New Canaan Now & Then: Pinney’s Corner

The historical marker on the corner of Luke’s Wood Road and Oenoke Ridge is all that remains of Pinney’s Corner. 

Pinney Corner, former home of Henry Augustus Pinney, was a bustling community in the 1880s. Pinney, originally from Milford Pennsylvania, had a brief residency in Pleasantville, New York before moving to New Canaan in 1868. In 1870 he started a small shoe factory situated on three acres of land across from his home on the corner of Lukes Wood Road and Oenoke Ridge Road. His home, where he lived with his wife, Adelia Hoyt and his two surviving daughters (having lost three others as infants) grew as his wealth increased. Despite having a relatively small family, Mr. Pinney built an addition to the house that was attached to the original building by a single hallway The leftmost structure in the picture above is the original building.