Category Archives: Looking back

Roundup: Meet The Candidates, Politicians Bike & Walk, Church Moves …

Posted on September 27, 2025 | 10 comments

Nearly 200 people filled the Senior Center yesterday, for the first all-Select Board-candidate event of the campaign season.

The “Meet the Candidates” session — co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters and “06880” — was a chance to talk personalities, not policy.

Moderator Dan Woog asked the 1st selectman hopefuls about their leadership styles, growth experiences, and how they hoped to be judged by residents.

One question — about experiences that have shaped their lives — drew very personal stories.

Republican Don O’Day spoke about saving his father from a house fire, at age 18. Independent David Rosenwaks described being served pork and sausage at a school in Richmond, Virginia and — though he kept kosher — being told to clear his plate. Democrat Kevin Christie related his move from a tiny Vermont town to one in upstate New York, for broader exposure to the world.

Moderator Dan Woog (far right) with (from left) 1st selectman candidates David Rosenwaks, Don O’Day and Kevin Christie. 

Second selectwoman candidates Andrea Moore (Republican) and Amy Wistreich (Democrat) also fielded questions about their experiences, and views of their roles.

2nd Selectwoman candidates (from left) Andrea Moore and Amy Wistriech. (Photos/Joan Gillman)

There will be many more opportunities for Westporters to assess the candidates, for a variety of offices. Among them:

  • Fall Brunch & Design a Sign: Meet Your RTM Candidates: October 4, 10 a.m. to noon Westport Library. The event includes coffee, donuts, snacks, and art activities to keep kids occupied. Co-sponsored by League of Women Voters Westport and “06880.”
  • Selectmen Candidates: Focus on Sustainability (October 6, 6:30 p.m., Christ & Holy Trinity Church). Co-sponsored by Sustainable Westport and Earthplace.
  • Selectmen Candidates (October 14, 7 p.m., Toquet Hall); Sponsored by Westport Youth Commission. Special event for students; adults invited too.
  • A Conversation with Board of Finance Candidates: October 15, 2 p.m., Senior Center. Co-sponsored by League of Women Voters Westport and “06880.”
  • First Selectman Candidates Debate: October 16, 6:30 p.m., Greens Farms Academy. Sponsored by Westport Journal. Registration required; click here. 
  • Select Board Candidates Debate: October 21, 12 p.m., Westport Library. Sponsored by Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce.
  • A Seat at the Selectman’s Table: October 21, 6 p.m., Westport Library. Sponsored by Westport Library Common Ground Initiative. Registration required; click here. 
  • A Conversation with Board of Education Candidates: October 22, 7 p.m., Toquet Hall. Co-sponsored by League of Women Voters Westport and “06880.”
  • A Conversation with Planning & Zoning Commission Candidates: October 23; 7 p.m. Senior Center. Co-sponsored by League of Women Voters Westport and “06880.”
  • Candidates Debates: Board of Education, Zoning Board of Appeals, Board of Assessment Appeals, Board of Finance: October 27, 6:30 p.m., Westport Library. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters Westport.
  • Candidates Debate: 1st Selectman and Planning & Zoning Commission: October 28, 6:30 p.m., Westport Library. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters Westport. 

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Speaking of politics: Bike Westport invites all 76 candidates — from 1st selectman and boards through the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) — to a “Walk & Talk” along one of the town’s most important corridors: downtown to Saugatuck.

All other interested Westporters are invited too.

The October 12 event begins at 9 a.m. at the Westport Library. They’ll ride or amble over the bridge, down Riverside Avenue, and end at Kneads Bakery for refreshments.

The walk/ride “will highlight the opportunities and challenges of making Westport safer and more connected for everyone — whether walking to school, biking to the train, or moving between downtown and our neighborhoods,” says Bike Westport founder and executive director Markus Marty.

“Along the way we’ll discuss the Pledge for a Walkable, Bikeable Westport, and offer you the chance to sign on in support.

“This is a chance to see firsthand how walkability and bikeability impact daily life in Westport, and to connect with community members who care deeply about the town’s future.

For more information and to RSVP, click here. 

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The Saugatuck Congregational Church — white, steepled, set far back on a massive lawn, a few steps from downtown — looks straight out of a Hallmark New England movie.

It was in those pews, in 1835, that a group of men hammered out the details that created the town of Westport from parts of Norwalk, Weston and Fairfield.

But it did not happen exactly there.

From its founding in 1822 through August 28, 1950, the 200-ton Saugatuck Church was located diagonally across the street, where the Shell station is now.

That year — in a day-long move so impressive it was documented by Life magazine — the church was rolled across State Street to its present site.

At 11 a.m. this November 1 — 75 years and 2 months after the move — the Saugatuck Church celebrates that momentous occasion. The event includes a (much smaller) re-enactment of the move, food trucks, a bounce house, lawn games, a screening of footage from the move, and a few words from Rev. Steven Savides.

The entire town is invited. A special welcome is extended to anyone who was actually there, 3/4 of a century ago.

Two people have already been found: Miggs Burroughs and Jack Mitchell.

If you were there that day in 1950, email Jberkowsky1@gmail.com to give a head’s-up. Or just come by.

That church isn’t going anywhere, any time soon.

Life magazine featured the move in its September 11, 1950 issue.

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Speaking of religion: The Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Westport invites the community to hear 2 experts on personal organization and auctioneering share advice on how to think about offloading our possessions — especially as life’s changes dictate new demands on space and ways of living.

The “Reduce/Reuse/Recycle” event — at UU Westport, 10 Lyons Plains Road — is this Monday (September 29, 7 p.m.).

The session will address how we think about our treasured possessions: when do we pass them along, and what’s the best way to do it? How much is our stuff worth, in money and sentimental attachment? How do we handle an estate we’ve inherited, work through a move or downsize?

Questions? Email beth@uuwestport.org, or call 203-227-7205, ext. 10.

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The Westport Fire Department has been awarded a federal grant of $94,952. FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant program is a highly competitive initiative that helps fire departments across the US strengthen their emergency response capabilities.

The award will fund swiftwater rescue technician training for Westport firefighters. It includes hands-on, scenario-based instruction in moving water environments, to perform rescues during floods, coastal incidents and other water emergencies.

Westport firefighters during a 2021 swift water exercise.

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“Rollin’ On the River” is both a song, and the title of the next First Folk Sunday (October 5, 12:30 p.m., Saugatuck Rowing Club).

The “celebration of water-themed music” features First Folk creator Suzanne Sheridan (singing “Sailing,” among other tunes). She’ll be joined by Bob Cooper on keyboards, Tim DeHuff on guitar and Matt Livigni on bass.

The Rowing Club is a great spot for the monthly concerts, with music, food and drink by the water. The upcoming “river” theme adds to the enjoyment.

Click here for tickets ($20). For more information, call 203-984-7562.

Suzanne Sheridan

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Our “Westport … Naturally” feature has focused on spotted lanternflies beore.

Today’s image shows swarms at the Compo Beach lockers:

(Photo/Ed Paul)

There were hundreds more.

Here’s a nature lesson. The good news: A “hard frost” will kill the adults, and any remaining nymphs.

The bad news: The insect spends the winter as hardy egg masses. They survive freezing temperatures.

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And finally … in honor of the Saugatuck Church’s upcoming 75th anniversary celebration of its 1950 move across the street (story above):

(“06880” will follow this political season closely — and, as noted in the first item, is co-sponsor of several meet-the-candidate events. Please click here to support all our non-profit work. Thank you!)

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Posted in Entertainment, Local politics, Looking back, religion, Transportation

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Wait, What? The Y Was Downtown?!

Posted on September 26, 2025 | 27 comments

The other day, a woman I did not know made idle chatter as we left the Westport Weston Family YMCA.

“This is such a nice place,” she said. “How long have you been a member?”

“Well,” I said, “I learned to swim back in old pool!”

“There was another pool here?” she asked.

“No,” I explained. “When it was downtown.”

“The Y was downtown?!” she replied, surprised.

“For about 90 years,” I said.

The original YMCA, built in 1923 (now Anthropologie). The beautiful trees — along with the Y — are now gone.

She must be one of the new COVID arrivals, I figured.

Nope. She moved here 3 years before that. She’s been a Westporter for nearly a decade.

How could she not know the YMCA was downtown — and that there was a years-long battle to keep it from moving from the old site to its current spot?

Then, I realized: How would she know?

The controversy — to leave what is now Anthropologie; the rejection of possibilities like Baron’s South; fears about traffic on Wilton Road; demolition of the “newer” Y buildings on Church Lane, and construction of Bedford Square — pre-dated her Westport life.

Construction of Bedford Square, 2015. Patagonia (formerly Westport Bank & Trust, soon to be Compass Realty) is in the rear.

To her, the Y was “always” at Mahackeno. There is no way — other than reading an occasional  “06880” reference to it it — that she would know otherwise.

Which got me thinking: What else do those of us who have lived here “a while” take for granted, but which no newcomer would ever know?

The Westport Country Playhouse is one example. New-ish arrivals may hear about it — on this blog, through a flyer in the mail, or osmosis.

But unless they are musical theater buffs, how could they have any clue of the role the Playhouse played in American entertainment history?

The original Westport Country Playhouse, before its 2002 renovation. (Photo courtesy of Bill Stanton)

Its origin in 1931, as one of the first “summer theaters” anywhere? The legendary names — from Henry and Jane Fonda, to Olivia de Havilland and James Earl Jones — who have performed there? The roles Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward played in modernizing it, in the early 2000s?

(And, to be brutally honest: How many 30-somethings know any of those names in the paragraph above — including Newman and Woodward?)

The hundreds of new folks who have flooded into town over the past few years were attracted by amenities like Longshore. Realtors proudly showed off the golf course, tennis courts, pool, Inn and restaurant. They mentioned that it’s town-owned — not private — and open to all.

Did those realtors mention the back story: That the town bought it in 1959 for $1.9 million, to keep it out of the hands of a developer? And that if those leaders had not acted quickly, 180 homes would now be there instead?

The town’s purchase of the failing Longshore Country Club kept it out of the hands of developers.

Speaking of government: I’ve spoken recently with residents who mentioned our “mayor” and “town council.”

Maybe in New Jersey, Florida or Arizona. But here in Westport, our New England heritage includes a “first selectman” (currently, “selectwoman”) and “Representative Town Meeting.”

The RTM can be a mystery — particularly when only the initials are used. What does it do? Who is on it?

Again: How would any newcomer know the answers? Even those motivated by a particular issue — Long Lots School, say, or bike paths — may have only a vague notion of the RTM’s role in our town.

Nor may they know they’re eligible to serve on it. (Though not until 2027 — the deadline to run in this election has passed.)

There is so much more that older/longer Westporters know, but comes as a complete surprise to those who have been here even 6, 8 or 10 years.

Like: Staples High School was originally on Riverside Avenue. (And that before it was Saugatuck Elementary School, the building was also known as Bedford Junior High, and Bedford Middle School. The “new” Staples — opened on North Avenue in 1958 — has its own intriguing, tangled stories of renovations, starting with 9 separate buildings more suited to California than Connecticut.)

Or that the “Bedford” name refers to a fabulously wealthy family, with ties to John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company. And that their generosity can still be felt in many areas around town, including — let’s complete the circle — the YMCA.

Once upon a time, newcomers would learn all this, and more — The town of Westport bought Cockenoe Island in the 1960s to prevent it from becoming a nuclear power plant! — through stories in the local newspaper.

Westport owns Cockenoe Island. The town bought it when a utility company planned to build a nuclear power plant there. Pro tip: It’s pronounced “Kuh-KEE-nee.”

Westport had a newspaper?

Not one — several. The Town Crier. Fairpress. The Minuteman. The Westport News.

In fact, the Westport News still exists. Sort of.

It’s online (behind a Hearst paywall): http://www.ctinsider.com/westport.

There’s even a print edition, which seems to be sold nowhere in town, but may be available for home delivery if you are persistent enough with their hard-to-reach customer service people.

Which reminds me: Most new residents do not know — how could they? — that “06880” began in 2009, as an outgrowth of my long-running Westport News “Woog’s World” column.

Or that I began writing for the paper when I was a Staples student, way back in the day.

Just a few years after I learned to swim, at the downtown YMCA.

The original YMCA Brophy pool. It was used for Staples swim meets, before the high school pool opened in 1981.

(Another fun fact: “06880” is a non-profit, supported by donations from readers like you. If you enjoy your new — or old — town’s hyper-local blog, please click here to contribute. Thank you!)

27 Comments

Posted in Arts, Downtown, Local politics, Longshore, Looking back, Westport Country Playhouse, YMCA

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60 Years Later, Cedar Point Sailors Chase A Dream

Posted on August 20, 2025 | 14 comments

The last time Tom Atkinson, Vance Harrison, John Rhodes, Bill Whidden and John Yingling were in a boat together, Richard Nixon was president.

The last time they were together on land, it was George H.W. Bush.

This week, the 5 former Westporters — friends since junior high — will compete at the Atlantic Class National Championshps.

Right here at Cedar Point.

Cedar Point Yacht Club (Photo copyright Stephen R. Cloutier)

The quintet’s friendship predates even the club’s move to Saugatuck Shores’ Bluff Point. When they took their first sailing lessons, CPYC — established elsewhere, in 1887 — was still building its current facility, on landfill at Saugatuck Island.

It was a great time to grow up. The boys — 4 classmates at Long Lots Junior High School, plus Whidden at Bedford Junior High — regularly sailed across Long Island Sound in 12-foot Blue Jays.

“They let 6 or 10 boats loose, and hoped we’d make it,” Atkinson says.

They built bonfires, slept on the beach, and had experiences like the 4 boys in “Stand by Me” (if Stephen King’s story and movie had been set inland).

Cedar point Yacht Club clubhouse.

Like “Stand by Me” too, they soon scattered. Atkinson was the only one to attend Staples High. The others headed to Deerfield, Kent and Tabor.

“Our parents thought Staples was filled with drugs,” one explains. “Actually, all the drugs were in boarding schools.”

Their lives took separate paths. Rhodes graduated from the University of North Carolina; became national and international news editor at the New York Daily News; took a buyout and spent 12 yaears at the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel; took another buyout, and taught English and critical thinking in a Florida high school. He retired in 2020.

After 5 1/2 years in the Navy, Atkinson graduated from Columbia Business School. He spent his career with Pratt & Whitney. Living in Essex, he is the only one of the 5 still in Connecticut.

Harrison graduated from Cornell University. He worked for a Chicago progressive rock radio station for 10 years. He moved to Oklahoma 37 years ago, where he first ran a radio group, and now heads up a radio trade association.

Whidden graduated from Colby College. He worked on a 38-foot sailing boat; joined forces with Hoyle Schweitzer, co-inventor of the Windsurfer; then i 1981 opened a sailmaking company in Maui. He pivoted to financial services in the Pacific Northwest’s Columbia Gorge.

Yingling went to Tufts, then earned a master’s in engineering at Rochester.

Four of them still sail; Yingling and Anderson also compete. Harrison — who calls himself “the best sailor of all of us” — has not been on a boat in 50 years. “I peaked at 14,” he jokes.

They kept “a little bit in touch, mainly through Christmas cards. But until last Friday, the last time they’d been together in one place was in 1991, when Whidden got married in Newport, Rhode Island.

From left: John Yingling, Bill Whidden, Vance Harrison, John Rhodes, Tom Atkinson, at Bill’s 1991 wedding. 

The idea to enter the Atlantic Nationals came from Harrison. He’d wanted to get back in a boat for years, but — in land-locked Oklahoma — did not know how.

The other 4 quickly said: “Count me in!”

Planning began in mid-February. They found a boat in Madison, Connecticut. They gathered there last Friday, set it up to be towed to Westport, and followed it here.

They spent the first several hours talking, and catching up. They were relieved to find everyone in good physical — and mental — shape.

On Monday, they began practicing. The Nationals start tomorrow (Thursday), and continue through Saturday.

In addition to a great reunion and experience, this will be a return to their sailing roots. As teenagers, all 5 crewed on adult Cedar Point races.

So is this just a “Big Chill”-type get-together? After all this time apart, what do the 5 old friends/new teammates hope to accomplish?

Harrison’s original goal was just not to lose.

As he got caught up in the planning, it became “finish mid-fleet.”

Now, he says, he wants to make the top 10.

The others are not so sure.

“If we win,” Rhodes says, “we’ll definitely annoy everyone who invested a lot more time than us.”

(“06880” is “where Westport meets the world” — on land and sea. If you enjoy stories like this, please click here. A tax-deductible contribution will support our work. Thank you!)

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Posted in Looking back, Sports

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To The Man Who Killed My Dog

Posted on August 3, 2025 | 6 comments

Nearly every day, “06880” receives emails from residents complaining about reckless, speeding drivers.

But it’s not only a 2025 issue.

Nearly 70 years ago, the Westport Town Crier & Herald — our print predecessor — addressed the problem.

Alert “06880” reader Siobhan Crise subscribes to Shaun Usher’s “Letters of Note.” Each week he emails important, interesting and/or intriguing letters he’s found.

The most recent one caught her eye. It begins:

In 1955, travel editor Richard Joseph and his wife, Morgan, left the intensity of New York behind and settled into the relative calm of Connecticut.

They adapted quickly to the slower pace of life, and before long had welcomed a Basset Hound puppy named Vicky into their home.

One Sunday evening, as Richard took her out for a walk, a speeding car veered off course and struck the 6-month-old dog, killing her almost instantly. The driver didn’t stop.

The following morning, heartbroken and angry, Richard sat down and wrote a letter addressed “to the man who killed my dog” and sent it to the local paper, Westport Town Crier & Herald. To his surprise, it was soon printed on the front page; before long, it had been reprinted across the country. In 1957, it even inspired a book.

The driver was never found.

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To The Man Who Killed My Dog:

I hope you were going some place important when you drove so fast down Cross Highway across Bayberry Lane, Tuesday night.

I hope that when you got there the time you saved by speeding meant something to you or somebody else.

Bayberry Lane at Cross Highway today. The long-dangerous intersection now has several warning signs. 

Maybe we’d feel better if we could imagine that you were a doctor rushing somewhere to deliver a baby or ease somebody’s pain. The life of our dog to shorten someone’s suffering — that mightn’t have been so bad.

But even though all we saw of you was your car’s black shadow and its jumping tail lights as you roared down the road, we know too much about you to believe it.

You saw the dog, you stepped on your brakes, you felt a thump, you heard a yelp and then my wife’s scream. Your reflexes are good, we know, because you jumped on the gas again and got out of there fast.

Whoever you are, mister, and whatever you do for a living, we know you are a killer.

And in your hands, driving the way you drove Tuesday night, your car is a murder weapon.

You didn’t bother to look, so I’ll tell you what the thump and the yelp were. They were Vicky, a 6-month-old Basset puppy; white, with brown and black markings. An aristocrat, with 12 champions among her forebears; but she clowned and she chased, and she loved people and kids and other dogs as much as any mongrel on earth.

A basset puppy.

I’m sorry you didn’t stick around to see the job you did, though a dog dying by the side of the road isn’t a very pretty sight. In less than 2 seconds you and that car of yours transformed a living being that had been beautiful, warm, white, clean, soft and loving into something dirty, ugly, broken and bloody. A poor, shocked and mad thing that tried to sink its teeth into the hand it had nuzzled and licked all its life.

I hope to God that when you hit my dog you had for a moment the sick, dead feeling in the throat and down to the stomach that we have known ever since. And that you feel it whenever you think about speeding down a winding country road again.

Because the next time some 8-year-old boy might be wobbling along on his first bicycle. Or a very little one might wander out past the gate and into the road in the moment it takes his father to bend down to pull a weed out of the driveway, the way my puppy got away from me.

Or maybe you’ll be real lucky again, and only kill another dog, and break the heart of another family.

Richard Joseph
Westport, Conn.

(This letter can be found in the book, “Letters of Note: Dogs.” Signed,  personalised, gift-wrapped copies can be purchased here.)

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Posted in Looking back, Media, Westport life

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Roundup: Fire Pits, Pride Month, Library Sale …

Posted on May 17, 2025 | 14 comments

The fire pits are here!

The newest addition to Compo Beach — and Westport’s Parks & Recreation Department latest town amenities — are ready for rental.

Two fire pts are available per night, for $150. Westport residents 21 and older can mail a request form to croda@westportct.gov.

Applications must be made at least 7 days in advance. They’re limited to 1 reservation per household per season (a second may be granted, based on availability).

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June is Pride month.

The centerpiece is Westport Pride’s townwide celebration (Saturday, June 22, 12 noon to 3 p.m., Jesup Green). Music, food, vendors, rainbows and much more — and (of course) everyone is invited!

Two weeks earlier (June 8, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.), Saugatuck Congregational Church hosts a family picnic and party on their front lawn 

LGBTQ families — and allies, or course, — are invited to enjoy a bounce house, lawn games, face painting, crafts, hot dogs, cake, and more.

For more information, call 203-227-1261, or email sarah@saugatuckchurch.org.

(Photo/Sal Liccione)

Temple Israel has a host of activities planned for Pride Month too. They include:

“Unspoken” screening and discussion (June 10, 6 p.m.). The film is about a closeted teen in a religious community who discoverd that he might not be alone. A discussion with writer/director Jeremy Borison follows. Register here.

Pride Shabbat and concert with Elana Arian (June 13, 6:30 p.m.) open to LGBTQ+ individuals and allies.

Rainbow challah bake (June 21, 5:30 to 8 p.m.) — to be shared the next day, at Westport Pride. Open to all; register here.

Temple Israel is also organizing its first LGBTQ+ affinity group — a safe place for those who identify with the community, and allies. For more information, email jcadrain@tiwestport.org.

Meanwhile, Weston celebrates its own Pride on June 3 (4 to 6 p.m., Town Green, 56 Norfield Road).

They’ll raise a rainbow flag, hear from local officials supporting the town’s inclusive culture, and (in conjunction with the Weston Library) host a craft- and Pride-themed story time.

Oh, yeah: There’s an ice cream truck too!

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The Westport Library’s spring book sale opened yesterday, with a rush.

But there are still plenty of great volumes — and music, movies and more — available.

Hours are:

  • Today (Saturday): 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • Sunday: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. (almost everything half-price)
  • Monday: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (fill our logo bag for $10 per bag, or your own equivalent bag for $8, or buy individual books at half-price).

A tiny portion of the many books. (Photo/Pam Docters)

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The Architectural Review Board meets on May 27 (7:30 p.m., Town Hall Room 309).

Among the agenda items: “To review and comment on the proposed construction of a new Long Lots Elementary School/Stepping Stones Pre-School…. Comments offered at the meeting will be considered in anticipation of further zoning review and approvals.”

So far, only general drawings have been shown of a new Long Lots School.

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In just a few weeks,”Sunday Gravy” — the talk radio show hosted by Chris O’Dell (Staples High School athlete and coach), Mac DeVito (Staples football legend and coach), and Brian Philpott (son of Staples’ football defensive coordinator) — has gained a devoted following.

The conversation and banter is wide-ranging, casual, and always interesting.

Tomorrow’s show — from 12:10 to 1 p.m., on 95.9 FM and 600 AM WICC should be especially intriguing.

The 3 hosts will dive into the recent controversy involving the non-renewal of Staples boys soccer head coach Russell Oost-Lievense.

O’Dell has intimate knowledge of the situation. He was part of the Staples soccer staff for 20 years, and worked closely with Oost-Lievense.

“Sunday Gravy” is broadcast throughout southern Connecticut. But it’s very much a local production. Shows are taped at the Westport Library’s Verso Studios — and the 2 stations are owned by Westport-based Connoisseur Media.

“Sunday Gravy” crew, at Verso Studios (from left): Mac DeVito, Brian Philpott, Chris O’Dell.

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As they prepare to leave Westport after several decades, Carl Swanson and JoAnn Miller must dispose of several large, compelling — but heavy — sculptures by their longtime friend, the late Kelley Spearen.

One has already found a new life. The couple donated it to Wakeman Town Farm, not far from their home off North Avenue.

The move was made recently. Today, it’s the newest — and most intriguing — addition to the Cross Highway farm.

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The mural showing early-20th century Westport life — a decades-long feature of the long-gone Townly restaurant — was resurrected when Banana Republic moved in.

That store was briefly replaced by Oka. Now it’s gone.

But the mural can be seen, as work is done inside.

Jerri Graham spotted this intriguing view:

(Photo/Jerri Graham)

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Sabeth Pérez performs tomorrow (May 18, 4 p.m.), at the United Methodist Church of Westport and Weston’s jazz vespers music and word service.

The event is free, but there is a free will offering.

Sabeth Pérez

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We may never have featured a snake before, in our “Westport … Naturally” series.

But — as this one on Rayfield Road shows — we’ve got ’em in Westport. Naturally.

(Photo/Jerry Kuyper)

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And finally … of course!

(Don’t be a snake! If you read “06880” — and you’re here doing just that — please toss us a few bucks, to support our work. Just click here. Thank you!)

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Posted in Arts, Beach, Education, Library, Looking back

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Alan Nevas: A Friend’s Son Remembers

Posted on April 21, 2025 | 11 comments

Douglass Davidoff writes:

I am in tears for our loss of Judge Alan Nevas. I did not know him well, and yet Alan has been a constant positive presence in my life for most of my 67 years, ever since my parents moved to Westport in 1959 when I was 2 years old.

My father, Jerry Davidoff (1926-2009), was 2 years older than Alan. From the moment my dad set up a law office on Church Lane in downtown Westport in 1959 he had a deep respect, admiration and collegial attitude about Alan Nevas.

Back during the 1960s there were only about 30 attorneys in Westport. They all knew each other. Dad talked about his colleagues often at the dinner table, so we learned about people like Ned Dimes, Steve Tate, Ed Capasse, Larry Weisman and Alan Nevas.

I think Alan and my father had a similar approach to the practice of law in Westport. They were also politically competitive. Alan was a Republican at a time when Republicans ran things in Westport, and Dad was a Democrat working to win elections whenever possible. They liked each other a lot, and I think they stayed out of each other‘s way in politics.

Alan Nevas

Dad ran for the Connecticut House of Representatives and lost. He later served on the Westport Board of Education and Representative Town Meeting. Alan won local elections. He served on the Board of Finance, and represented Westport in the Connecticut House of Representatives.

Since Dad has been dead for 16 years, I don’t think there’s any harm in reporting for posterity that he tried a couple of times to secure a state judgeship during the years that Democrats ran things at the State Capitol. Dad did not succeed in this dream — a disappointment.

But Alan succeeded in the same pursuit. He served his state and his nation as the US attorney for Connecticut, and then as a federal judge. Every single one of us is better off for Alan‘s contribution to jurisprudence in Connecticut and the nation.

That’s not me talking. That’s my father Jerry talking through me, to remember his friend.

Jerry Davidoff and his wife Denny.  (Photo/copyright Nancy Pierce)

For me, one episode stands out. About 7 years ago, when I began researching my family history on Ancestry.com, I found a news clipping from the Westport correspondent for the Bridgeport Post-Telegram providing a report on the spring 1969 Vietnam War protest in Westport. This was a day of events, when people gathered together to protest our government’s war in Southeast Asia.

I was a student at Long Lots Junior High School. Students at Staples High School secured permission from the principal and superintendent to march from Staples to the afternoon protest in downtown Westport, at the corner of State Street (Post Road East) and Main Street.

No such permission was granted to junior high school students. But there were hundreds of like-minded junior high school students, so just before the event the principals and the superintendent acquiesced and sanctioned marches to downtown by students from Long Lots, Coleytown and Bedford Junior Highs.

In splendid weather we converged on downtown, where many hundreds of adults also gathered. From the steps of the old YMCA (now Anthropologie), there were speakers arrayed against the war. A keynote address was given by a member of Congress, recruited to come to Westport to speak against the war.

 

A view from the steps of the YMCA (now Anthropologie) of the Vietnam protest downtown. Photo/Adrian Hlynka)

That night, in what became one of my strongest memories growing up in Westport, about 500 townspeople crowded into the sanctuary at The Unitarian Church in Westport for a candlelight vigil. The names of 500 Connecticut military war dead were read aloud.

After each small batch of names was read aloud in the darkened sanctuary, another row of townspeople in the pews was invited to light their candles. Slowly, the sanctuary became illuminated by candlelight. Paul Newman spoke, and we all know how rare it was for Paul Newman to speak publicly in Westport.

What I learned only recently from that newspaper clipping is that this day of townwide protest and prayer was the deep planning work of Alan Nevas and my father, along with a strong group of lawyers, physicians and clergy in the town.

They organized the program for the protest downtown. They organized the vigil that night. They were from the tight-knit group of local professional leaders in Westport — people like Drs. Jack Schiller and Paul Beres; clergy like the Revs. Ed Lane of the Unitarian Church, Ted Hoskins of the Saugatuck Congregational Church and Rabbi Byron T. Rubenstein of Temple Israel — and attorneys like Alan Nevas and my dad.

When I came across these names in the Bridgeport paper, none meant more to me than to see that Alan Nevas had collaborated with my dad on this effort.

Alan Nevas (Photo courtesy of WestportNow)

If he were alive today at age 99, my dad would be weeping for the loss of his friend, his admired colleague for 4 decades in the practice of law and service to clients and to justice in Westport and Connecticut, a man aligned with the opposite party but so closely aligned with my dad in core values and mutual respect for the law, and for the town and its citizens whom they both loved with so much heart.

Alan Nevas was a pillar of our community. As I said much earlier, I did not know him well but he was such a treasured friend and colleague for my dad that it is hard to describe what a strong presence Alan was nonetheless for me.

My prayers today and during services tomorrow are for the Nevas family, and for the cause of justice in Westport, in Connecticut, and in the federal courts of the United States, now and forever more.

Goodbye, Alan. Farewell.

—

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Eleish Van Breems: Downtown’s New Remarkable Store

Posted on March 31, 2025 | 7 comments

New Westporters know it as Talbots.

Those with longer memories lovingly recall Esther Kramer’s Remarkable Book Shop.

But in the 1950s Edie Van Breems’ aunt actually lived in the 1775 home, at the very visible Main Street/Parker Harding Plaza corner, before it turned into a business.

Which is why the native Westporter feels honored to restore the fabled property to some of its past glory. The 18th century chestnut post and beam frame, reclaimed basement and resurrected courtyard all pay homage to its historic past, beginning as sea captain Ebenezer Coley’s trading post.

Yet Eleish Van Breems Home‘s new flagship store also brings both 21st-century style and timeless whimsical touches that make it — well, a remarkable addition to downtown Westport.

Edie Van Breems, with original the building’s beams. 

EVB opened earlier this month. There was no grand announcement or splashy party.

But — after watching and waiting, during 2 1/2 years of meticulous renovation — many intrigued downtown visitors are wandering in to the warm, inviting space.

They are thrilled at the transformation.

The main floor. (Contributed photo)

The custom furniture, accessories, Swedish antiques, vintage lamps, bronze windows, French oak floors, walnut shelving and Italian staircase are stunning first-floor features.

Upstairs is a “floral aerie,” with wide-open views of the Saugatuck River.

The 2nd floor “aerie.”

Downstairs, Van Breems and her business partner Rhonda Eleish pay homage to the Remarkable Book Shop. Books, cozy nooks, kids’ toys and puzzles, and touches of pink all recall the beloved store.

The owners remember feeling so welcome there. Now they’ve recreated the mood, with a “fika bar” on Thursdays and Fridays. (Fika, a Swedish tradition with coffee and pastries, is a late afternoon time to relax with friends, or alone.)

Even the basement (accessible through a trap door, but closed to customers) shows the devotion paid to the restoration. The crib construction at the base of the chimney — filled with rocks from the Saugatuck River, which until the 1950s lapped up against the back of the house — is still there.

Wood in the basement came from trees that were already 200 years old in the 1700s. The original bark remains. A dehumidifier runs constantly, ensuring they’ll last for many more decades.

Eleish Van Breems Home general manager Brendan Dempsey, with the bark still on centuries-old wood by the chimney.

Edie Van Breems’ Westport roots do not date back to the 18th century. But they’re plenty deep.

Both sets of grandparents lived here. Her relatives, the Nespor family, once owned the building she has now renovated. (That’s how her Aunt Julie — still alive, in Florida — came to live there.)

Van Breems and Eleish love Westport. Longtime friends, they both graduated from Greens Farms Academy.

They opened their first store on Railroad Place in Saugatuck, across from the train station where both their fathers commuted. It was convenient for them to head into New York City, and for their clients who came from there.

Rhonda Eleish and Edie Van Breems. Their new flagship store has views of the Saugatuck River.

They expanded to Woodbury, New Preston and Nantucket. But Van Breems’ life goal was to get the Main Street building back in her family.

During COVID, they seized the chance to buy it.

“The Remarkable Book Shop was such a part of everyone’s hearts,” she says.

Now — whether customers remember that legendary store or not — they once again feel welcome in the space.

The Eleish Van Breems Home store has kept the footprint and look of the Remarkable Book Shop. This is the view looking south, from the corner of Main Street (left) and Parker Harding Plaza.

Main Street, after all, is “where the action is,” Van Breems says.

And Westport is “a design destination.” She points to a number of downtown home furnishings stores, including several in nearby Sconset Square.

They’re not competitors, she notes. After all, when she and Eleish opened their antiques business in Litchfield County in the 1980s, there were 165 other dealers.

Westport’s newest design store. (All photos/Dan Woog unless otherwise noted)

“You want to be in a cluster,” Van Breems says. “There is something for everyone in this town. We’re all collegial. We want people to come in, and come back.”

Since the soft opening a couple of months ago, people come. They stay. And they come back.

Ebenezer Coley and Esther Kramer would be proud.

(“06880” is your hyper-local source for everything new, and old. From downtown to Saugatuck — and everywhere else — we’re here for you. To support our work, please click here. Thank you!)

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Former “Poor House” Enriches Lives

Posted on March 24, 2025 | 2 comments

Westport’s “poorhouse” has a rich history.

In 1864, Charles Kemper — the tanner whose barn later became the Westport Country Playhouse — moved his home from that site to 124 Compo Road North.

The town bought the property in 1901. According to former Westport Historical Society house historian Bob Weingarten, officials were spending more money for “indigents” by renting space in individual homes than if the town owned a house for their use.

Buying the home — and an 11-acre farm — for $2,750 as an “almshouse” would save at least $1,000 a year.

“Town Poorhouse,” circled on a 1911 map. Compo Road North was known then as East Main Street.

It remained a “poorhouse” with 5 paupers (also called “inmates”) until 1957, when it was rented out to other residents. Officials then considered it for the site of a Highway Department garage. Instead, in 1974 the “Town Farm” tennis courts were built nearby.

It was eventually abandoned. Infested with racoons, squirrels and mice, it was slated for demolition.

But assistant superintendent of schools for special education Kate McGraw and Department of Human Services director Barbara Butler had a vision. With help from grants writer Barbara Heatley, architect Ed Campbell and carpenter Ed Canning, the dream became a reality

In the mid-1980s the house was renovated into Project Return, a home for Westport girls whose parents could not keep them at home. Susie Basler ran the program for 30 years.

When she retired in 2016, the one-time “poorhouse” got a new name: Susie’s House.

A photo of Susie Basler has a place of honor, near the front door.

That year, the state eliminated funding for group homes. Homes with Hope — which already ran Westport’s homeless shelter and food pantry — took over the program, under then-CEO Jeff Wieser.

During COVID, girls were placed in hotels. The house once again sat empty.

Early next month — following extensive renovations — the former “poorhouse,” now Project Return/Susie’s House, begins a new chapter.

Six young women, ages 18 to 26, will move in. All are homeless, or at risk of homelessness.

One of 6 private bedrooms, at Susie’s House …

Each will have her own room, bathroom and small refrigerator. There’s a handsome living room, modern kitchen, washer/dryer, basement with computers and games and a reading nook, and offices where Homes with Hope staffers can help the young women find jobs, meet with mentors, and transition to their own housing.

A porch in back overlooks the Town Farm tennis courts and Little League fields.

… and the kitchen, with washer/dryer in the rear.

For some of the women, this will be the first stable housing of their lives.

The program will focus on education and employment. Young women will leave the home knowing how to earn income, and move onto self-sufficiency in their own apartments.

The house will have 24-hour support. It will be managed by a seasoned social worker, who will guide the women along their path.

The other day, Homes with Hope CEO Helen McAlinden, COO Paris Looney, director of marketing Katharine Murray, social worker Carmen Ayala and board co-chair Becky Martin showed off the bright, airy space.

Carmen Ayala and Paris Looney.

Paint was fresh. Bedrooms were newly furnished. The living room had just been outfitted, with donations from GL Design, Serena & Lily, Knock on Wood Antiques and Redi-Cut Carpet & Rugs.

Before the first residents moved in, Homes with Hope was preparing to show off the space. Neighbors and former Project Return volunteers visited on Saturday.

Longtime supporters, Homes with Hope staff and volunteers, and neighbors visited on Saturday. Susie Basler (center, with flowers) was among the delighted guests. (Contributed photo)

This Wednesday (March 26), Westport’s 2 Rotary Clubs get tours. On Thursday (March 27), Project Return/Susie’s House welcomes town officials, and Homes with Hope’s builders.

The 6 women who will move in soon include 2 from Westport, now being assisted by our Department of Human Services. Some of the new residents are in college; some are working.

None have parental support. They live in shelters, or are couch surfing.

Each will have a 1-year lease. Those who are working will pay 30% of their salary for rent.

Food will come from the Homes with Hope pantry, and donations from groups like the Rotary Clubs.

Susie’s House, Compo Road North: ready for a new chapter. 

In addition to staff, they’ll benefit from community support. Volunteers will offer cooking lessons, writing workshops and more. M&T Bank branch manager Matt Cummings will teach financial literacy. Artists Miggs Burroughs and Nina Bentley will volunter their talents too.

Funding for the renovations came from the Connecticut Department of Housing. Town officials have been “outstanding” in providing help with the process, McAlinden says.

Susie’s House is deed-restricted. For the next 40 years, it is mandated to serve populations in need, like this one.

The porch looks out on Little League fields — and beyond, the “Town Farm” tennis courts. (All photos/Dan Woog)

Homes with Hope CEO McAlinden says, “These young women have been through a lot. They’ve had trauma. This is their home now, and their hope for the future.”

The town’s former “poorhouse” has left a rich legacy indeed.

(A large part of Homes with Hope’s funding comes from community members. Click here to learn more, and donate. The annual “Gather ‘Round the Table” luncheon at Shorehaven Golf Club on May 14 is a fundraiser for Project Return/Susie’s House. Click here for more information. To learn more about Susie’s House, or arrange a personal tour, call Homes with Hope CEO Helen McAlinden: 475-225-5292.)

Homes with Hope CEO Helen McAlinden and board co-chair Becky Martin, in the brightly furnished living room.

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COVID + 5 Years: Westporters Look Back

Posted on March 17, 2025 | 9 comments

Five years ago this week, Westport was just settling into the new reality of COVID.

The weekend’s nice weather had brought large crowds to Compo Beach, though the parking lots were closed. Town officials — worried about close contact (even outdoors), and cars parked all along Soundview Drive — scrambled to react.

Soundview Drive, the first weekend after the lockdown. Town officials quickly cracked down on parking there.

The Trader Joe’s line wrapped along Compo Acres Shopping Center storefronts. Only a few shoppers were allowed in at a time. The checkout line was — like every other part of life — dictated by “social distancing.”

Schools desperately tried to figure out “distance learning.”

Trader Joe’s enforced social distancing rules — with their own very recognizable font.

And that was just the first couple of weeks.

Five years later, how have we changed? What effects linger — negative or perhaps positive? What do you remember most about those uncertain, frightening days?

Earlier this month, “06880” asked readers to weigh in. Here’s what you said.

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At the beginning of the pandemic, I was living with my husband in a very. comfortable house. He had a heart condition, but we enjoyed what we had, and managed to do many things. Then COVID struck, and I learned that my best friend from high school was one of the first 1000 deaths.

In May we decided to move to a senior housing domicile. It was beautiful, and well-maintained. My beloved husband lived there for 5 days; then he passed (from his heart condition). A few weeks later, I was diagnosed with COVID and quarantined for 15 days in a new home, where I knew no one and was totally isolated.

So I can’t say that the pandemic treated me favorably. I’ve gotten all the shots I could possibly need to protect me against the next outbreak of something — I hope. — Bobbie Herman

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We were raising our son in a 1- bedroom apartment in Greenwich Village. Wanting more space and family, we gathered a few things and our cat, and went to stay with my mother in my hometown of Westport. We expected to be there a few weeks, a month at most.

As spring and summer passed, my husband and I got used to the spaces, the beach, the green. We got spoiled with multiple bathrooms, a convenient washing machine and drive-thru Starbucks. We got to know the town better, the stores, the people, and eventually looked into the schools. When we saw that a cute house was less than a decent 2-bedroom in our neighborhood (crazy, this was 2020) we decided to stay.

Five years later I miss New York terribly. I miss my community, and easy access to all that culture. But I am happy with our decision to stay. We have settled nicely, embraced the town that has changed so much since my childhood yet is so familiar. I knew we were settled in when we did something I would not do in the city: adopted our dog. —  Juliet Koskoff Diamond

Late March, 2020: Starbucks’ drive-through was one of the few places that seemed normal. So long as you didn’t get out of your car. (Photo/Rob Hauck)

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Not for all, but it was a glorious time for my husband and I. We started the pandemic as new grandparents. Our daughter and her husband moved from the city into our home, thinking it was only temporary.They ended up purchasing a home in Fairfield. Now we have 5 grandchildren, 4 of whom were born during the pandemic (the first was 5 months before. That’s how our life changed, all for the better: It gave us an immersion of love and family time.

And we never got COVID — until last July. — Dorothy Robertshaw

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I was a “COVID person.” My husband, our son (who was 3) and I moved to Westport right before official lockdown. We didn’t know a thing about the town, only what our realtor told us. We didn’t have much time to decide so moving here was definitely rushed.

Turns out, it was the best decision. A few years later after restrictions loosened we could really discover the town. COVID was the worst thing to happens to us in a very long time, but it led us to Westport and for that, we are thankful! — Cubie Vinson

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We experienced grand plans interrupted. Our daughter was studying abroad in Cannes, excited for the culmination with the Cannes Film Festival celebration (she’s a cinematographer), our son was a senior at boarding school and navigating college acceptance and revisit days. Some amazing trips booked for my hubby and I. All of which cut short with kids returning home — the lovely silver lining to the COVID cloud.

 

I personally managed group purchasing contracts with hospital systems across the country. We manufactured systems/kits for infectious disease testing at hospitals, VAs, clinics. I was part of the pandemic response trying to allocate kits. We were not prepared to manufacture at a rate beyond understanding. It was insane. And just when we thought it was subsiding, the surges would hit again, and again.

Five years later: Kids graduated, happy and working. Squeezed in a few trips with my hubby. Me? I left the COVID-induced crazy corporate life, having gratefully served the pandemic response that culminated a career in diagnostics, to open a chocolate shop — in Connecticut of course! Life is sweet with a little bite of happy. — Laureen Haymes

Remember COVID testing? This was the scene at St. Vincent’s Medical Center on Long Lots Road, a few days before Christmas 2020. (Photo/Randy Ford)

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In April, during the beginning, my wife and I were blessed with our first grandchild. We had to visit while standing outside the sliding glass doors of their home. We had our second grandchild 2 years later, but we still had to do all of the precautionary steps. We then had to visit my wife’s aging parents at the nursing home while standing outside of their window (thankfully they were on the first floor).
When we opened back up at work (framing shop), we went from gallery exhibits to appointment only, which the clients actually liked, so we kept that for a while. Now I take appointments if the client prefers but it is “walk-ins welcome” again. I keep masks on hand and sanitizer if that makes a client feel more comfortable. How did it change me? After the two shots and one booster, I have a constant white noise. — Jay Cimbak
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We really never changed our lives. We entertained, got together with friends, traveled again to Croatia and several other international destinations .., easy to use points. No crazy panic as in the US, life continued, kids went to school and learned. It was just another illness like measles and diphtheria — except this escaped from a Chinese lab and globally spread because of global travel. — Jeff Schaefer
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Real estate market prices of home values have skyrocketed. Long after COVID was over, Westport was exponentially higher than other neighboring towns to move to. More commercial spaces are occupied as well, lot of growth in town plus the population increase.
Lot of new residents, excited to live here and find that “home” feeling but also get used to the constraints of living in a town that was first settled in the 1600s by the Bankside Farmers. Fridays in town during “rush” hour is a reminder of the relaxed COVID days, but before that, going from Westport to Greenwich or the NY border in under 30 minutes was heaven. No traffic.

Towns have their ups and downs. Can we continue to keep climbing, or will the demand soften and relax and slow development, enrollment rate and demand to live here? — Andrew Colabella

Commuting patterns changed dramatically durng COVID. This was the Westport trian station in May 2020. (Photo/Caroly Van Duyn)

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The permanent change is to mental health, and I’m not sure it recovers. If you Google “US School Shootings,” post say 2022 is pretty horrific. 115 and 116 in 2018/19/20, 327 in the school year ending 2023. Isolating kids, not great, although many Fairfield county towns did a nice job opening fall 2020 classrooms.
Adults haven’t fared much better. Employers have had to threaten and/or beg their employees to come back. Many of us have big jobs with big responsibilities and big benefits so we comply, but large swaths of America are still entrenched at home even in 2025. Good for some, bad for most.

It’s easy to second guess all the decisions, and there were bi-partisan wins and losses. I remember on 9/11/01 thinking that was the most traumatic thing I’d go through. In some respects, the lingering effects of the pandemic have been way worse. — David J. Loffredo

(Since 2009, “06880” has been “where Westport meets the world.” If you enjoy this hyper-local blog, please click here to support our work. Thank you!)

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COVID + 5 Years: How It’s Changed Westport — And You

Posted on March 7, 2025 | 19 comments

It’s been nearly 5 years since COVID slammed into Westport.

And the world.

This week half a decade ago, we had moved from obliviousness about “the coronavirus” to concern.

A few days later, we were fearful. Then came the lockdown, and a tsunami of emotions all the way up to panic.

At the same time, we had all the time in the world to process it.

We weren’t going anywhere. And neither was anyone else.

The final 3 months of the school year were conducted online, haltingly and not very happily. Staples High School’s graduation was a drive-by affair.

A parade of cars passed in front of Staples’ main entrance, during the drive-by graduation ceremony. (Drone photo/Ryan Felner)

Six-foot social distancing signs appeared everywhere: Trader Joe’s, Stop & Shop, CVS, banks. We washed our hands obsessively, humming 2 stanzas of “Happy Birthday to You.”

Restaurants pivoted to takeout only. Gyms closed. Even doctors cut back on seeing patients.

Amid all the misery, there were unexpected upsides.

Neighbors gathered at the ends of driveways (socially distanced, of course) for drinks and conversation.

Westporters discovered Sherwood Island State Park, for strolling and solace.

Kids painted encouraging messages on rocks, created helpful apps, and helped senior citizens. Families bonded over board games. A “yarn bomber” decorated trees. The Remarkable Theater drive-in popped up (all cars socially distanced, of course).

The yarn bomber strikes at Compo Beach, near the Soundview Drive parking lot.

“06880” started a “COVID Roundup.” It evolved into today’s daily, all-inclusive (and non-COVID) Roundup. We started the online art gallery that first week of the pandemic too.

Some of that seems like it happened 5 centuries ago. Some of it seems like yesterday.

Now — half a decade later — “06880” wants to know: How has COVID changed you, and your life in Westport?

If you lived here a long time, has there been a lasting impact on your relationship to this town? If you were one of the “COVID people” who moved here because of the pandemic, how has that worked out?

What are the permanent changes we’ve seen, now that the virus has receded? What were some that did not last, but maybe should have?

Please email your experiences and insights (and photos, if you’ve got any) to 06880blog@gmail.com. We’ll post them soon.

In the meantime: Stay safe.

But enjoy the world, and Westport, every day.

You never know what lurks around the corner.

(“06880” is your place for hyper-local news — and community conversation. Please click here to support our work. Thank you!)

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