Category Archives: Places

Talkin’ Trees

Posted on March 11, 2015 | 5 comments

As eagle-eyed Westporters spot tiny patches of green* around town, can buds on trees be far beyond?

Probably. But as the temperature climbs near 50 — be still, my heart! — it can’t hurt to talk about trees.

Tree warden Bruce Lindsay recently updated 1st Selectman Jim Marpe and the Westport Tree Board about “tree-related accomplishments” over the past year.

Among the tree projects last year: the median on Jesup Road.

More than 100 were planted in Westport since last spring. Sites include downtown, Town Hall, the transfer station, Staples High School, Veterans Green, Jesup Road and Longshore.

Many were donated by Planters’ Choice Nursery in Newtown. They’ve provided more for 2015, to be used for Main Street improvements, Parks and Rec plantings, on roadsides, and in Tribute Tree and Arbor Day projects.

Donations of trees, planting services and funds also came from the Westport Woman’s Club, Smith Richardson Foundation, and local residents.

In January, Public Works and the Parks and Rec Department conducted a tree inventory on 200 acres of land at Longshore and Compo Beach. The information — including species, diameter, health, risk factors, maintenance needs and potential threats — will be merged with the town’s Geographical Information System.

Ahead: an inventory of trees on all public properties. That will generate a management plan, to be used for years to come.

New trees will add to the beauty of downtown.

Westporters love our trees — until they fall on our power lines, grow dangerously old or tall, or otherwise cause concern. Thanks to our tree warden and board, it looks like we’re emerging from a long walk in the woods of neglect.

PS: Interested in volunteering with the Tree Board, or learning more about Westport’s trees? Email treewarden@westportct.gov, or call 203-341-1134.

*A color often associated with grass.

5 Comments

Posted in Downtown, Environment, Longshore, Organizations, People, Places, Staples HS

Tagged Bruce Lindsay, Westport Tree Board

Greens Farms Post Office: Back In The Day

Posted on March 9, 2015 | 8 comments

Our recent story about the sign on the Greens Farms post office spurred alert “06880” reader Seth Schachter to action. He sent along this photo he found on eBay, from decades ago:

Seth says it’s from the 1950s. He’s probably right. The sign above the windows — while similar to the current one — does not include a zip code. They were introduced in 1963.

8 Comments

Posted in Looking back, Places

Tagged Green's Farms post office, Seth Schachter

06838

Posted on March 7, 2015 | 8 comments

Like many nearby residents, Nico Eisenberger appreciates the Greens Farms post office.

It’s convenient. It’s friendly. There’s always plenty of parking.

It’s a shame, Nico says, that the sign looks so dilapidated.

He writes:

I don’t know the ways and means of helping a federal property, but if I were a more crafty carpenter and sign maker, I’d just do it in the middle of the night. Maybe someone local could talk to them, and offer to make a new sign.

Nico’s right — that might run afoul of all kinds of regulations. But if anyone with sign-making talent wants to stop in to the post office and ask — well, there’s seldom any wait.

8 Comments

Posted in Places

Tagged Green's Farms post office, Nico Eisenberger

This Old House Is … Tavern On Main

Posted on March 6, 2015 | 17 comments

On Wednesday, “06880” introduced a new feature: “This Old House.” Every Wednesday we’ll post a new photo of an old house. We hope to identify 12 of them prior to a Westport Historical Society exhibit on the preservation and change.

We started with a practice shot — one that exhibit curator Bob Weingarten had already identified:

“06880” readers placed it (literally) all over the map. Guesses included Kings Highway, Cross Highway, Long Lots Road, Baker Avenue, Hillspoint Road, South Compo Road, Avery Place, Canal Street, Riverside Avenue, Myrtle Avenue, Partrick Road, Woodside Avenue and Wilton Road.

All were wrong. As Morley Boyd, Maureen Aron, Wendy Crowther and Kevin Martin noted, it’s on Main Street. Today we know it as Tavern on Main.

According to the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism’s Historic Resources Inventory, the building was constructed in 1813 for grocer Levi Downes. A former wing on the east elevation was occupied by the Downes School for Ladies, run by Levi’s daughter Esther.

The area lacks ownership documentation for the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, it is shown on a famous 1878 map of Westport this way: “River Side Institute for Ladies, Sophia V. Downes, Principal.” And the WPA archives identify the 1930s owner as “C. Van Wyck.”

The Historic Resources Inventory says that by the early 1940s, the building contained several apartments. By 1948 they had been converted to offices. The 1954 town directory lists a gift shop, clothing store and 2 real estate offices at the address.

By 1965, part of the building became Chez Pierre. That famed restaurant remained in the space through the 1980s. Since 1996, it is the equally renowned Tavern on Main.

Morley Boyd adds this information: “In the 1920s and ’30s, buildings in the downtown area shuffled about with some regularity (Spotted Horse, Red Cross, Avery medical building, Christ & Holy Trinity parsonage [now up on Compo North, I think], the (lost) house on Gorham Island, the houses in back of Colonial Green, etc. What couldn’t be moved in whole was deconstructed and used in new construction (houses on Violet Lane).”

And, Dan Aron says, in the 1st half of the 20th century the building was the home of Robert and Marie Lawson. He was a noted author and illustrator of children’s classics like “Rabbit Hill” and “The Story of Ferdinand.”

There you have it: Everything you ever wanted to know about 146 Main Street.

Or whatever it was called then.

17 Comments

Posted in Downtown, Looking back, People, Places, Restaurants

Tagged 146 Main Street Westport CT, Bob Weingarten, Chez Pierre, Morley Boyd, Tavern on Main, Westport Historical Society

Westport Inn: New Owners Revealed

Posted on March 5, 2015 | 10 comments

So who exactly purchased the Westport Inn, saving it from possible demolition and Westport from the specter of a 200-unit, 5-story housing complex? And what did they pay?

The new owner is Building and Land Technology. The purchase price was $14.5 million.

BLT is described in a press release as “a leading real estate investor, developer and operator in Fairfield County and nationally.” It owns over 50 hotels across the US, and has developed numerous mixed-use projects, including Stamford’s Harbor Point.

Among its “premier commercial holdings”: the Nyala Farms complex, adjacent to I-95 Exit 18. Originally built for Stauffer Chemical, it now counts Bridgewater Associates as its anchor tenant.

“We’re pleased to add the Westport Inn to our local portfolio,” said Carl R. Kuehner III, CEO of BLT. “We believe that the Inn complements our office holdings here, and will continue to provide benefits for local corporations as well as residents of the Westport community.”

The Westport Inn began as The New Englander, in 1960. With BLT’s purchase today for $14.5 million, it will remain a hotel.

First Selectman Jim Marpe — who with Planning and Zoning Commission chair Chip Stephens worked to find a purchaser for the Sheldon Stein-owned Inn — said that BLT has “an extraordinary local and national reputation as a real estate investor, and is an experienced hotel owner. It’s gratifying to achieve a result that forestalls previous plans to develop multifamily housing on the hotel site, which we determined was not an appropriate use here.”

Stephens noted that apartments would have resulted in “excessive densification,” as well as the loss of much-needed hotel rooms.

The Westport Inn recently underwent a multi-million dollar renovation. It includes 117 rooms, plus 6000 square feet of event space.

10 Comments

Posted in Local business, Local politics, Places, Real estate

Tagged Building and Land Technology, Chip Stephens, Jim Marpe, Westport Inn

This Old House

Posted on March 4, 2015 | 28 comments

In the mid-1930s, WPA photographers fanned out around Westport. They shot 133 houses — all, at that point, at least 100 years old.

Eighty years later, the Westport Historical Society is preparing an exhibit, documenting preservation and changes to those even-older-now homes.

House historian Bob Weingarten found over 90 of the photos in the WHS archives. He’s now curating the exhibit.

But a lot changes in 8 decades. Some of the houses have gone to that great scrap heap in the sky. Others remain — but have been so altered, they’re unrecognizable.

Twelve of the photos have not yet been identified. Bob hopes “06880” can help.

Each Wednesday, we’ll post a photo of one of the unidentified houses. Click “Comments” to let us know where you think it is. If you’ve got a back story, add that too. The more info, the better.

We’ll start next week. In the meantime, here’s a “practice” house.

It’s still standing — and the WHS and I know where it is. If you do too, click “Comments.” (Hint: It’s changed a lot since the 1930s.)

Then check out “06880” next Wednesday, for our 1st truly “lost” house.

28 Comments

Posted in Looking back, Organizations, People, Places

Tagged Bob Weingarten, Westport Historical Society

Good Service!

Posted on February 22, 2015 | 1 comment

It’s easy to mock Metro-North for those “good service” messages — when, clearly, it’s not, even if the entire East Coast is reeling from one meteorological catastrophe or another.

Today was different.

Alert “06880” reader John Hartwell reports:

It’s just after 10 a.m. I’m taking the train to New Haven to avoid I-95. The platforms are clean and snow-free, and the trains are running on time. We all like to complain about Metro-North, but I’m glad it wasn’t my job to be up early this morning shoveling snow!