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New Canaan Now & Then: Meadowridge Farm

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‘New Canaan Now & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Joanne Santulli, Karen Ceraso, Bettina Hegel and Schuyler Morris. Meadowridge Farm located on Ponus Ridge was not the first house built on this property, but rather was rebuilt in the 1930s because the original home was affected by the newly planned Merritt Parkway. 

Preliminary studies began in 1926, and the road was constructed in 1938. Located south of the Merritt, roughly across Ponus from Hawks Hill Road, the property, owned by Florence Lockwood Reid and her husband, William Henry Reid, was a massive parcel of land at the time. The original home is referenced in the 1923 Countryside Social List (the social register of people with summer homes) and was referred to as Henry Reid’s summer home at South Ponus Street (Ponus Ridge was also known as Ponus Street at the time). 

Mrs. Reid, born on September 20, 1872, was the daughter of Frederick W. Lockwood. Mr. Lockwood was a friend and business associate of John D. Rockefeller and is considered one of the first summer residents of New Canaan.

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New Canaan Now & Then: The Seymour House [Part 2 of 2]

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‘New Canaan Now & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Joanne Santulli, Karen Ceraso, Bettina Hegel and Schuyler Morris. Part 1 of 2 of this installment can be found here. Daniel G. Weed sold the house, the buildings, and 10 acres to his half brother, Andrew, on May 10, 1868. 

The Weed brothers bought and sold a lot of land in the neighborhood and apparently remodeled several homes. The estate of Andrew Weed sold the property to Holly B. Slauson of Norwalk in 1914. Three years later, Mrs. Franklin S. [A.] Colby bought the property in August. 

Olive Colby was the daughter of Laban Arnold and Delia Ann Gaines Arnold who were married in 1848 in New York.

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New Canaan Now & Then: The Seymour House [Part 1 of 2]

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‘New Canaan Now & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Joanne Santulli, Karen Ceraso, Bettina Hegel and Schuyler Morris. The Seymour House on White Oak Shade was built in 1760 by Captain Thomas Seymour, who served in the Revolutionary War. 

It was visited by the Rev. William Drummond during the winter months of both 1772 and 1773. The building was typical for its era with five windows spanning the second level on the front facade and four on the lower level with the front door in between the windows. 

Captain Seymour lived in the house for 50 years. Thomas Seymour was born in Hertford, England in 1632 and married Hannah Marvin after arriving in Norwalk. Mr. Seymour and his wife had eight children, but only one son, Matthew, who was born in Norwalk in 1669.

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New Canaan Now & Then: Long View Farm

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‘New Canaan Now & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Joanne Santulli, Karen Ceraso, Bettina Hegel and Schuyler Morris. The home located at 70 Barnegat Road was built in 1800. 

Anthony Fenick, originally from Austria-Hungary, came to the United States in 1912 and worked as a farmer in Greenwich. In 1922, he purchased the property which consisted of 15 acres, a small apple orchard, and plum trees, and called the property “Long View Farm.”

Mr. Fenick sold vegetables and, during the winter months, plowed the snow and helped construct some well known buildings, including the Country Club of New Canaan. Mr. Fenick and his wife, Stephania, had 12 children. Toward the end of his life, his sight was poor and he was unable to plant his fields.

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New Canaan Now & Then: The Ogden House

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‘New Canaan Now & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Joanne Santulli, Karen Ceraso, Bettina Hegel and Schuyler Morris. The Ogden House was built in 1875 according to the Town’s land records, however, the Historic New England preservation service dates the house to 1868. 

The Historic New England designation protects the house and the site through the Preservation Easement Program, which currently includes one 124 privately owned houses in New England. The frame tool shed and the carriage barn were built in 1900. According to the Historic New England criteria for protecting this home, the Ogden House represents an “example of the rural vernacular architecture which has largely vanished.” 

The historic home is situated on 1.69 acres and was once part of a small working class community on the rural outskirts of New Canaan. The house was built by the shoemaker Orson Ogden who passed the property to his nephews, Arthur and Stanley Ogden.