness of the importance of historical preservation.

Another challenge will be increasing the Historical Society’s membership. There are many new young families in town. The WHS needs to reach them to grow.

Some live in large new homes — built on the sites of torn-down older ones. Susan Wynkoop — owner and proud resident of a 329-year-old home — will gladly invite them in.

Downstairs in the Wynkoop home. (Photo by Larry Untermeyer)

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Posted in History, Looking back, Organizations, People, Real estate

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It’s Now Allen Raymond Lane

Posted on January 23, 2012 | 7 Comments

It’s not easy telling an 89-year-old something he doesn’t already know.

But Allen Raymond was genuinely surprised yesterday afternoon. The Westport Y told the former board president it’s renaming the entry road to Mahackeno — the future site of the Y itself — “Allen Raymond Lane.”

The announcement — and presentation of an actual road sign — came at a party celebrating the trustee emeritus’ 89th birthday.

Allen Raymond: The man, and his sign. (Photo by Scott Smith)

Celebrants noted that the year 1923 marked 2 very special events: the opening of the Y in downtown Westport, and the birth of Allen Raymond.

“For the past 88 years, these 2 ‘local institutions’ have remained steadfast in their commitment and dedication to our community and its residents,” Y officials said. “Allen truly embodies the heart and soul of Westport and the Family Y.”

The Y is only one of Raymond’s many civic commitments. In the 1950s he was instrumental in the town’s purchase of Longshore, and development as a town park. He’s devoted countless hours months years serving the Library, Westport Historical Society and Earthplace, among many other organizations.

But it was the Y that honored him yesterday.

Allen Raymond

Rob Reeves — who also knows Raymond through the Green’s Farms Congregational Church and Rotary — credits him with “getting me up to speed quickly” when Reeves took over as the Y’s CEO.

“Allen told me a lot about the history of Westport, and the Y,” Reeves says. “He brought me around, and introduced me to people the Y has been important to. He was such an important connection.”

But despite Raymond’s fondness for (and many links) to history, he is hardly stuck in the past. “He speaks often about how change is good,” Reeves notes. “He’s not afraid of moving forward.”

Renaming Sunny Lane “Allen Raymond Lane” is perfectly good change, Reeves adds.

“Allen has said that when he was a kid, his goal was to live in Westport.

“He not only did that — he also made Westport better in so many ways.

“We’re honored to be able to give something back to him, in some small way, for all he’s done for the Y, and for Westport.”

Click below for a YouTube video: Y chairman Jim Marpe surprising Allen Raymond with the news of his new lane.

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Posted in Library, Longshore, Looking back, Organizations, People, Places, YMCA

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Hardie Gramatky Helps Historical Society

Posted on December 12, 2011 | 7 Comments

“Little Toot” artist Hardie Gramatky is a Westport legend.

His wife — Dorothea Cooke Gramatky — was also an artist, though less known.

His daughter, Linda Gramatky Smith, and her husband Ken have kept her parents’ work alive, both internationally and here in their home town.

"Green's Farms Station," 1948.

Now the Gramatkys’ work is benefiting the Westport Historical Society too.

For a limited time before the holidays, giclée prints by Hardie and Dorothea ordered at the Historical Society or through www.californiawatercolor.com will generate 30% back to the WHS.

(NOTE: If you’re like me, here’s the answer: A giclée is a high-tech, high-quality process that exactly replicates the color and texture of original watercolor artwork. Examples — printed on heavy Provence watercolor paper — are on display in the WHS gift shop.)

Though Hardie is best known for his children’s books, he painted stunning watercolors of Westport landscapes. (Andrew Wyeth called him one of America’s 20 greatest watercolorists.)

"Schlaet Point," 1948.

38 local scenes are available.  So are hundreds of other subjects by Hardie, Dorothea and other leading artists. All generate the 30% donation to the Historical Society.

(To order online, click here; at checkout, enter the code “WHS” — oh yeah, you also get a 10% discount. You can also order at the Westport Historical Society, 25 Avery Place.)

"Turkey Hill Sleigh Ride," 1955.

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Posted in Arts, Looking back, Organizations, People

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A League Of Its Own

Posted on October 27, 2011 | 6 Comments

In 1949, Westport stood on the brink of change.

No one knew what the 2nd half of the 20th century would bring — but the town had already begun moving toward something different, modern and new.

A group of women wanted to influence the future.  They were smart and energetic — and, despite their many responsibilities as housewives and mothers, they found time to work for Westport.

That year — sitting around a tea set in Mrs. Wolcott Street’s Myrtle Avenue home — they formed a chapter of the League of Women Voters.

Over the next 6 decades, the organization grew — in numbers and influence.  The LWV helped determine the structure of the nascent Representative Town Meeting (RTM); later, the League made sure there was open space on the Post Road, and led the crusade to “green” it.  Look at the Post Road today in Westport — compared to neighboring Norwalk — and you’ll see the lasting effect the LWV has had on our town.

League of Women Voters members, 1966.

Two years ago John Hartwell — an LWV member (it’s not just for men anymore!), who was taking video production classes at Norwalk Community College — was asked to tape a coffee celebrating the Westport chapter’s 60th anniversary.  Four former LWV presidents were scheduled to speak.

A detached retina forced John to cancel.  To make amends, he promised to interview the 4 ex-presidents in their homes.

The stories he heard — and the careers the LWV launched — amazed and inspired him.

Julie Belaga

For example, after her League presidency, Julie Belaga served in the Connecticut Legislature, ran for governor, served as New England director of the EPA, and was appointed by President Clinton to the Export-Import Bank.

Jackie Heneage went on to serve 2 terms as first selectman — the 1st woman ever elected to the post.

Pat Porio had a long career after her service as president.

By the time John interviewed the 4th woman — 5-time LWV president Lisa Shufro — he realized there were many more voices to be heard.  He vowed to direct a video — and asked Lisa to produce it.

Sixteen more interviews followed.  There were visits to the house where the League was founded.  Hours and hours of footage — and hundreds and hundreds of stories — had to be edited down to the final 43-minute product.

Two themes emerge from “A League of Their Own.”  One is how the LWV empowered so many women.  For example, Martha Aasen went on to become the national organization’s official observer at the UN; she then worked full-time there.

Ann Gill was a major force on Westport’s Planning and Zoning Commission for years.  The list goes on and on.

From left: Marty Hauhuth, Ann Gill, Barbara Butler, Mary Jenkins, Jacqueline Heneage -- LWV members, and accomplished women all.

The 2nd major theme is the impact the LWV had on Westport.

The video debuted at the League’s annual meeting in June.  It was shown at the Westport Library in September, and Senior Center earlier this month.

Always, the feedback was the same:  Wow!

Women interviewed for the film were impressed how well their stories were told.  Other viewers remarked how much they learned about the League — and Westport.

Seeing and hearing about women who have gained so much from the LWV — and in turn have given so much back, to their town and country — brought tears to the eyes of some.

You can watch the film now:  click here.

Or you can go to the Westport Historical Society this Sunday (October 30), for a showing.  Afterward, 2 of the League’s living legends — Jackie Heneage, and Selma Miriam (a leading proponent of Project Concern, and the founder and longtime owner of Bridgeport’s Bloodroot restaurant and bookstore) — will talk, and answer questions.

The video’s title is a pun on the League of Women’s Voters — and the 1992 film about women’s professional baseball — but it aptly describes the role of this organization in the life of our town.

For 6 decades, Westport’s LWV has been in a league of its own.

A screenshot from "A League of Its Own."


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Posted in Local politics, Looking back, Organizations, People

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Remembering Frazier Peters — And Mollie Donovan

Posted on October 6, 2011 | 8 Comments

A fascinating exhibit opened Sunday at the Westport Historical Society.

Called “Frazier Forman Peters:  At Home With Stone,” it honors the man who is arguably Westport’s most famous architect.

Frazier Forman Peters

Peters — also a builder, teacher and writer — was born in 1895 to a New York Episcopalian clergy family.  He graduated from Columbia University as a chemical engineer, but quickly grew disgruntled with the industry,

He came to Westport in 1919, hoping to work the land as a farmer.  The rocky soil intrigued him, and he soon found his calling as a designer and builder of stone houses.

Peters’ homes can be found from Virginia to Maine — but most are in Connecticut.  Between 1924 and 1936 he designed and built over 36 stone houses Westport.  His designs are revered for their unique fieldstone wall construction method, as well as their spatial organization and sensitive placement in relation to the natural environment.

Susan Farewell wrote:

Were Frazier Peters to build houses today, he’d be receiving all sorts of accolades for being an architect on the leading edge of environmentally-conscious, energy-efficient, sustainable design and construction.

The thick fieldstone walls (as much as 16 inches) typical of a Peters stone house make them energy-efficient; the stones effectively hold the heat in winter and keep the interiors cools in summer….

He segregated rooms by giving each one a separate identity, and through the use of step-downs, varied building materials, and interesting transitions. He was also taken by how beautifully European stone structures aged and compared them to American-built frame houses that “droop and pout if they are not continually groomed and manicured.”

Another important component of Peters’ designs was the marriage of the house and its surroundings. He wrote a great deal about this and was especially enamored with the brooks, hillsides, and woods of Connecticut.

Adam Stolpen — who lives in a Frazier Peters house — adds:  “He was our first ‘green architect.  And he was completely self-taught.

“These are definitely not cookie-cutter McMansions.  They are homes meant to be lived in.  And each one has a bit of whimsy.”

A Frazier Forman Peters house on Charcoal Hill. (Photo by Alan Goldfinger/Westport News)

The exhibit includes photographs of his houses; artifacts, and a model of stone construction method and materials.

But it would not have come about had it not been for a modern Westporter with an affinity for history — and a connection to Frazier Peters homes.

A few years ago, longtime town volunteer Mollie Donovan wanted a plaque for her son’s family.  Dan and Nicole Donovan had just bought a Peters house near Charcoal Hill — one of Peters’ favorite areas.

Most homes with a historic plaque are at least 100 years old.  But Bob Weingarten — the WHS member in charge of authorizing plaques — realized that the style, beauty, and placement of the Donovans’ house warranted one.

His interest in Peters was piqued.  He searched for other houses.  Each time he found — and verified — one, he sent a note to the WHS (and Mollie).

After a dozen, she decided Peters should be honored too — with an exhibit.

Frazier Forman Peters died in 1963.  Mollie Donovan passed away last April.

But — thanks to both of them — an intriguing, informative exhibition lives on.

So do Frazier Peters’ houses.  According to Bob Weingarten, of the 36 houses he’s found that were designed and built by Peters, only 1 has been demolished.

In today’s Westport, that might be Frazier Peters’ most enduring legacy of all.

(The Westport Historical Society exhibition runs through December 31.  Click here for details.)

Another Frazier Forman Peters house view. (Photo by Alan Goldfinger/Westport News)

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Posted in Environment, Looking back, Organizations, People, Places

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When TV Stars Shined Here

Posted on June 28, 2011 | 60 Comments

On “Bewitched,” Samantha’s family lived in a typical suburban town:  Westport.  In development, the title was even “The Witch of Westport.”

Some of TV’s most famous personalities — Harry Reasoner, Phil Donahue, Jim Nantz — lived in Westport.

And some of the most famous Westporters — like former Governor John Davis Lodge — appeared on television as early as 1937 (the BBC, in England).

Those facts — and many, many more — form the basis for TV Neighbors:  Westport and Weston Television Personalities, a new book by Tom DeLong.

The research was intriguing — a natural follow-up to “Stars in Our Eyes,” DeLong’s much-acclaimed earlier volume on the many actors and actresses who lived in Westport and Weston.

Using material amassed for a 2003 Westport Historical Society exhibition on Westport’s relationship with television, DeLong went to work.  His notes were mostly done, the chapters all outlined — when suddenly last July DeLong suffered a stroke and died.

His good friend Wally Woods — who had worked with DeLong on WHS exhibits since 1997 — and Woods’ wife Denise vowed to finish the book for DeLong.

The Woodses dove into crates and boxes of files and photos.  They deciphered DeLong’s notes to himself.  They organized the material.

Tom DeLong (left), Wally Woods, and vintage televisions at the Westport Historical Society's 2003 exhibit.

Wally wrote; Denise scanned photos.  Together, they indexed hundreds of personalities.

The result has just been published — a handsome and intriguing tribute to our town’s television history, and a memorial to its late author.  Woods is proud to have completed it, and devastated that he had to.

The book includes every television category that Westporters have contributed to:  dramas, comedies, soaps, sports, sitcoms, variety shows, quiz shows and more.

Lodge — and people like Victor Keppler (future founder of the Famous Photographers School, but in 1947 host of Dumont’s “Photographic Horizons” show), and actress Eva Le Gallienne (who did live classic plays on TV) — are featured in a special “Pioneers” chapter.

The book is filled with big names and little tidbits.  For example, in the 1940s stage actress Dorothy Bryce was Arlene Francis’ television hand model.

Lucy Ricardo reads a poster to Ethel Mertz in "Westport." It says: "Yankee Doodle Day Celebration -- Statue Dedication at Jessup (sic) Green."

In “I Love Lucy”‘s final season, the Ricardos and Mertzes “moved” from New York to Westport.  In one memorable episode Lucy destroyed the Minuteman statue, right before the “Yankee Doodle Day” celebration.

As for “Bewitched,” Elizabeth Montgomery and her family lived at “1164 Morning Glory Circle” in Westport.  If that sounds like a pseudo-local address with a California house number — hey, the series was filmed on a Hollywood lot.

Famous names cascade off the pages:  newscasters Doug Edwards, Pauline Frederick, Robert Hager, John MacVane, John Siegenthaler — and Gordon Joseloff.

Sportscasters Win Elliot, Sal Marchiano, Jim McKay and Brent Musburger.

Actors and actresses better know for movies and Broadway — Bette Davis, Michael Douglas, Mia Farrow, June Havoc, James Naughton, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward — also appeared in key roles during TV’s dramatic heyday.

And who can forget Rod Serling?  He wrote the seminal “Patterns” and “Requiem for a Heavyweight” dramas while living on High Point Road — and some of the best-remembered “Twilight Zone” episodes too.  Westport worked its way into more than one of those stories.

Westport today is filled with big TV screens.  A 55-inch screen is the new normal; 108-inch, 150-inch, even more ginormous sets are not rare.

Back in the day, Westport was filled with big TV stars.  Thanks to Wally and Denise Woods, Tom DeLong has lived long enough to honor them.

(The Westport Historical Society will host a book event on Thursday, August 4 [5-7 p.m.], and is selling TV Neighbors for $22 their Remarkable Gift Shop.  It’s also available for $19.95, plus $5 shipping for the 1st book and $1 for each additional book, from BearManor Media, PO Box 1129, Duncan, OK 73534; tel. 580-252-3547; email benohmart@gmail.com)

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Posted in Entertainment, Looking back, Organizations, People

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Do Know Much About History

Posted on June 1, 2011 | 6 Comments

If you’ve stayed up nights wondering when the 1st telephone came to Westport — or the 1st white folks, or anyone for that matter — your insomnia is over.

Westporters.com — the original Staples alumni site, which over the past decade morphed into much more — has unveiled an interactive database.  It’s the gold standard for Westport history.

And trivia.

Westport Historical Society, eat your heart out.

It starts just where you’d expect:  19,000 BCE (“Glacial ice melts, creating the spillway that formed the Saugatuck River”).

The next 13,000 years were pretty dull — kind of like the 1970s — but in 6000 BCE there was “evidence of prehistoric human activity in the Green’s Farms and Old Hill areas of Westport.”  (They probably were not yet called by those names).

An early Westport family amuses themselves. Back in the day there was no beach, no Black Duck, no Netflix -- amazing!

By 1000, Native Americans began growing corn, beans, pumpkins, squash and tobacco — in other words, everything sold at today’s Farmer’s Market, except for the devil’s weed.

The Pequot Indians prospered until 1637, when they were defeated by colonial troops in the Great Swamp War (near what is now the Southport line).

In 1648, the 5 “Bankside Farmers” acquired land from the Indians of Machamux in the area around present-day Beachside Avenue and Sherwood Island.  Westporters.com does not mention whether the Bankside Farmers promptly established 5 banks on the site.  I’m betting yes.

In 1654 Mary Staples  was accused by Roger Ludlowe of being a witch.  Her husband, Thomas Staples, sued for defamation, winning 10 pounds.  That established both the Westport sport of lawsuit-filing, and the Staples-Ludlowe rivalry that lives on in high school sports today.

The timeline picks up steam in the 1800s.  In 1846 Westporters vigorously 0pposed a railroad line.  After a bitter battle, the town failed to block construction of the tracks.  It’s a good thing no one fights anything in Westport today!

The 1st telephone was installed here in 1882, at Osborn’s general store downtown.  Just in case you were wondering.

Well, at least you could see what was around you when you pulled out of parking spots.

It was followed, in 1899, by the 1st automobiles.  Local blacksmith J. Nelson Bulkley proudly displayed his Stanley Steamer.  Interestingly, there was a blacksmith here through the 1960s — far after steam-powered buggies disappeared.

In 1902, Daniel Bradley challenged the ownership and public use of Compo Beach in Bridgeport court.  He lost, but ended up with a street named after him.  At the beach.

The Board of Finance was created in 1917, after the town “unexpectedly ran out of money.”  Look for something similar to happen on a national scale sometime this summer.

Also in 1917, Westport voters defeated a proposed local alcohol prohibition ordinance, 355-256.  Two years later, the national 18th Amendment passed.  From Saugatuck to the Penguin, and throughout the rest of town, no one heard the news.

The 1st traffic signals were installed here in 1929.  As with Prohibition, no one noticed — then or now.

A 1943 “Art Attack on the Axis” exhibition at the library raised $151,000.  In today’s money, that’s enough to fill your tank with gas for an entire 15 weeks.

Westporters.com notes various other events — our 1st condos in 1977, on the site of the old Rippe’s Farm; the new library, which opened in 1986 on the site of the old dump; the May 20, 2011 purchase of the post office building — but the historical dates tabs are only part of the database.

Click on “Businesses,” and you’ll find everything from the 1st general store in Saugatuck (opened in 1798), through Allen’s Clam and Lobster House (1890), Embalmers’ Supply Company (1891) and Remarkable Book Shop (1962) to the demolition of the Main Street Mobil gas station in 1986 (think Vineyard Vines).

The much-loved Remarkable Book Shop. Or, as we call it today, Talbots. (Photo/Westporters.com)

The “Churches & Temples” tab covers includes famous events like the moving of the Saugatuck Congregational building across and down the Post Road in 1950, to less well-known moments (the 1st record of Catholic services here was 1853 — “a small gathering at the Universalist Church”).

Are disasters your thing?  We’ve had our share, from the British torching of 15 homes and 11 barns in 1779, to the 1895 destruction by fire of the Tidal Mill (sounds like an Onion headline), and more.

The “People” tab includes famous names like Jesup, Nash, Coley, Sherwood and Winslow.  “Organizations” covers everything from the PTA (established 1897) and the Fairfield County Hunt Club (1923), through Little League (1952 — actually 1951, according to LL officials) and the World Affairs Center (1961).  It’s an eclectic list, befitting our town.

There are databases for politics, population, publications and schools as well.

It’s all searchable — and you can also access it through an all-encompassing PDF file.

“06880″ welcomes the Westporters.com history file.  Use it often, and well.

Though I don’t think it will stop people from emailing me questions like, “Do you remember the names of all the restaurants across from the place that used to be Toys R Us?…”

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Posted in Beach, Downtown, History, Local business, Looking back, Organizations, People, Places, Saugatuck, Staples HS

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A Bunch Of Farmers

Posted on May 30, 2011 | 34 Comments

Before we were hedge fund wizards — before we were a world marketing capital — before we were an artists’ colony, even, we were farmers.

Back in the day, Westport was a farming community.  And by “the day,” I mean not only the early Puritan settlers, but the Indians we snagged the land from.

The Westport Historical Society has partnered with Wakeman Town Farm and the Westport Farmers’ Market to honor our agrarian tradition.  “Back to the Roots” includes not only the 4-part WHS exhibit on display across from Town Hall, but a summer-long series of programs and field trips.

Barns, stone walls, fresh food — they’re all part of “Roots.”

So are these fun facts:

  • “Long Lots” got its name from the shape of early farming plots.
  • Westport’s incorporation in 1835 resulted in large part from our successful maritime exportation of fish and produce to New York, Boston and beyond.
  • Onion farmers used nutrient-rich seaweed as fertilizer.  During the Civil War, Westport was the leading onion supplier to the Union army.
  • After 2 blights, onion growers switched to apples and cidering.  However, shellfishing continued, and Lloyd Nash developed a major ice harvesting business, revolutionizing local food preservation.

If you’re downtown for today’s parade, check out the Historical Society exhibit.  You’re sure to look at this afternoon’s cookout with fresh eyes.

(Special “Back to Our Roots” programs for food and farm lovers of all ages will run every Saturday at Wakeman Town Farm, Thursdays at the Farmer’s Market, and at various times at the Historical Society.  Click here for details.

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Posted in Environment, Organizations

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Memorial Day Memories

Posted on May 29, 2011 | 8 Comments

Alert “06880″ reader Wendy Crowther sends along a couple of photos from former Westporter Esta Kraft Sands.  In the 1950s and ’60s Esta’s parents owned the McLaury House (99 Myrtle Avenue, across from the Westport Historical Society).

Several years ago, Wendy helped restore the house.  She also did historical research, and provided website content.

The photo below, from Memorial Day around 1966,  shows a marching group — Machamux — as it approaches the house.

Wendy writes:

I’m not sure whether the Machamux group was a precursor to the Y’s Indian Guides and Princesses that used to meet out at Camp Mahackeno, or whether it was its own dad/son association.

I don’t think the Machamux group would get a passing grade in Westport anymore.  The feathers, tom-toms and totem poles were probably not routine gear for Westport’s native Americans.  Of course the last of the Connecticut Pequots were massacred by English colonists up in the Southport swamps.  And the Bankside Farmers purchased what is now Green’s Farms from the local native tribe who called the same land “Machamux.”

In his 1933 “Greens Farms” book, George Penfield Jennings writes, “On their own responsibility they decided at once, ‘with Yankee knack for a good bargain,’ to purchase the land from the Indians.”

Ah, Yankee ingenuity and a good bargain.  It makes me wonder if the “Indians” thought they got a good deal.  Whether it was a good deal or a bad one then, I’m sure they’d regret that deal now.

It wouldn’t be all bad to help Westport kids know that Westport once had inhabitants that looked and lived nothing like today’s residents.  Today we would be sure to portray the facts accurately and not proliferate stereotypes.

And, circling back to the photos and Memorial Day,  Wendy says, “It’s always fun to be reminded that the more things change, the more they remain the same.  The parade still marches past those same houses on Memorial Day, and people still line the streets to cheer on their kids or their favorite clubs, politicians and civic groups.”

The photo below shows Esta’s family in front of their home — the McLaury house.  Wendy is absolutely right.

Wendy concludes:

I head down to the parade every year because of the old-fashioned, hometown feel of it.  It’s one of Westport’s big gatherings.  It’s a day to remember our fallen heroes (which many unfortunately tend to forget), and a day to celebrate the start of summer with games and barbecues.

These photos reflect the past, but aren’t too far off from what still happens today.  It’s why I love that parade.  Hanging out on the sidewalks with people I know, and don’t, and cheering on the passing soccer teams and fire engines, makes me feel proud somehow.

It also makes me feel a little bit like a dork, except that the streets are lined with my homeys, parade dorks like me, clapping for their faves.  It’s a great way to express some gratitude and “feel the love,” especially in a town that is so often creating or fighting about change.

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Posted in Looking back, Organizations, People

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