Two weeks ago, our Friday Flashback featured E.T. Bedford’s handsome Beachside Avenue estate.
I’d heard about it, of course.
But I’ve never heard of this equally cool-looking place:
Click on or hover over to enlarge.
The Beachside Inn must have been nearby.
But where? And when?
If you know anything about this grand building, click “Comments” below.
And if you ever stayed there, we must hear your story!
(Hat tip: Seth Schachter)
My father (Robert R Mills III ) always told me that the original inn was located at what is now 45 Beachside Ave. My father was a landscaper and had a business in town. He used to take care of this property for years. He once showed me the tunnel that was under the original driveway. The driveway was located on the left side of the property that was adjacent to the Greens Farm Academy wall. I was in this tunnel when I was younger. The tunnel was accessible from the basement of the house, a manhole cover that was located in the center of the driveway, and also on the beach. He told me the tunnel was used during the prohibition era, to get booze and supplies into the old Inn.
Beachside Inn – multi-storied and bounded by wide verandas which stood until 1919 just east of the present Green’s Farms Academy property. (Two of the inn’s “cottages” still stand, at Nos. 49 and 55 Beachside Avenue.)
I like how they would whitewash the stones near the driveway. Those sapling trees might be survivors.
There’s an interesting memory – I used to whitewash stones in front of my place years ago. Maybe it’s time to do it again! But first I’ll need to get some stones.
Dang Dan, If I had my postcard collection in hand (which definitively includes this one) I might have had some info . . . but my other sources (like the 1917 Town directory) tell me it was on Greens Farms Rd, and my on-line map resources show me it was in the area Chip describes
Jack does not have his postcard collection on hand because he lent it to me! There are 4 postcards showing the Beachside Inn, with similar views. Unfortunately none have an address, and the postmarks do not show any years. It is quite a place — and Jack’s collection is truly something too!
In the book Westport …a special place it shows the Beachside Inn on page 13. The house was originally the Phipps residence. It say’s it was on the sound from Bedford Point west along the fisherman’s right of way to Burying Hill Beach. It also shows a picture of the sea wall with steps going down to the beach. It looks a lot like the steps at Burying Hill Beach. could this be a home that was originally on what is now Burying Hill Beach? Sure looks like it in the picture.
Thanks, Charlotte! There are also steps at other seawalls further along Beachside — the photo in the book looks like those other ones. The book also says that each day, 22 trains stopped at Greens Farms station. Sounds like there was a lot going on!
http://thesouthportglobe.blogspot.com/2009/03/beachside-inn-greens-farms-1890s.html Chris Woods
This is what I found on the Greens Farm Association webside:
The New Haven Railroad began operations in 1848 over the strenuous objections of Westport’s representative to the State General Assembly! The quaint Green’s Farms station was built on the common near Morningside in 1870 with the help of local farmers; and was moved east to its present location a generation later. By 1875 six trains stopped at Green’s Farms each day; and beginning late in the nineteenth century this was one route (the other was by steamer up the Sound) taken by flew York area people who had discovered Green’s Farms as a delightful place to spend their summers. Some eventually bought land and built summer homes here. But many more stayed at the imposing Beachside Inn – multi-storied and bounded by wide verandas which stood until 1919 just east of the present Green’s Farms Academy property. (Two of the inn’s “cottages” still stand, at Nos. 49 and 55 Beachside Avenue.)
This building looks a lot like the Inn in Stockbridge, MA. Same Architect?
Estelle T. Margolis