Once upon a time, Westport was awash in New England scenes like this:
(Photo/Fred Cantor)
This Post Road East fruit and vegetable stand was known as Rippe’s.
Much of the produce came from a farm on North Avenue. It’s been plowed under; today it’s the site of Greystone Farm Road, a completely made-up name. But hey, some of the homes have vague silo-looking parts on them.
As for Rippe’s stand and cider mill, pictured above: It was replaced a few decades ago by some of Westport’s first condominiums.
At least the name pays homage to its past. You know: Harvest Commons.
Rippe’s farmstand was our go to for corn (13 ear dozen) and all things vegetable. Split wood and fresh eggs in winter. Of course there was always Wakeman’s Farm if Rippes was out
One crisp, fall night when I was a kid I snuck into Rippe’s orchard, picked and stole some Macintosh apples, and brought them to my mom to bake a pie. (Her apple pies were amazing!) When she learned how I got them, she angrily took me to Rippe’s to apologize and pay for them. They put me to work, and taught me to prune apple trees. I still occasionally prune fruit trees for friends.
Always good for a Paul Newman sighting!
I vaguely recall it was replaced by a (used?) car dealership. They sometimes had a car at something like $9.99 or 99 cents or something but you had to sit in the car all day in the front of the dealership and hope nobody else made a better offer.
Can’t even begin to guess how many meals we had from Rippe’s, the first stop on the way home from the beach in summer.
Oh how I miss Rippe’s !
Wonderful picture and wonderful memories. Our mom stopping to pick up fresh corn on our way home from a day at the beach. Sometimes at Rippes’& sometimes at Wakemans. Good times. Thank you Fred. I hope we get to see to here this summer.
Thanks Lynn. We were able to get both our shots and will finally be home beginning of April (with unfinished work/new furniture etc in our new place—but, with the pandemic, we will keep that to the essentials at the moment).
We do hope to see people—naturally outside (perhaps at the beach) and socially distanced given my underlying health conditions. But you won’t readily see me smiling as my mask will remain on even outside until the pandemic is in the rear view mirror.🤨
Wow! What memories from Rippe’s! The jugs of apple cider, the pumpkins for Halloween, and buying a big bag of Macintosh apples with my dad and eating them all while watching a football game at Staples. It was such a welcoming place to go!
Ah, I remember it well. I lived just down the street. And yes, often saw Paul Newman. And, no one bothered him.
I too remember going to the farm stand on the Post Road as a wee child, and of cutting throw the fields on North Avenue on the way home from school. Pilfered strawberries are very sweet.
A not so amusing factiod: When the developer was building what is now “Greystone Farms Lane” he originally wanted to call it “Mills Farm Lane”. The land was originally part of the property of Charles Mills, my great-great-grandfather. It was his house that still sits there. Alas, the Town said “No!” to that name because “there are too many streets that start with Mill, and it will be confusing for the fire department”.
I lived on Mills Street behind Rocco’s Restaurant. It was sad when they chopped down the orchard to put in the condos.
Does anyone remember the amazing field of zinnias next to Rippe’s on the Post Road? When I was a child, I thought it was like a field of red, orange and yellow lollipops. I think their farm on North Avenue also had a field of zinnias – I was a city kid, coming out for the summer, and I had never seen anything like it!
My sister and her best friend worked at Rippe’s in the 1970s. When customers gathered their goods and were finally ready for check-out, they’d often try to get the staff’s attention by announcing, “I’m ready.” It was said in a beckoning, drawn-out, sing-songy style. This saying has remained in our family ever since. We can imitate it exactly and it still makes us laugh fifty years later.
Remember it well and strawberry picking on the North Ave farm field