On a hot Sunday last week, “06880” offered a cool view.
Harrison Gordon’s image showed the back of a Wilton Road house, near the Kings Highway North intersection. The view was from across the Saugatuck River, by Parker Harding Plaza. (Click here to see.)
The home was designed to maximize its view. As Harrison’s photo shows, it sure does.
Wendy Cusick, Bob Grant, Susan Iseman, Rich Stein, Andrew Colabella, Ralph Balducci, Diane Silfen, James Weisz, Seth Schachter, Ken Gilbertie, PK Cleary, Lynn Untermeyer Miller and Mary Ann Batsell all nailed this one. Congrats!
Before moving on to this week’s Photo Challenge, here’s a note on the one before last. It featured “Alvord Beach” — the name of Sherwood Island State Park’s East Beach, which virtually no one has ever heard of (or used). No one around here has ever heard of “Alvord,” either.
But MaryAnn Meyer — who lives not far from Sherwood Island — found an “Alvord Genealogy” online. It mentions Nelson Alvord’s home at 295 Greens Farms Road.
Nelson Alvord began a carriage-making business in Torrington, in 1835. The genealogy notes:
He was a pioneer in shipping top vehicles to Ga. These were used for distributing merchandise through the country long before the advent of railroads in that section of the South.
He built up a large business, probably the largest in the state, employing at times 125 men. Before the railroad was built through the Naugatuck Valley, he had to transport his wagons by team to New Haven, thence by water to Savannah, Ga. He continued in active business until he retired in 1863, and removed to Green’s Farms, Conn., on the shore of Long Island Sound.
See you at Alvord Beach!
Meanwhile, see if you can identify this week’s Photo Challenge. If you know where in Westport this is, click “Comments” below.
(Photo/Lee Scharfstein)
Saugtuck Congregational Church
Labyrinth at Saugatuck Church.
Saugatuck Congregational
Saugatuck Congregational Church Labyrinth front lawn.
The labyrinth at Saugatuck Congregational Church on the Post Road
“Before moving on to this week’s Photo Challenge, here’s a note on the one before last. It featured “Alvord Beach” — the name of Sherwood Island State Park’s East Beach, which virtually no one has ever heard of (or used). No one around here has ever heard of “Alvord,” either.”
I didn’t realized I was “no one” now, humph. I had heard of the Alvord family. Elisha Alvord came down from Massachusetts to “Old Fairfield” around 1745 when he married Hannah Goodsell. Their son John Alvord (1750-1845) married Sarah Wakeman in 1772. John and Sarah had a son David (1775-1831) married Abigail Jennings in 1800. David and Abigail moved up to Litchfield County way before the birth of their first child.
Nelson Alvord was born in 1805 in Kent. So his coming back to Westport is more like a homecoming.
I contacted Al Levere, historian for the CT State Parks, and asked him about the source of Alvord. He emailed after a frustrating search: “not a word of ‘Alvord’ history in the 3,761 pages of Park Commission meeting minutes. It clearly is a pretty old name. The earliest dated reference I have seen is the circa 1893 usgs topo map using that name.” I will pass this info to him. Thanks, Cece Saunders, Friends of Sherwood Island State Park.
Well, here is something interesting…
Looking at the 1867 map of Westport, there is a “N Alvord” on what appears to be Beachside Avenue, right about the current location of Green’s Farms Academy. It also shows an “Alvords Beach” delimited from Frost Point in the east, to about halfway along the shore to the west to what is labeled “Sherwood Point”.
A little further digging, and I think I have to correct myself. The Nelson Alvord who lived in Greens Farms near the namesake beach I believe is in fact the nephew of the Nelson Alvord from Torrrington. This Nelson being the son of Almon Alvord, brother of the Nelson from Torrington
The labyrinth on the front lawn of Saugatuck Congregational Church.