This 1971 Christmas card shows Nyala Farm — once part of the Bedford estate, later a working dairy farm.
Today the land between the Sherwood Island Connector and Greens Farms Road is the site of an office complex. Bridgewater Associates — the largest hedge fund in the world — is one of the tenants.
And if that doesn’t say something about the Westport of yesterday and today, I don’t know what does.
Posted in Friday Flashback, Local business, Places
Tagged Bridgewater Associates, Nyala Farm
Alert “06880” reader — and open space lover — Eric Bosch sent this photo of Nyala Farm — the well-hidden-from-view office complex between the Sherwood Island Connector and Greens Farms Road, off I-95 Exit 18:
He writes:
I thought you, like many of your readers, might question the need for these threatening signs (“No Trespassing/Violators Will Be Prosecuted”). Having lived here since 1963, I can’t ever remember seeing anything but turkeys, deer, and an occasional hawk perched up on the roof.
Perhaps soon we might also see barbed-wire and a “huge great, great wall” also. A very sad loss indeed.
Nyala Farm is, of course, home to one of Bridgewater’s offices. I’m sure the world’s largest hedge fund has more security than this $1.99 sign.
The proposal to move the Gunn House — the Queen Anne building facing Church Lane — a few yards across Elm Street, to the Baldwin parking lot, has generated lots of comments on “06880.”
It’s an intriguing idea — but it’s not exactly novel.
Today’s plan pales in comparison with a move more than 60 years ago. In 1950 Saugatuck Congregational Church — yes, the entire church — moved across and down the Post Road.
Saugatuck Congregational Church today.
The handsome building looks like it’s always been there. But from 1832 through the mid-20th century, the church sat 600 feet away — where the gas station and bank are now, behind the Baron’s South property near the corner of South Compo.
The church parsonage was located where it is today, near Myrtle Avenue. That house and 8 acres of land were a gift from Morris K. Jesup, in 1884.
A special meeting of the congregation on September 11, 1947, authorized the relocation of the meetinghouse to the parsonage property.
Three years later — in the early dawn of August 28, 1950 — the Post Road was blocked. 500 men, women and children gathered for a service of prayer and thanksgiving.
Then — at 60 feet per hour — the 200-ton building was moved down a 19-foot incline on 55 logs, which revolved under runners. “This is more fun than a cocktail party!” one “Westport matron” told Life magazine.
By nightfall, the 128-year-old Saugatuck Church had a new home. Six decades later, it looks like it’s been there forever.
Life Magazine chronicled the church move in its September 11, 1950 issue.
Other notable moves include the white office building in the back of Colonial Green (it started at the front of the property, now the site of Webster Bank — directly across from Saugatuck Church); a white barn that was once part of Nyala Farm (it was moved across Green’s Farms Road, into a meadow), and the house at 97 Hillspoint Road, relocated in 1960 when Hillspoint School was built.
And, of course, the Sherwood House. A dilapidated structure, it was brought a few yards closer to the street. That helped create a lively scene, with great outdoor dining, for the new tenant: the Spotted Horse restaurant.
Which is, of course, directly opposite the hopefully-soon-t0-be-moved Gunn House.
Posted in Looking back, Places, religion, Restaurants
Tagged Gunn House, Nyala Farm, Saugatuck Congregational Church, Spotted Horse restaurant
Click here to help support “06880” via credit card or PayPal. Any amount is welcome, appreciated — and tax-deductible! Reader contributions keep this blog going. (Alternate methods: Please send a check to “06880”: PO Box 744, Westport, CT 06881. Or use Venmo: @blog06880. Or Zelle: dwoog@optonline.net. Thanks!)