Welcome to Greenwich, CT

County: Fairfield
Population: 59,484
Square Miles: 67.2
Government: Selectman
Distance to Major Cities:
Boston: 163 miles
Hartford: 72 miles
New York City: 27 miles

Greenwich, gateway to New England and jewel of Fairfield County’s Gold Coast. Painted in the media as home of hedge funds, horse farms, and Hollywood moguls, Greenwich is all of this and more!

Greenwich encompasses 67 square miles, of which nearly a third is water. It is bordered by Westchester County, NY to the north and west, Stamford to the east and Long Island Sound to the south. In July 2005, CNN/Money and Money magazine ranked Greenwich 12th on its list of the 100 Best Places to Live in the United States. Greenwich is easily accessed by car via I-95, the Merritt Parkway or Route 1. The town is also served by Metro-North Railroad and New Haven Line, with four stations, Greenwich, Cos Cob, Riverside, and Old Greenwich. It’s just 40 minutes to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan on the express train, and a 50 minute ride on the local. Amtrak stops in the adjacent city of Stamford.

The town is well-loved and well-managed, preserving its precious wetlands and open spaces and offering its residents many terrific recreational facilities. There are four beaches on the Long Island Sound which are Greenwich Point, Byram Beach, Is-land Beach (Little Captain’s Island), and Great Captain Island. A community sailing center and rental area are also located in the park. The town owns the 18 hole Griffith E. Harris golf course, named after “Griff” Harris, First Selectman from 1952 to 1958. There are also eight private country clubs in town with golf courses.

There is plenty of shopping in Greenwich, highlighted by famed Greenwich Avenue, a dream shopping destination for residents and tourists alike. The Avenue offers selections from Madison Avenue giants such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Baccarat, Tory Burch, Eileen Fisher and upscale chains like Restoration Hardware, Apple and J. Crew, a bounty of bookstores, and locally owned boutiques that offer one-of-a-kind handmade clothing and decorative items. Greenwich is also a focal point for interior decor, antiques. The villages of Cos Cob and Old Greenwich offer their own unique shopping experiences, with delightful small clothing and gift shops. Greenwich restaurants offer a cosmopolitan mix of award-winning European and British fare, urban nouveau cuisine, Asian delicacies, international pubs, four-star hotel restaurants, and family-run bakeries and bistros.

Greenwich has distinctive neighborhoods and villages which focus on Long Island Sound, the elegant downtown area, or the lakes and rolling hills of the Greenwich countryside. Its home choices range from chic brick luxury townhomes to sprawling estates, historic homes, centuries old farms to modern loft condominiums. Due to its affluence and convenient location near New York City, Greenwich has long been associated with celebrities and business tycoons.

Greenwich, Connecticut History

For the original Native Americans, this was a summer camp where they could feast on the bounty of Long Island Sound and linger in the cool woodlands. The coastline was dominated by rocky hills that had been carved out by glaciers over 15,000 years ago, with resulting ridges and rivers that ran to the seacoast.

In the early 17th century, Europeans set up trade routes between Boston and New Amsterdam (New York) and in 1640 a group of British settlers bought land from the native inhabitants along the coast. The long thin stretch of beach was called “Elizabeth’s Neck” in honor of founder Elizabeth Fones Winthrop, a member of Massachusetts governor Winthrop’s family. Adjacent to this stretch of coastland, the Dutch claimed land under the authority of the colony of New Netherland, so part of Greenwich was actually a Dutch colony until 1650. In 1672 another stretch of land, a horse pasture along the “Myanos” (Mianus) River, was purchased from the natives and named Horseneck. Relations between immigrants and Natives were not always peaceful, however, and coastal Connecticut saw its share of local battles for land.

During the American Revolution, Greenwich son General Israel Putnam made a daring escape from the British in 1779 riding his horse down breakneck cliffs. His ride is memorialized in the Town Seal, and the name of coastal Route 1 which is called Putnam Avenue. Greenwich also celebrates the famous maritime town of Greenwich, England, home of the Greenwich merid-ian of Zero degrees longitude and the world-recognized Greenwich Mean Time, hence the image of a clock as a widespread symbol for Greenwich today.

As America grew, traders and politicians stopped here en route between Boston, Providence, New Haven and New York, and fell in love with the area. Resorts sprang up along the coast, some of which remain today as elegant bed and breakfasts or inns which cater to world-weary international business travelers. In the 1800’s, immigrants who built the railroads connecting New Haven with New York moved here and settled along its tracks. In the late 1880’s, an art colony dedicated to American Impressionism was founded in Cos Cob and thrived until around 1920. Bankers, lawyers, industrialists, artists, entertainers, and diplomats summered here from Manhattan and decided to stay. In time, their wealth earned for Greenwich and the sur-rounding Fairfield County the title of “Gold Coast,” only 30 minutes by train to Grand Central Station, yet a world away.