This 1971 Christmas card shows Nyala Farm — once part of the Bedford estate, later a working dairy farm.
Today the land between the Sherwood Island Connector and Greens Farms Road is the site of an office complex. Bridgewater Associates — the largest hedge fund in the world — is one of the tenants.
And if that doesn’t say something about the Westport of yesterday and today, I don’t know what does.
This was our view from 1 River Oaks Rd.
The Bedford estate must have been extensive. Always loved that barn. Wish you could still see it well. Bridgewater should bring back some cows, it would be good PR.
Oh indeed it does Dan! Us old timers are sad with each demolition, loss of farms, and mega mansion built! I well remember my Girl Scout troop or was it brownies visiting Antalya Farms when the barn was filled with dairy cows!
Nayala, not that other scramble!
Thanks for the wonderful memory. The Bedford Estate was wonderful and the Bedford family always had the best interests of Westport in their thoughts and plans. Lucy Bedford Cunningham Warren always downplayed her contributions. They were quietly and unselfishly given and all of Westport benefitted. This flash back is totally and wonderfully appropriate for Christmas.
Thanks for posting this, Dan. Is the “wishing well” still there? Wasn’t there a rumor that the silver from the Greens Farms Congregational Church was hidden in there during the British invasion? Happy Holidays from CA to all Westporters and Greens Farmers!
Thanks, Lucinda! The well is still there — but I had never heard that rumor. It makes sense!
Happy holidays to you too, from all of us still here!
Reverend Hezekiah Ripley supposedly hid the silver communion service in a well when the British arrived in Fairfield. Nyala Farms is across the street from the site of the parsonage so maybe that was the well, but it also seems likely he would have put it in his own well. Maybe the Westport Historical Society can let us know which well was used
I remember going to Nyala Farm when I was in First grade or Kindergarten. Our friend Nancy Fales took us there on a field trip and we were thrilled when the calves licked our fingers. It had to have been at least 60 years ago as I am now 66 years old.yu
I know that I saw this painting years ago and admired it, coincidentally the artist Robert Vickery lived for years in the town on Cape Cod where I live now, he used to come into the local bookstore here in town where I worked, his amazing paintings (not this one) are offered at a local gallery. I loved driving along and looking at the beautiful Nyala property, before it was Stouffer, where my mother and sister worked for a time.
Charming. Soothing.
Thanks Dan!
Wow. We lived down the road from Nyla’s farm and used to bike there all the time to see the calves being fed. I loved the well in the middle of the field, where it was rumored that the people of Greens Farms hid their silver and pewter from the English soldiers during the revolutionary war. We left Greens Farms in 1970 when we moved to England. Mom and dad returned to live there several years later in the same house that we grew up in. I remember being shocked to see the changes that had occurred to Nyala’s while we were gone. Thanks for posting this picture, it brings back sweet memories!