Greens Farms, Connecticut

The land holdings of John Green, one of the first five settlers, known collectively as the Bankside Farmers, were known as Green's Farm by 1699.[4] In 1732 the area was officially renamed Green's Farms.[5]

Within the area of Greens Farms is Frost Point named after one of the other Bankside Farmers Daniel Frost.[6]

Greens Farms is also spelled in its original form, Green's Farms.

The First Congregational Church of Green's Farms, Green's Farms Railroad Station, The New York Times and the Green's Farms Association all use the apostrophe in the neighborhood name, which is used about half of the time. The Town of Westport, Connecticut state government and local newspapers do not.[3]

In 1648 the Town of Fairfield officially gave five farmers, collectively known as the Bankside Farmers, permission to settle the fertile land that the Pequot people were living in.[7] The Bankside Farmers purchased the land from the Pequot who called it Machamux ("beautiful land").[7] The land that the Pequot sold, then within the original boundaries of the Town of Fairfield, stretched from "Frost Point an English mile along the seacoast toward Compaw, and six or seven miles inland."[6] The Pequot moved to an area "elevated back east of this strip".[6]

The first three settlers were Thomas Newton, Henry Gray and John Green. Daniel Frost and Francis Andrews later joined the Bankside Farmers making five in total.[6]

They lived at the western end of what is now Beachside Avenue.[8]

On Green's Farms Road near Morningside Drive is the site of the first West Parish Common, the first schoolhouse, and the first meeting house. A small park is now there with a monument called Machamux Boulder.[8]

Over the next 50 years, more land was bought from the Indians and the community grew. In 1711 the "West Parish of Fairfield" was established with church and civil functions. In 1732, the area was renamed "Green's Farms" in honor of John Green, one of the original five Bankside Farmers.[8]

During the American Revolution, British soldiers burned down the Meeting House in a raid that also destroyed 15 houses and 11 barns.[3] The only church property saved was the communion service that Deacon Ebenezer Jesup rescued by hiding it in his well. For the next 10 years, members of the church met in private homes. In 1789 a new church building was erected at the church's current site at Hillandale Road. To raise money, pews were auctioned off. That building was replaced and, in April 1852, a fire forced another replacement the next year.[9]

Burial Hill Beach was acquired by the Town of Westport in 1893.[8]

In 1950, strong winds toppled the Congregational Church steeple, sending it through the roof of the Sunday School room, now the church parlor. The repair effort was expanded to include lighting for the steeple and a new Sunday School room which would double as a church social hall and the construction of a Sunday School wing. In 1961, the present social hall was added, together with more classrooms, a church office, ministers' offices and a choir room.[9]

Famous residents of the neighborhood include or included actress Gene Tierney, writer Peter Straub, Marlo Thomas, Phil Donahue, comedian Rodney Dangerfield, film producer Harvey Weinstein and the radio talk-show host Don Imus. Martha Stewart once owned a home on Turkey Hill Road, from which she taped a television program, but she moved after long-running controversies about the effect of her television production business on the neighborhood.[3] Edward M. Grout, a lawyer and New York City Comptroller, lived and died in Greens Farms.

• Green's Farms Association
• History of Green's Farms from the Friends of Sherwood Island Web site
• Congregational Church of Greens Farms
• New York Times article about Greens Farms

41°07′26″N 73°19′09″W