St. Mary’s by the Sea and much of Black Rock used to belong to Fairfield. Mr. PT Barnum thought that area was much too beautiful to belong to the hokey farmers in Fairfield so in the 1880s he annexed the area.
Westport was made up of parts of three towns, Weston, Norwalk and Fairfield and was incorporated much later than those towns, almost 200 years later.
Southport used to be its own town and was a vibrant port of the large onion trade route in CT. By the 1890s, Market ships such as sloops and schooners, carried 100,000 barrels of onions, plus carrots, and potatoes from Southport to New York City from July to September.
Coley town, in the northern part of Westport was named after the Coley family who owned lots of farm land in the area.
Morris Ketchum, one of the wealthiest Americans in the mid 1800s owned quite a bit of the town and Abraham Lincoln asked him to help finance the Civil War.
Ship building became a profitable business at the deep-water harbor in Black Rock in the early 18th century, with local shipyards known for their fine craftsmanship.
On July 18, 1640 the Siwanoy Indians, for the price of 25 English coats, sold the land that is now Old Greenwich to four Englishmen.
Edmund Cogswell Converse, an inventor and then financier, owned a 2000 acre estate in Greenwich near the NYS border. He died in 1921 and his estate was vacant for almost 20 years afterward.
Ernest Thompson Seton, started the Boy Scouts of America in Cos Cob). Cos Cob today is a robust community with a central downtown shopping district along the Post Road.
The land that now forms the city of Stamford was bought for 12 coats, 12 hoes, 12 hatchets, 12 glasses, 12 knives, four kettles, and four fathoms of white wampum. The Native Americans called it Rippowam.
There were Trolley tracks in Westport until the 1960s.
Miss Annie Burr Jennings was the owner of an estate called Sunnie Holme on Beach Road in Fairfield for many years in the late 1800s until her death in the 1940s. Her home with its secret sunken gardens and grottos meant to much to her that she ordered it demolished after her death. You can still see remnants of the gardens in the middle of the development built in the 40s after the property was subdivided and sold.
In 1884 a group of bankers and financiers purchased land to create a residence park in Greenwich. The price of the land was $46,000 and is now known as Belle Haven and is a lovely waterfront community.
Binney Park in Old Greenwich was donated by Edwin Binney of Binney & Smith, makers of Crayola Crayons which were invented in 1903.
Norwalk was a major oyster exporter as far back as the early 1700s. There is an annual oyster festival that attracts thousands of visitors every September
Raggedy Ann was invented by Johnny Gruelle in Norwalk, in 1915.
Many famous actors have played at Westport Country Playhouse in Westport, at the White Barn Theatre in Norwalk, at Wilton’s Playshop.
There are at least eight pick-your-own farms in Fairfield County and many more in the adjoining counties.
Cobb’s Mill Inn in Weston was formerly a lumber mill. A blight of the American chestnut forced it to close lumber operation. It continued as a grist mill and cider mill until it was turned into one of the most romantic restaurants anywhere with a waterfall setting.
In Weston, on December 14, 1807 the pre dawn sky was lit up by a meteor shower. The meteor, known as the Bowditch Meteor, was seen as far south as NYC. When the account of it reached President Thomas Jefferson, he didn’t believe it and said the two yankees were lying.