‘New Canaan Now & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Joanne Santulli, Karen Ceraso, Bettina Hegel and Schuyler Morris. The Nature Center on Oenoke Ridge occupies the former Bliss Estate, or “Lindenfield” (because the driveway was lined with Linden trees).
In 1875 Osborn E. Bright, an attorney from Brooklyn, bought eight acres of land on Oenoke Ridge from Joseph Fitch Silliman and built his summer residence. When finished, the new house stood very close to the neighbor’s cow barn, so close in fact that Bright’s wife, Maria, offered to build the neighbors a new barn if they would tear down the existing one. A new barn could also not be built within 100 feet of the Brights’ land. At the same time, the Brights also bought a piece of land from the same neighbor for $200.
In 1899, the property was sold to Ms. Catherine A. Bliss from New York City for $22,500. Over the next thirteen years, Ms. Bliss expanded the house and improved the grounds, adding specimen trees such as purple beech and Asia oaks. A full wing was added along with a large living room and a porch. The living room was so large that it was able to fit a thirty six foot rug, which was said to have been the second largest rug ever woven in America at the time.
The house built by the Brights would eventually become a hall and a dining room with bedrooms on the second floor.
