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.

Amanda Sainsott

Meet the New Canaan Newcomers Club [Q&A]

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This month, NewCanaanite.com is publishing Q&As with local service organizations—volunteer groups that give back to the community while offering connection, camaraderie and fun. 

We start with the New Canaan Newcomers Club. 

Here’s our exchange with the nonprofit organization’s president, Amanda Sainsott. ***

New Canaanite: Please give us some background on the Newcomers Club. How and when did the organization start? Amanda Sainsott: New Canaan Newcomers Club was founded in 1957 as a not-for-profit organization with the mission of connecting new residents to each other and to the community. Our goal is to provide resources for new residents in an effort to help them build a community while settling into a new town.

Around Town

First Class Club: ’The New Canaan Car’

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We all dream about traveling first class.  Big comfy seats, real food and free drinks.  This is the only way to fly. But did you know that there used to be a handful of private, first-class “club cars” on the New Haven Railroad’s commuter trains?  Among the most legendary was one that ran from New Canaan from 1908 to 1976, car # 5113. Fortunately, The New Canaan Museum & Historical Society has preserved all of the original paperwork for the private club known as “The New Canaan Car” (NCC).  And the story is fascinating. Pulled by train #331 in the morning, the private car left New Canaan at 7:43 am, arriving at Grand Central by 8:48.  The return run on train #332 left at 5:09 pm and was back in New Canaan by 6:15. Membership was not cheap. In 1966 initiation fees were $200 ($1900 in today’s money)  and the monthly surcharge was $100 on top of the price of the rail fare.  By 1974 the NCC was paying Penn Central $69,300 a year to haul its private car.

News

Sidewalk Sale Draws Bargain-Hunters Downtown [PHOTOS]

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Scores of bargain-hunters and local business supporters descended on downtown New Canaan on Saturday for the Chamber of Commerce’s annual Sidewalk Sale & Village Fair. Kids, families and grownups moved through pedestrian-only sections of Elm, Main and Forest Streets under comfortably warm, overcast skies during the popular sale, which runs 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. In addition to New Canaan’s local brick-and-mortar stores and nonprofit organizations such as New Canaan Unplugged, Fire Company No. 1, League of Women Voters (which registered 13 new voters), and the Democratic and Republican Town Committees, pop-up vendors sold a wide array of clothes, home goods, crafts and other items.

“We had a very smooth setup,” Chamber Executive Director Laura Budd told NewCanaanite.com. “All the stores and organizations got here early and the shoppers followed right after. We’re really thankful for the weather — the one thing we can’t control — because I think people will stay longer and enjoy the day in town.”

Budd specifically thanked the town Department of Public Works crew “who do such an amazing job with the setup and cleanup.”