Around Town

A History of Christmas Caroling at God’s Acre

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Caroling at God’s Acre for Christmas is one of New Canaan’s most cherished events of the year, a nostalgic, Rockwellian gathering that brings the community together unlike any other celebration. A sacred and treasured tradition, the Christmas Eve gathering distinguishes New Canaan from surrounding towns. Held on the plot of land above which the Congregational Church was built—the institution upon which the town was founded—the caroling sees scores of New Canaanites descend each year on what literally is hallowed ground, as it is believed many of New Canaan’s settlers are still buried at God’s Acre. But how did it start, and when? The first documented instance of caroling at God’s Acre occurred on Christmas Eve in 1916, according to historian Mary Louise King’s book Portrait of New Canaan, published by the New Canaan Historical Society.

Town Living

In Search of New Canaan History: Stephen Weed’s Fort

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New Canaan’s long and storied history has produced its fair share of characters and legends, some apocryphal, some true. One such legend and character is Stephen Weed and the story of his Revolutionary War-era fort. Weed was a Canaan Parish soldier in the American Revolution who helped defend New York against the British under the command of Captains John Carter and Daniel Benedict, historians say. According to 1951’s “Landmarks of New Canaan,” published by the New Canaan Historical Society, he was captured and ultimately imprisoned in the notorious Sugar House prison in New York City. Eventually Weed was released and returned home, though as a shell of his former self: His battlefield experience and subsequent imprisonment had caused postwar syndrome.

Around Town

Dantown: The ‘Atlantis of New Canaan’

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Drive slowly along the upper reaches of Ponus Ridge and you can glimpse the last vestiges of a once-thriving New Canaan community, most of which now exists deep beneath the Laurel Reservoir. Beyond the chain link fence surrounding the lake, myriad stone walls crisscross through the trees, some of which suddenly disappear into the water. This is all that remains of Dantown. For Bob Tilden of Montour Falls, N.Y., the search for Dantown began as a search for his ancestors. One of these ancestors, Francis Dan, arrived in what was then Stamford in the late 17th Century, eventually settling a community by the Rippowam River near the New York state border.

Around Town

A Brushy Ridge Mystery: The Rockery

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If you’ve ever taken a ride up Brushy Ridge Road, you might have noticed an ancient stone arch on the side of the street framing a rusted wrought-iron gate. It is seemingly a gateway to nowhere, as looking beyond it one can’t see a house, cemetery, steps or anything of apparent significance. Adding to the mystery is another arch at the top of Brushy Ridge that looks like something out of Stonehenge. Rewind about [150] years. Local history says that William H. Thomson was a doctor in New York City in the mid-late 19th century.

Town Living

9-6-6-Story: The Many Changes of New Canaan’s Exchanges

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New Canaanites today see residents on cellphones everywhere, driving up Ponus Ridge or walking along the sidewalks of Elm and Main. For people such as Cookie King, née Van Beck—who lived in New Canaan from the 1930’s to the 1960’s and whose family lived in New Canaan until 1995—that’s about as impersonal as the way individual cell numbers are assigned: Between IP technology and mobile provider pool applications, there’s no rhyme or reason to a New Canaan “extension.” “We still have a landline and won’t give it up,” King told NewCanaanite.com “Have phone on the wall with a dial on it too.”

Many New Canaanites remember the days even before “966” was the town’s main designated exchange, and a look at our local telephone history tells the story of those three digits, long associated with the Next Station to Heaven. The first telephones in New Canaan were installed in 1881, as four businesses in the then-small town—Henry B. Rogers & Co., Hoyt’s Nurseries, Monroe’s drug store and Johnson’s carriage works—were part of the Norwalk exchange. After the turn of the century, New Canaan’s population began growing rapidly—as did the number of phones in town.