A Town That Feels Like the Country

By C. J. HUGHES

THERE is no shortage of warblers in Southbury, but it was the birds of prey that drew Judith Stevens to this town rising gently from the banks of the Housatonic River.

Chief among them are bald eagles, which return in December to the Shepaug Dam. Its waters, which don’t freeze in cold weather, attract fish, providing the eagles with a considerable four-month-long winter buffet.

“What’s special about this town is that you have so many different habitats in one place,” said Ms. Stevens, who volunteers at the 690-acre Bent of the River preserve owned by the Audubon Society. About 16 percent of Southbury’s land — including pieces of eight sizable working farms — is preserved as open space, according to the local land trust.

There are, of course, animals other than birds. In fact, a moose and several black bears recently turned up in Heritage Village, the 2,622-unit condominium complex where Ms. Stevens, a retired science teacher, owns a two-bedroom. When she moved to Southbury three years ago, she said, she paid $185,000 for the condo, which has 1,200 square feet and a patio.

But for all its natural assets, the town has an ample share of asphalt and concrete. Interstate 84 cuts across its 40 square miles; two enormous shopping centers flank the highway.

Commuters make up a majority of Southbury’s 19,722 residents, traveling to and from places like Hartford, Stamford or New York City. They have little choice but to do so by car, because Southbury does not offer rail service. During rush hour some days, long lines can form at traffic lights on Main Street North, especially if I-84 is backed up.

The mix of rural and suburban appeals to residents like Jenna Murphy, who moved to the area three years ago from a two-family house in densely settled South Norwalk, in part because she “wanted a country lifestyle with the convenience of shopping close by.”

Today, she shops at the Kmart in Southbury Plaza and the Gap at the newer Southbury Green mall. The locally owned Newbury Place, which sells jewelry, is also a favorite, she said.

But the area held an additional enticement for Ms. Murphy, a school psychologist. She had been looking for an antique home, and all the ones she had seen in the town of Fairfield, where she had first looked, either cost a prohibitive $1.5 million, or “were really small and required a total rehab.”

Her husband, Chris, had discovered Southbury in passing, on road trips to visit clients for his food-distribution business. They ended up with a 1790 colonial in one of the town’s historic districts.

Despite additions and renovations, the four-bedroom home, with three and a half baths and 3,200 square feet of space, retains its wide-plank chestnut floors, 12-over-12 leaded-glass windows and a three-opening fireplace that’s tall enough to stand in.

It cost $700,000, though the Murphys have spent $100,000 on upgrades, including paving the driveway so their three children can ride bikes on it.

Their property, bordered by a stream, covers nearly three acres — plenty of room to run around. “Playing outside really teaches them to respect the environment,” Ms. Murphy said, “and all that it has to offer.”

WHAT YOU’LL FIND

Most homes, according to brokers, are primary residences, despite the fact that this New Haven County town abuts Litchfield County, a popular second-home destination, and that the terrains are similarly rugged.

In the town’s northwestern Purchase section, roads with “Cattle Xing” signs loop past pine-covered hills and horses; on Spruce Brook Road on a recent afternoon, by a farm with red barns, drivers slowed to let three wild turkeys cross the road.

Orchards have sprouted subdivisions in the past decade. Older and newer dwellings often coexist, as on West Flathill Road, where recent colonials with Palladian-style windows offset houses with fieldstone foundations, built much nearer the Colonial period.

Lake Lillinonah, the dammed-up portion of the Shepaug River, is nearby. Many sizable contemporary homes have their own docks there. (Most of Southbury’s newer homes are zoned for two acres.)

The best-preserved 19th-century properties are found along Main Street North, set back behind low stone walls, and in South Britain, where the fancy Greek Revivals by the Pomperaug River serve as a reminder that Southbury once prospered from the mill trade.

The area used to be known as a second-home haven. The television impresario Ed Sullivan, who had a weekend retreat on North Georges Hill Road, helped put it on the map for New Yorkers. And after dams started deepening parts of the Housatonic, summer-cottage communities sprang up — though most are now lived in year-round. One of them, Lakeside, has A-frame houses terraced into slopes.

Another is known as Russian Village, for the émigrés who settled an artists’ colony founded by Ilya Tolstoy, Leo Tolstoy’s son. The onion-domed St. Sergius Orthodox chapel endures, its scarlet door topped with a religious painting, but few Russian residents remain.

Southbury’s population is older than the state’s over all, with 30 percent over the age of 65, versus 14 percent in Connecticut, according to the last census.

The town also has a far greater proportion of attached housing units than the state as a whole. Most — about 2,900 — are condominiums; they account for 25 percent of the housing stock, brokers say.

The trends converge at Heritage Village, an age-restricted community whose first phase was completed in 1967 and was among the East Coast’s first condos. When it opened, said Henry J. Paparazzo, the chairman of its development group, “we virtually doubled the size of the town. But it’s still managed to regulate development well.”

WHAT YOU’LL PAY

Still, like the rest of Southbury, Heritage Village is suffering from current market conditions. Only 130 units there will change hands this year, down from the typical 200, and prices are off 10 percent, according to Mr. Paparazzo.

That is in line with the numbers for single-family homes. From the end of May through November this year, for example, 47 properties sold, versus 70 over the same period a year earlier, according to the Consolidated Multiple Listings Service.

Similarly, the average price has dropped, to $462,008 from $495,838. Yet homes seem to be selling faster, as the average market time has shortened to 112 days from 135.

“If they’re priced well, they will move quickly,” said Donna Matula, an associate broker with William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty.

WHAT TO DO

Unlike many Connecticut communities, Southbury lacks a green and many older commercial structures — though there is the South Britain Country Store, where a sausage sandwich costs $6.95.

But the town does have three parks, including Southford Falls, once the site of a Diamond Match Company factory. Another is the 605-acre Kettletown Park, with an inlet and a wading beach.

The new 90,000-volume library — which doesn’t charge for overdue books — has three librarians dedicated to children and teenagers.

THE SCHOOLS

Most elementary students attend either Pomperaug or Gainfield. For sixth through eighth grades, there is Rochambeau Middle School, which has an enrollment of 570.

At Pomperaug High School, about half of the 1,400 students take at least one of the 18 offered Advanced Placement classes. “This allows kids an opportunity to try rigorous courses before going to college,” said Frank H. Sippy, the superintendent. About 95 percent of seniors attend college, he added.

SAT averages last spring were 555 in reading, 565 in math and 541 in writing, versus 507, 503 and 506 statewide.

THE COMMUTE

Southbury hasn’t had trains since 1948, when the Danbury-Plainville line had three stations in town, said Joyce Hornbecker, a local historian.

Commuters take Peter Pan buses to New York daily, but this month, the company reduced its subsidy to the Southbury Travel Center, a waiting-room facility on Main Street, forcing it to close, said Nancy Devine, a clerk there. Tickets will now be sold at a Mobil station nearby.

Buses depart three times between 6:05 a.m. and 9:05 a.m. on the two-hour trip to Port Authority, with a stop in Danbury. A 20-ticket pass costs $260.

THE HISTORY

The Southbury Training School, a campuslike complex on 1,600 acres along Route 172, has been open since October 1940. Its mission is to teach job skills to the developmentally disabled.

Today, 490 people live at the school, with its striking collection of red-brick buildings and a greenhouse for growing poinsettias to sell at Christmas.

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

PASSPORT AUTUMN 2008

Castle for Keeps
By: John Torsiello
09/22/2008

An impressive, 40-room stone building set on 62 acres surrounded by high walls and within walking distance of downtown Great Barrington, Mass., the Searles Castle has been a landmark in the Berkshires since it was completed in 1888.
AdvertisementNow it's for sale. The price tag? A cool $15 million.For more than 25 years, the 60,000-square-foot mansion and adjacent 6,000-square-foot carriage house have been home to the John Dewey Academy, a coeducational college preparatory school with a strong therapeutic component.The school's founder and president, Thomas Bratter, owns the castle and put the property up for sale last year. The school will be moved to anther location in the Great Barrington area once a sale is finalized and time is allotted for a smooth transition to a new campus.Kristine Girardin of the Kristine Girardin Group and a broker associate with William Raveis Exceptional Properties took two visitors on a tour of the castle on a warm summer day. The guests were interested in viewing the structure and discovering its provenance but not in purchasing the property. Thus, the tour took considerably less than the usual four or five hours Ms. Girardin invests in taking potential buyers through the seven-level castle, which has 36 working fireplaces, is filled with detailed woodwork and has, literally, tons of marble in its interior."We have had several offers, one that was close to closing," said Ms Girardin, as she walked through the building's front entrance into a vestibule and then into a hall where several students were reading or doing homework. "We've had interest both from within this country and from international buyers. Individuals have expressed an interest in turning the castle and property into a resort, and others have looked at it as a residence. It's really quite unique, and something like this doesn't come onto the market often."Both the exterior and interior of the castle are in excellent condition, a credit to its original builders. No expense, it seems, was spared in making the castle one of the grandest buildings in the Berkshires. It is not an ominous structure, as some large stone buildings can be. The castle's exterior is softened by several large, round spires that rise three stories high. A red roof adds a touch of distinction to the building, as do its several tall chimneys that rise about the building on all sides.The interior of the castle, whose property includes 1,000 feet of frontage on the Housatonic River, is also quite unlike what one would expect in such a massive structure. The designers successfully imbued the castle with a sense of openness through the use of large windows and a central atrium that offer sunlit views of a portico, lawns, a pond and a faux Greco/Roman temple that hovers over the water feature to the south of the castle. The light marble floors in many of the rooms and opaque ceilings lend a further air of lightness to the building.But let's start at the beginning.The castle was built over a three-year period, from 1885 to 1888, by Mary Sherwood Hopkins, the widow of Central Pacific Railroad magnate Mark Hopkins, who had passed away in 1879 at the age of 66. At the time of his death, Mr. Hopkins was said to have been one of the wealthiest men in the United States. After launching a career as a merchant in New York, he traveled to San Francisco, where, in 1861, he became a founder and treasurer of the Central Pacific. (The Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco was built on the site of his former home on Nob Hill.)After her husband's death, Mary Hopkins returned home to Great Barrington, where she took up the companionship of Edward Searles, a "man of the arts" who was to serve as the interior designer of the castle. Also after her husband's death, Mrs. Hopkins adopted the adult son (Timothy) of her widowed housekeeper, but she later disinherited him. That resulted in quite a scandal, as Timothy Hopkins successfully sued for a portion of her estate (most of it, however, went to her much younger, by 22 years, second husband, Mr. Searles).Mary Hopkins and Mr. Searles spent considerable time in Europe, where they acquired a number of items for their Great Barrington mansion, which they called Kellog Terrace. After his wife died in 1891, at the age of 73, Mr. Searles inherited her vast estate, which included 25 percent ownership of the Central Pacific Railroad and considerable real estate holdings in San Francisco, New York, and Methuen, Mass., in addition to Great Barrington.Quite a notable figure in his own right, Mr. Searles would satisfy a love of architecture by collaborating with architect Henry Vaughn on a number of large buildings, including the Stanton Hardcourt Castle, now known as the Searles Castle in Windham, N.H.; the Dream House, known as the Searles Mansion on Block Island; and the Mary Francis Searles Science Building at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.Mr. Searles, who died in 1921 at the age of 79, was also a notable early environmentalist, who would alter the building of a stone wall in order to preserve a tree that he felt was important. Searles Castle in Great Barrington was designed by McKim, Mead and White, and it is believed, though not certain, that the legendary Stanford White was the primary architect. Mr. White, who was considered an embodiment of the American Renaissance style of architecture, was no stranger to intrigue. The bon vivant was murdered in 1906 at the age of 53 by millionaire Harry K. Thaw, the jealous husband of Evelyn Nesbit, a popular actress and artist's model, with whom the noted architect was said to have had a relationship. The resulting court case was dubbed "The Trial of the Century."But back to the castle. The design of the building, with its elaborate rooflines, was in a style reminiscent of Chambord, the older part of Chenonoeaux, France, near the river Cher. Blue dolomite from a quarry on what is known as East Mountain in Great Barrington was brought onto the property and cut down in stone-dressing sheds.The castle, when it debuted, was extremely modern for its time and was equipped with indoor plumbing and electricity. Many of the early electrical fixtures are still intact. Other unique details include curved rooms, curved pocket doors and carved wood and marble fireplaces. An organ that was used in the music room and the castle's elevator were once powered by water from nearby Lake Mansfield.The vestibule of the castle has a floor made of moriah marble from an area near Lake Champlain, with French griotte, a veined and spotted red and dark green marble from the Pyrenees in Europe, and porto venere, verde maurin and American black marble from Glen Falls, N.Y., also employed.A reception room to the right of the vestibule is paneled in black walnut and has a fireplace of red vecchiano Italian marble. It has an elaborate ceiling that is said to be reminiscent of fan vaulting in the Henry VII Chapel at Windsor Castle in England.A "Great Hall" has woodwork of hand-polished English oak, as does much of the building. Ms. Girardin said that legend has it that two "very old" English oaken ships were towed to America and taken apart in order to provide the wood.A wonderful atrium that is nicknamed "The Heart of the House" has side walls of rose of ivory marble taken from the Atlas Mountains of Africa. The room has 16 pillars and flooring of native white marble. Mexican onyx panels conceal electrical lights, which give the illusion of sunlight seeping into the room.One of the most interesting rooms of the castle is the music room. It is 50 feet long and entered through the atrium beneath carved oak pillars. The room has a dome-shaped ceiling that looms 42 feet above the floor. There are carved oak seats where the former owners of the castle and guests once reclined and listened to classical music. A balcony on the second floor and a third floor window allow music to flood the upper floors from the music room.The dining room is done in the Moorish style and paneled in antique oak wood, with a fireplace of French griotte and Belgian black marble. The room opens onto a private porch.One of the more visually stunning and eclectic spaces is the drawing room, which is fashioned in Louis XIV style. The mantelpiece of the fireplace (porto venere black and gold marble with gold bronze ornaments) alone was valued at $25,000 in 1922. The room's ceiling was painted on canvas, and the woodwork of the room is embellished in real gold leaf. A morning room opens to the southeastern side of the castle.Ms. Girardin said an upstairs hall once served as a family living room, and the ceiling is said to be modeled after a palace in Venice, Italy. Upstairs, there is also a circular library with dark native oak, a billiard room finished in butternut wood, and a suite, once occupied by Mrs. Hopkins, on the east wing of the castle that has a mantel of bois d'Orient and Siena marble in its sitting room.As if all this grandeur isn't enough, the property also boasts a 6,000-square-foot guesthouse that is composed of meeting rooms, bedrooms and apartments, as well as a barn and tennis courts.One can only imagine, while sitting on the terrace at the rear of the castle, what wondrous formal gardens once graced the open space around the lagoon and how many grand parties were held here during its heyday."It is a one-of-a-kind setting," said Ms. Girardin, as she described the property. "There is so much history here, and the work and detail that went into the building is incredible," she added.Potential buyers can reach Ms. Giradin at the William Raveis office in Washington, Conn. The phone number is 860-868-0511.

Link to article:http://www.passport-mag.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20132455&BRD=2699&PAG=461&dept_id=672335&rfi=6

Interesting Story......What Went Wrong?

A Misstep in Mansions

By LISA PREVOST

ny times

GREENWICH
ANTARES Investment Partners decided to get into the business of building mansions back when Wall Street money still flowed so freely here that the housing market couldn’t sop it up fast enough.
Already heavily invested in commercial properties in the area, Antares distributed an offering memorandum in 2004 to potential investors describing plans for eight “ultraluxury mansions” on two parcels that it had acquired in Greenwich’s pastoral backcountry.
One parcel off Taconic Road would be divided into seven lots of roughly 2.4 acres each. Another nine acres off Round Hill Road would be reserved for one massive lakefront home — to be called the Lake Carrington estate — with an exhaustive array of indoor and outdoor amenities.
The houses were aimed at buyers looking in the $10 million-and-up range. Yet, Antares’s co-founders, Joseph Beninati and James Cabrera, were supremely confident: they would build the mansions on speculation, meaning that they wouldn’t wait to line up buyers first.
The deal attracted enough investors to move forward, only to fall apart just three mansions later. Today, Antares is effectively out of the mansion-building business, the 35,000-square-foot Lake Carrington estate sits unsold, and a group of investors is suing the company’s founders for breach of contract. The outcome marks the second high-profile residential failure for a private equity and development firm that has otherwise done very well.
Founded in 1996, Antares has, by the company’s estimates, about $6 billion in assets and projects under management in Fairfield and Westchester Counties. The company has capitalized on the proliferation of hedge funds and other financial firms in both Greenwich and neighboring Stamford through major investments in office properties.
Most recently, Antares has renovated and fully leased the former Greenwich headquarters of UST Inc., a tobacco company, after buying the 154,000-square-foot building last year for $130 million.
In Stamford, Antares has acquired a total of 1.5 million square feet of office space in the last couple of years. Mr. Beninati said the aggregate cash flow from those seven buildings is 44 percent ahead of projections this year. “The markets have been very turbulent, and we’ve still been able to succeed in the largest parts of our business,” he said.
On the residential end, however, the company appears to have overreached. In January, Antares sold two Greenwich apartment complexes under the threat of foreclosure after its plans to convert them to high-end condominiums failed to attract buyers.
Antares Mansions L.L.C. didn’t fare much better. It built two homes at the Taconic site. One sold for just over $10 million last August, but as the market deteriorated, the price on the second was gradually lowered until it sold for just $6.6 million. In April, the company abandoned the project, selling the five remaining vacant lots for $9 million.
The Lake Carrington property, which is advertised as having seven bedrooms, two elevators, an indoor lap pool, and a 20,000-bottle wine cellar, continues to be listed with Sotheby’s International Realty for $28 million, even with an unfinished interior. According to documents filed in the investor lawsuit in state Superior Court in Stamford, however, the company has a potential buyer for the property at a significantly lower price. A court filing by Antares cites a price of $12.5 million.
Last month, a judge granted the investors’ motion for a temporary restraining order prohibiting Antares from disbursing any funds from the sale, should it go through, pending a hearing.
The three investors — Paul Levy, managing member of Pana Realty Group L.L.C. in Greenwich; Michael Barasch, a lawyer in New York City; and SGS Equities L.L.C., a company in New Rochelle, N.Y., whose managing member is Leonard M. Shendell — are seeking repayment of the $4.8 million they put up for the venture. They accuse Antares Mansions, Mr. Beninati and Mr. Cabrera of violating the offering memorandum terms by failing to repay investor capital ahead of other debt interests.
Last week, Antares filed a countersuit in New York State Supreme Court, claiming the investors’ “wrongful conduct” forced the mansion division to alter its development plans and “sell the project assets in a difficult market.”

Documents filed in the two cases describe a dispute revolving around some $25 million in additional financing secured by Antares Mansions for the projects. The project’s initial financing consisted of about $30 million in bank loans, $10 million from outside investors, and $2.9 million from Antares.
According to Antares’s complaint, the additional loans were needed to maximize the size of the homes. The financing came from another Antares-affiliated entity, the suit says.
By late last year, Antares had defaulted on its initial bank loans. It was eventually able to obtain short-term refinancing for both projects, enabling it to pay off the bank mortgages and some of the additional debt.
A lawyer for the investors, Tab Rosenfeld, said his clients originally received “a completion guarantee” from Antares that effectively put investors ahead of every other stakeholder in line for repayment except for the original mortgage holder. By refinancing the project and paying off the additional debt, however, Antares essentially used investor equity in the project to repay company loans, he said.
Antares strongly disputes this claim. In its lawsuit, it contends the offering memorandum to investors made clear that the venture was “highly speculative.” It also accuses Pana Realty, the lead investor, of preventing it from refinancing in time to stave off default by refusing to provide “certain consents” to an otherwise willing lender.
Antares is also being sued by a former partner: William Paul Dellasorte, president of William Paul Inc., a Danbury construction company. His lawsuit alleges that Mr. Beninati and Mr. Cabrera did not pay him the full profit share and management fees he was entitled to under an oral agreement for construction work on the condominium conversions, the mansions and other projects.
These disputes have not slowed progress on Antares’s most ambitious undertaking yet. In Stamford, construction is well under way on its redevelopment of roughly 80 acres in the city’s neglected South End. Called Harbor Point, the $3.5 billion plan calls for a waterfront hotel, office buildings, public parks, some 400,000 square feet of retailing, and some 4,000 housing units.

DAYTRIP OF THE MONTH! LOBSTER!

DAYTRIP OF THE MONTH

ABBOTTS IN THE ROUGH…Noank, CT

O.K…..so, technically, its not Litchfield County…..but I cant help but talk about my ultimate favorite dinner drive overlooking the ocean. The best place around to eat lobster, and other seafood staples. It’s a well kept secret, even for us natives. Usually whispered about, as to not let it get too “discovered.”

From Litchfield County, its about am hour drive. Good time to hop in the car with a buddy and have lots of “getting to know you” time. The kids like it too, so if you have little ones, cue up the latest DVD in your car and you’re ready.

If you want to break up the trip, a great stop along the way is Gillette’s Castle.

William Gillette, best known for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, built this castle in 1912. It features a number of peculiarities including hidden mirrors, a lock-protected bar and intricate, hand-carved door latches on each of the castle's 47 doors--no two are alike. There are 2000 acres, with marked trails for hiking. TIP: The terrace is an awesome place to take photos, as its set high overlooking the Connecticut River – so if you want a family photo- don’t forget the camera.
Getting there... Gillette Castle is located at 67 River Road in East Haddam, Connecticut. From Route 9 North or South, take Exit 7 for Route 82. Follow Route 82 East through Goodspeed Landing, and watch for signs directing you to the park.

NOW…..FOR LOBSTER

Abbotts is nestled just outside the village of Noank, very hard to find…and very worth the effort. It is highly casual. No servers, no waiters, etc. There are picnic tables on grass and under a tent overlooking the ocean. Boats are constantly passing by and docking. TIP: Bring your chilled white whine, champagne, or whatever you like to drink when you eat lobster, as it’s BYOB. I also love to bring a tablecloth, candles and picnic basket.

The chowder is excellent. It’s a clear broth version with potatoes and clams. The lobster roll is also a favorite, as its piled high with buttery lobster meat. (No work!) The menu also has several other great choices, my favorite being the lobster dinner. There is nothing like picnicking by the ocean, and eating a steaming, perfect cooked lobster. There is also strawberry shortcake and apple crisp for dessert. YUM! So worth the drive!


Directions (getting there is half the fun!):

From I-95 (Exit 89) From I-95 North...Turn RIGHT at Top of Exit Ramp. or.... From I-95 South...Turn LEFT at Top of Exit Ramp.
Then proceed as follows; Continue along Allyn St. until the intersection of US Route 1. Go STRAIGHT ACROSS US 1 at the traffic light. You are now on West Mystic Avenue. At the SECOND stop sign on West Mystic Ave... - Turn RIGHT onto CT Route 215. Continue on Rt. 215 about 1.5 mi. until STOP SIGN (the only one you come to on Rt. 215) Turn LEFT into the village of Noank (Mosher Ave.)...The street will curve to the right and become Ward Ave...Pass the Firehouse and a gas station; just ahead is a stop sign at the intersection of Main Street. Turn LEFT on Main and then an immediate RIGHT onto Pearl St. Abbott's is on the end of Pearl St., about 0.3 mi.


Website for menu and more info: http://www.abbotts-lobster.com/index.html

Hope to see you there!

Happy Day Tripping!

Kristine

Woodbury featured in the New York Times

The New York Times
Great Homes and Destinations
Home > Article
Havens Woodbury, Conn.
Antiques and Classic New England Peace and Quiet

Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times

Main Street in Woodbury is free of chain stores and full of Colonial houses.
By DIANE MEHTA
Published: April 11, 2008
WOODBURY, Conn., has long been a hub for antiques dealers, but it is also emerging from the shadow of chic neighbors as a weekend destination, residents and real estate agents say.
Map
Woodbury, Conn.
Graphic
Three for Sale

A town of Colonials, ponds and deep woods, Woodbury sits in the southernmost part of Litchfield County, and — most significant for potential second-home owners — its property prices are significantly lower than those in nearby towns like Roxbury and Washington.
Carol and Dan Brachfeld, who live in Manhattan, owned a weekend home in Washington for 18 years, but once their children left home, they decided they wanted a pool, more land and privacy. Priced out of Washington, they bought a three-bedroom Federal-style house with an outdoor pool in Woodbury for $600,000 in 2004. “Woodbury enabled us to be in an area we loved — with lovely river beds, walking trails and hiking trails,” Ms. Brachfeld said.
Tricia and Rob Brown, who also live in Manhattan, bought a three-bedroom midcentury modern in spring 2007 for more than $500,000. The house aside, they were sold on the property itself: four acres planted with formal gardens and apple, peach and cherry trees.
“It’s an alternate universe kind of life,” Ms. Brown said. “Having the garden, my daughter Maya — who’s 5 — sees for the first time that food doesn’t come from Fairway and Zabar’s.” The Browns grow herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and green beans.
The Scene
For several miles along Route 6, or Main Street, there are barns and shops filled with antiques and their dealers, from Monique Shay Antiques & Design, with French-Canadian armoires, to Grass Roots Antiques, which has a full range of bric-a-brac, like sterling silver flatware and vintage tea sets.
“When you drive in, there’s five white clapboard churches, like ‘Little House on the Prairie,’ on Main Street, and since no chains are allowed, it’s all mom-and-pop shops,” said Bernadette Verzosa, who, with her husband, Len Cannon, bought a place on six acres in 2000 for about $500,000, which they visited most weekends when they lived in Manhattan.
They now live in Texas, and they come mostly in summer. “Our property is next to Flanders Nature Center and Land Trust,” she said, “so we basically have hundreds of acres and a guarantee that nothing will ever be built around us.”
Many weekenders maintain an active social life in town. And Ms. Brachfeld finds that Woodbury’s atmosphere lends itself to intimacy. “The part of our life that brings us back to our relationship and relationships is the country,” she said.
J. David Veselsky, the former owner of Mill House Antiques, who moved to Woodbury in 1964, said: “Back then, there were only two other antique shops and a lot of farmland. But the center of town hasn’t changed a lot — the whole town is on the National Register. More people are coming in, but there’s still a very strong feeling of community.”
In classic New England fashion, Woodbury, settled in 1673, started as a farming community, then in the 1850s gave way to small factories. Main Street and its outlying arteries are on the National Register of Historic Places for settlements that date from the 17th through the 20th centuries, and many of the Colonial houses and structures along Main Street date from before 1830.
Residents gather at Constantine’s Restaurant (Friday pot roast, $13.95; Saturday prime rib, $18.95) for hearty food, and at Ovens of France, a bakery run by Dennis Niez, a native of Normandy, for fresh baguettes ($2.75) and cinnamon buns ($1.85).
Outdoor activities, from trail walking to swimming, abound at the town’s three parks. Many people head to the Flanders nature sanctuaries to hike and watch birds. The nonprofit group owns about 1,900 acres in and around Woodbury. And with the three rivers in town — the Weekeepeemee, Nonnewaug and Pomperaug — there’s kayaking, too.
In spring and fall, those three rivers are stocked with trout by the state, said Jenifer Miller, director of the Woodbury Parks and Recreation Department.
And there’s plenty of fishing, says Woody Mosch, a devoted fly-fisherman and furniture maker in nearby Bethlehem, “whether you’re into fishing for the stock to take home for dinner, or really getting off the beaten path for the little native brookies still alive and well in feeder streams through northern Woodbury and Bethlehem.”
Pros
Flanders Nature Center and Land Trust ensures that much of the town’s open space will never be developed. The trust also runs activities aimed at families year round.
For those concerned about where their food comes from, New Morning Natural and Organic Foods stocks organic produce and meat. Its owner, John Pittari, says the store gets its grass-fed beef and eggs from local suppliers. LaBonne grocery store carries the essentials, and farm stands pop up around town in season.
Cons
For those smitten by the town’s classic New England peace and quiet, a large commercial development with multiple buildings just approved for the southern end of Main Street is not welcome news.
The Real Estate Market
Woodbury’s housing stock is varied, and includes saltboxes, Capes, Colonials, farmhouses and English-style country houses.
The market has been static since late 2006, local real estate agents say. From 2002 to 2005, according to the Connecticut Multiple Listing Service, houses in Woodbury sold for an average of $425,800. Sales dipped in 2006, but the average cost of a home rose to $537,200. Maria Taylor, an agent at Klemm Real Estate, says you can spend anywhere from $449,000 for a two-bedroom Colonial to $1.39 million for a four-bedroom mid-20th-century Cape.
Houses are staying on the market for about 10 months, two months longer than they were in 2006, according to The Commercial Record, a real estate trade publication. But Joyce Drakeley, who has her own real estate business, said: “If you price it right, it’s going to sell immediately. And anything under $550,000 is going to move.”
Several real estate agents work with speculative developers. Ralph Corbo Jr., founder of the Corbo Group, is building seven houses at Owl Ridge. When the first is complete, in late May, Klemm Real Estate will represent his firm to sell the seven shingle-style residences, which start at $1,150 million for a four-bedroom, 4,400-square-foot house.
Sotheby’s International Realty and Moisan Architecture of Woodbury represent Aisling Meadows, which has 20 lots of one to two acres. Four-bedroom, three-and-half-bath houses are listing for $1.285 million. Condominiums are a better deal. There are seven condo complexes in Woodbury, and prices start at $140,000 for a two-bedroom ranch unit at the Town & Country complex.
LAY OF THE LAND
POPULATION 9,757, according to a 2006 Census Bureau estimate.
SIZE 36.7 square miles.
WHO’S BUYING Professionals and Wall Streeters from New York City, in addition to Connecticut residents.
GETTING THERE In the southernmost part of Litchfield County, Woodbury sits on Route 6 in western Connecticut. The town is one and a half hours from Manhattan by car.
WHILE YOU’RE LOOKING Longwood Country Inn (1204 Main Street South, 203-266-0800; http://www.longwoodcountryinn.com/) has antiques-filled rooms that start at $150.
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GOOD EATS!

John's Cafe

In Woodbury, CT - just recently enjoyed this great find. Cozy and very fresh food. Check it out: http://www.johnscafe.com/index.shtml

congrats to Barrie!

Congrats to my friend Barrie - for announcing the opening of her office in Washington Depot. If you are seeking legal representation - she is fantastic! As a client, I highly recommend her. Kudos!

Link: http://http://www.bgoldsteinlaw.com/

spring...where are you?

After a long dark winter (of which every weekend seemed to consist of ice or snow) - here in Litchfield County we are seriously drooling over the idea of flowers and temps above 45.

As Spring is persistant, I hope that brown will soon give way to green. Please!!!!

I stopped into my favorite bookstore this week, The Hickory Stick, in Washington. http://www.hickorystickbookshop.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp It was full of people browsing and relaxing. I picked up some good reads. If you've never been ther - check it out. Its family owned.... also very child friendly and right next to a great cafe, Marty's. http://www.seeyouatmartys.com/about.html


If you see Spring - send her my way! : )

Ski at Mohawk in the Litchfield Hills

Its that time of year again! This is a great family place to teach the kids - or shoot down some Black Diamond trails yourself. Check out their website: www.mohawkmtn.com/CMX/

Have fun!

THE BEST VIEWS AROUND!

Just listed for sale in Cornwall, CT for $1,925,000. Forever views. Magnificent turn key luxury property. Must see to believe!!! Call Kristine for more info.