USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Darien > Town of Darien, founded 1641, incorporated 1820 > Part 2
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Anson Phelps Stokes acquired the tip of the Neck in 1902 and on it built Brick House, where he and his family lived for many years. John Sherman Hoyt, who devel- oped Contentment Island to the east, married a daughter of Anson Phelps Stokes. During Stokes's ownership of Brick House, Andrew Carnegie occupied it several sum- mers. Brick House is now owned and occupied by the Convent of the Sacred Heart.
Following the Stokes family came the Renshaws, Hafners, Bells, and others. Most of the present houses date from the Collender and Crimmins occupation, but there still stands the Selleck homestead known as Tideways, now owned by L. A. LaMott, the Gray cottage, and the home of Billy Woods, the pilot, who for years took steamboats and barges in and out Good Wives' River to Ring's End Landing.
Treelands, the present home of Col. Thomas Crimmins, was originally the gate-house of the residence Collender
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built, and the road to the big house led by Colonel Crim- mins's present home, whence on a clear day the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Tower, and the Rockefeller Institute can be seen, thirty-three miles due west up the Sound.
GREAT ISLAND CORPORATION
THE land comprising the Great Island estate of William Ziegler, Jr., consisting of 180 acres, including Hay Island, is part of a grant dated March 24, 1645, from Piamiin, Sagamore of Roatan, to Andrew Ward and Richard Law of Stamford, of all the land lying between Five Mile River and Pine Brook. This grant is recorded in the Stamford Town Records, Book A, page 343.
Following this grant, the inhabitants of the town of Stamford claimed possession of the land and the right of occupation.
Long Neck, as Collender's Point was then called, re- mained undivided among the inhabitants of the town of Stamford, or the Common Proprietors, so called, until March, 1688, when it was apportioned to the seventy inhabitants of the town according to their ratable estate.
By 1762 two brothers by the name of Selleck had be- come the owners of the whole of Long Neck, but from this date the ownership began to spread among various people.
An interesting sidelight is the fact that during the Revo- lutionary War one tract was confiscated by the State of Connecticut, as its owner had been attainted for treason in adhering to the Crown of Great Britain. This tract was later sold by the State to one Abraham Davenport, a familiar name in the early annals of Stamford.
In the settlement of an estate in 1842, Great Island was appraised at seventy dollars an acre, only a fraction of its present assessed valuation.
About 1870 Hugh M. Collender began purchasing land on La Belle Pointe and shortly afterward this whole section became known as Collender's Point.
In 1882 Daniel M. Edgar became the owner of Great Island, and from his heirs it passed in 1902 into the hands
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of William Ziegler, father of William Ziegler, Jr. Mr. Ziegler proceeded to improve and develop his holdings. Rock for the construction of the main residence, walls, etc., was quarried from a ledge on the property. A deep well was drilled and a water-system installed which was later supplemented by the local water company's mains. At one time as many as 200 men as well as numerous teams were employed on these improvements.
William Ziegler, Jr., continued to improve the property after his father's death by adding, among other things, a large greenhouse, coach house, stables, and kennels and laying out a polo field. His activities have won for this owner many prizes in the International Flower Show, National Horse Show, and All-American Field Trials. His great pointer, Mary Montrose, is famous in the his- tory of field trials as the first bitch to win the national championship on three different occasions, and the Great Island Polo Team has won many major matches.
PAGEANT OF DARIEN
ON August 29 and 30 and September 1, 1913, the com- munity put on a historical pageant, raising, through sub- scriptions, upward of $10,000 to meet expenses. Five hundred adults and children took part, portraying Indians, early settlers, English and Colonial soldiers, Tories, cow- boys, clergymen, sailors, and the present type of residents and commuters.
A grassy expanse just east of the Gorham homestead, with the woods on one side and Good Wives' River on the other, formed a natural amphitheater for this elaborate production. It was witnessed by thousands of people who came from far and near and was given in nine episodes, six of which were as follows :
I. The Men of Wethersfield 1641
2. The War with Norwalk 1670
3. The Mill at the Landing 1744
4. The Raid on the Middlesex Church 1781
5. The Town of Darien 1820
6. The Coming of the Railroad 1849
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The executive committee in charge of the pageant was composed of the following citizens: Henry M. Baker, chairman; Howard Stout Neilson, business manager; George F. Bearse, treasurer; Mark W. Norman, secre- tary; Francis R. Holmes; Alfred Morehouse, Jr .; Alfred H. Renshaw; Arthur Philips; Edwin Milton Royle.
William Chauncey Langdon was director of the pageant and Arthur Farwell director of music.
NOROTON SHORES
A CORPORATION called Noroton Shores, Inc., was formed in the early part of January, 1926. The incorporators were Thomas Crimmins of Noroton, Duncan Harris of Wilson Point, and Reed G. Haviland of Norwalk. Mr. Crimmins was elected president; Mr. Harris, vice presi- dent; and Mr. Haviland, secretary and treasurer. In January, 1926, a tract of marsh land lying on the Sound at the south end of Nearwater Lane, Noroton, consisting of about 50 acres, was bought from William M. Weed et al. of Noroton, and a contract was given to the Arundel Corporation of Baltimore, to dredge Good Wives' River which forms the bay to the east of this marsh land.
Operations were started about March I, 1926, with a dredge and a crew of about 25 men working 24 hours a day for about II months. This placed about 500,000 cubic yards of fill on the marsh land and increased the size of the marsh about 14 acres, adding about 14 acres to the town of Darien. Hard-surfaced roads were built by Noroton Shores, Inc., and an 8-inch water line was laid down Nearwater Lane and a 6-inch water line through the roads.
A 160-foot stone breakwater was built from the south- east corner of the marsh land, running out into Good Wives' River. Later a pier was built on the breakwater, and later still some 300 feet of water front, including the pier and breakwater, were sold to the Noroton Yacht Club. Two years ago, Noroton Shores, Inc., built another pier on the southwest side of its property. This pier ex- tends 300 feet out into the bay and is 8 feet wide; at the end of the pier there is a depth of about 8 feet of water
WETHERSFIELD MEN PAGEANT SCENE, 1913
STEPHEN TYNG MATHER AND MRS. EDWIN MILTON ROYLE (As Rev. Moses Mather and Wife, Pageant 1913)
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at low tide. The use of this pier and adjoining bathing beach is reserved to owners of property, their families and guests.
The first house on the new development was built by Frederick T. Towne. All roads are private and are main- tained by the corporation.
Noroton Shores has the distinction of creating a harbor for Darien, in fact a new harbor for the State of Connecti- cut. After the work was completed the United States Coast Survey put in Government harbor buoys. There is now a splendid anchorage for a large fleet of boats in Good Wives' River. Some parts of the harbor, entirely exposed at low tide before the dredging, now have 8 or 9 feet of water at low tide. The shores, which were mostly mud at low tide, are now sandy.
SALEM STRAITS
LYING on the west side of Scott's Cove, between the Dela- field and Ziegler properties, this section of Darien, of fifty- six acres of rugged woodland with indented, rocky shores, was originally a part of the Great Island and Hay Island parcels, the land deeds of which run back to its first pur- chase from the Indians.
The present development was begun by Mr. Ziegler in 1927. A channel to the open Sound and a yacht basin have been dredged, with a minimum depth of six feet of water at low tide. The area is surveyed into thirty-two plots, and five dwelling-houses have been erected to date.
A section along the shore has been set aside as a park, with a bathing beach for the benefit of the residents ; perma- nent roads have been constructed, with water mains and service for electricity installed. The approach to Salem Straits is a drive leading from Good Wives' River Road. The property is protected by restrictions controlling the design of buildings and the size of lots, and its great natural beauty is enhanced by its big trees, stands of native laurel, open glades, and vistas across Scott's Cove to the Sound and Long Island in the distance.
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DELAFIELD ESTATES ASSOCIATION
THIS large and wooded area is one of the largest tracts of land in Darien to be held exclusively by one family for nearly a hundred years, and before that, for probably an- other hundred years, by not more than two families.
Dr. Edward Delafield, who came from Mastic, Long Island, acquired the land in 1859. At his death it was left to his sister, Emma H. Delafield, who in turn left it at her death to her nephew, Edward H. Delafield, the present owner.
The terrain is high, rolling woodland. It is marked off by beautifully laid stone walls, the work of masons who have long since passed away. The southern boundary faces Long Island Sound, and not far from the shore of Scott's Cove, formerly known as Scotch Cove, is Tory's Cave, where, in the Revolutionary period, Tories and pred- atory bands called cowboys were said to make their rendez- vous to raid the near-by settlements.
Since the opening and development of this tract by its present owner a series of hard-surfaced roads have been built, attractive residences erected, and a community or- ganization formed to carry on its development to the mutual advantage, welfare, pleasure, and convenience of its residents and property owners.
Edward H. Delafield is president and treasurer of this association; Noah H. Swayne, vice president; Earle L. Miller, secretary; John R. Evers, assistant secretary and treasurer. The Board of Directors is constituted of all these together with the following: Francis W. LaFarge, Albert E. Crane, Paul N. Browne, and Oscar O. Widmann.
CEDAR GATE
THIS tract of forty acres of woodland lies to the south of Locust Hill Road and between the Delafield estate and Tokeneke. Originally it was all a part of the Delafield estate. The first twenty acres were deeded to Francis Delafield Wright in 1906 by his aunt, Emma H. Delafield. The first house of the present development was built by
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HISTORY
Frank Wright for Mr. and Mrs. Gerrit Smith, and eight houses followed soon after. One of the first of these new residents was Charles Barnard, the well-known author of County Fair. A few years later, Mr. Wright purchased twenty acres of land from the Waterbury and Bell prop- erty adjoining, and in 1912 a number of new houses were erected by friends and acquaintances of the first comers. Water pipes bringing in the town water were laid in 1914. Today there is a total of about twenty-five families in this restricted and private park, known for its woodland and rock-garden beauty.
TOKENEKE ASSOCIATION
ALONG the shore, including Butler's Island and Content- ment Island, and between Five Mile River and the Dela- field estate, are several hundred acres of woodland, meadow, coves, and tidewater streams, known as Tokeneke, the name having been that of a sachem or chief of a people who inhabited this area in the days before the earliest white settlements. The name and mark of this sachem are on some of the original land deeds in the State archives. Early writers in Colonial days referred to this shore as a region infested by smugglers and squatters, who were in constant conflict with the King's officers. The tillable upland was cleared by some of the town's earliest settlers.
Today it is a restricted residential community of great natural beauty, peopled by a hundred families, with good roads and attractive homes and unusual opportunities for water sports. Quail and pheasant fly in the salt meadows, and songbirds haunt the shrubs and hedges. The assessed property value is one-ninth of the total assessment of the town.
The part of Tokeneke known as Contentment Island was given its name by Vincent Colyer, a distinguished artist, who in 1866 made a yachting trip along the shore of the Sound from New York to New Haven in search of a site for a home and studio. He regarded that bit of shore as the most attractive that he inspected, purchased a tract of forty acres, and on it built the first house on the island.
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The house, in part, is now the home of Mr. and Mrs. Edward F. Weed. Mr. Colyer's purchase included the southern part of the island, and he spent a considerable sum in improving it.
During the period of his residence here Mr. Colyer took an active part in local affairs and served a term in the lower house of the State Legislature. Later Jason M. Bowen bought the center part of the island, which was heavily wooded, and developed that portion of the property.
Mrs. Alice Dean Ward purchased the south part of the island from the estate of Vincent Colyer, and in 1897 it was sold to John Sherman Hoyt, who by drainage and fill linked several small islands and the adjacent upland into one large estate, one of the most attractive in the entire Tokeneke section.
Contentment Island was originally known as Ox Pound and is so named in many of the old land records.
A few years after Mr. Hoyt had acquired his property the Tokeneke Corporation made its purchases of upland and shore and began its development of the Tokeneke of today.
Among those who built or lived here were: David Bispham of the Metropolitan Opera Company, and Her- bert Witherspoon, its director; Laurette Taylor of the theatre; Richard LeGallienne, poet; Honore Morrow, author ; George F. Pentecost, the evangelist; Gerrit Smith, the organist, and Richard Tjader, big-game hunter.
Its roads follow the lines of old trails and cattle paths and because of their narrowness and winding ways were never, with the exception of Old Farm Road, taken over by the town. Following the demise of the old corpora- tion, the residents formed a property-owners' association which has since taken title to five miles of these private roads, rebuilt them, and now maintains them. In addition, by means of a community purse and individual contribu- tions, it has accomplished much in adding to the natural beauty of the place by landscaping and planting, care of the trees and grass and tidal streams and shores, and the drainage of mosquito ditches constructed by one of its early residents, the late William L. Searles. His pioneer
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HISTORY
work in mosquito extermination was responsible for all of the mosquito extermination work east and west of Darien and later throughout New England. The town of Darien now contributes financial aid to this work, which is con- ducted under the supervision of the Association. The As- sociation supports a special police patrol for its private roads and the grounds of its residents and members. It is one of the most active town organizations and takes a live interest in the town's affairs and good government.
The officers of the Association are : President, Robert E. Allen; Honorary President, John Sherman Hoyt; Vice Presidents, Charles Bates Dana and Hawley T. Chester ; Treasurer, Merrel P. Callaway; Secretary, Franklin V. Peale.
These officers and the following constitute the Board of Directors : Henry Jay Case, Ralph H. Case, Hawley T. Chester, Walter S. Fischer, Percy N. Furber, William F. Forepaugh, Abbott K. Hamilton, John Bright Lord, Rus- sell L. McIntosh, Dr. P. E. D. Malcolm, and Mrs. P. E. D. Malcolm.
THE TOKENEKE CLUB
WHEN the first cottagers built in Tokeneke there was little accessible beach for bathing, and the road to it was rough and deep in sand. One road led to it from the Post Road near the present Darien Theatre, and then over Hog Hill, now Locust Hill, then a terrible road, now greatly im- proved. The way most used was Raymond Street, from Old King's Highway east. Rowayton was the railroad station, one hour and forty minutes from New York City.
Butler's Island, where there was a log cabin and a fresh- water pond with thickets of marsh mallow, laurel, and bittersweet, was reached only by a path along the shore. Those who came to Tokeneke lived at the Inn, built in 1904. The more convenient lagoons and creeks reaching to tidewater were then quite often used for bathing. The only residences there were Wayside, the Lone Pine Cot- tage, E. Hope Norton's farmhouse, and the Red House. The two Tjader houses and the Witherspoon house were erected in 1905.
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All this was before Mr. Norton, Miner Randall, Dr. Mortimer Lloyd, Dr. Thomas Alsop, J. J. Dall, Harry Taintor, Charles Pope, Joseph Sawyer, and others formed the Tokeneke Corporation and took over the development of the property. Every lot, of course, did not front on the water, and the promoters found it difficult to get cottagers to buy without assurance of an accessible bathing beach that could be kept under control. It was, therefore, as much for the protection of the corporation as for the con- venience of the cottagers that the Tokeneke Beach Club was formed in 1909. The club acquired ownership of a small stretch of shore on which stood a dilapidated double- decker bathhouse and a broken pier. That was the be- ginning of the present attractive and prosperous beach club.
To H. Townsend Blodget, still active in business at the age of seventy-nine, who built one of the first houses in Tokeneke in 1908, goes much of the credit for the or- ganization of the club.
With a painting of the proposed new clubhouse under his arm-a painting by Houston Hawley, a distinguished architectural colorist-Mr. Blodget indefatigably trudged the streets of New York, soliciting subscriptions for funds to support and maintain the new club.
Those days of hard work and thrifty management to make ends meet are recalled in fireside stories now. Here is one about the present flagpole. It was purchased in New York by Mr. Blodget and Harry Taintor and put on a Bridgeport steamboat, which was met by Blodget and Taintor in a rowboat off Green's Reef Lighthouse one night. The flagpole was dropped overboard by the ship's crew and towed two miles to shore by the pair in the rowboat.
Another concerns the extermination of red squirrels, which were destroying birds' nests and gnawing holes in houses. A third tells of William L. Searles and his first mosquito ditches. There was also the subscription drive for a fund to buy the noisy Hurst peacock which sat on the greenhouses, near the present house of the Darien Garden Club, and screamed day and night; the peacock was offered for sale by its owner for twenty-five dollars,
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but was killed during an electric storm the night before the purchase price was paid.
In those early days, the raising of money for the sup- port of the club was one of the popular pastimes of the cottagers. As much was done in the way of entertain- ments as there was bathing in the Sound. Tokeneke was then rich in professional talent, and the shows and concerts put on featured David Bispham, Metropolitan baritone ; Arthur Philips, tenor; Richard LeGallienne, poet; Gerrit Smith, composer; Mrs. Gerrit Smith, contralto, and Her- bert Witherspoon, basso, who became director of the Metropolitan and who died only last spring. The club's clam-bakes became known up and down the shore. In 1910 came another feature, the club water carnivals. Dur- ing these carnivals, Tokeneke was illuminated by Japanese lanterns and flood-lights, with decorated canoes in the lagoons and ships off shore, followed by water sports, din- ner, dancing, and concerts.
Gradually social activities were added, and a wing was built on the clubhouse containing a stage for concerts and amateur theatricals.
A few years after the club was formed, three newcomers, Messrs. Gascoyne, Potterton, and Jaffray, purchased But- ler's Island from the corporation and the development of it as a residential section began, with many new members added to the club. With each succeeding year, the beach on the club property was improved. The main road leading to it was ballasted and the old building replaced by a new and modern structure which lasted several years and was burned to the ground in the fall of 1932. In 1914, five years after the club was organized, Tokeneke Road was opened through the woods along the old trolley tracks, from Railroad Avenue to Old Farm Road, and by the time it was paved and made a hard road in 1919 the resi- dents had abandoned Rowayton Station for that at Darien. The old right of way along the beach to Butler's Island was closed, a new causeway built, and additional shore front purchased.
Today the clubhouse is a concrete structure, with bath- houses, kitchens, dining-room, and dance floor. Under the competent direction of Dr. Oswald Swinney Lowsley water-
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sports training and competition for children has become one of the most popular features each season. Surrounded by excellent tennis courts, with a row of gayly painted cabanas along the beach and generous parking spaces avail- able, Tokeneke Club is today one of the most attractive beach clubs between New York and New Haven and has a representative membership from Darien, New York, and New Canaan.
Its officers are : E. Hope Norton, president; Donald McK. Blodget, vice president; Samuel G. Adams, treas- urer; Harry Parker, secretary.
OX RIDGE HUNT CLUB
STARTED in 1911 by a group of men who had been riding through this district for some time previous, the Ox Ridge Hunt came as a natural development in a hunting country. Despite the increase in population, the available open field ground for horse and hounds in this country is about fif- teen miles long, extending from the Fairfield and West- chester Hounds on the south to the Fairfield County Hunt Club on the north, and west to the Golden Bridge Hounds, including portions of the townships of New Canaan, Ridge- field, Darien, Norwalk, Wilton, and Lewisboro, the latter in New York State.
The clubhouse, stables, indoor riding ring, and polo and exercise fields occupy a beautiful piece of about sixty-seven acres lying along Ox Ridge and between Middlesex Road and Mansfield Avenue. The land was originally purchased from John McCormack, the singer.
Col. Howard Stout Neilson, Bruce M. Jenkins, John H. Lapham, Ned King, and John J. Farrell are most closely associated with the creation of Ox Ridge Club; others joined later.
With the United States entering the World War and with so many men going into the service, hunting was abandoned, and there came a momentary check in the de- velopment of the club. However, in 1922, Ox Ridge Hunt Club was reorganized and was immediately recognized by the Masters of Fox Hounds, Associated, of America. By 1928 hunting was established on a permanent basis, and
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HISTORY
the hunt uniform, dark green with orange collar and waist- coat, is now a familiar sight in the autumn as horses and hounds flash through the fields in the back country.
With the exception of one year, polo has been played each year since the World War. While mostly played for the pleasure of members and their friends, inter-club matches are encouraged and have been successfully played, as witness the handsome silver cups in the clubhouse.
The horse shows held each year since 1926 have brought out a larger and more representative attendance each year. The outdoor open show especially improved so much that in 1934 it was possible to make it a two-day instead of a one-day event and to attract entries from all over the country.
The indoor show was started primarily for the junior riders home for the holidays, but due to the interest shown, soon became an open show and today is one of the most popular of the season. It always takes place in the rid- ing ring, which was originally built so that club members could have the advantages of year-round riding, regardless of the weather.
It has always been the aim of the club to encourage rid- ing and the love of horses, and realizing that its future success depends largely on the younger generation, the club has endeavored to cultivate its interest, as well as that of its elders, by providing competent riding instruction and safe horses. During the winters it has been successful in obtaining the cooperation of the United States Military Academy at West Point, which has graciously permitted one of its officers in charge of equitation to come over one evening a week and instruct the members in the ad- vantages of using the forward seat for jumping, as adopted by the American Army horse show teams.
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