Greenfield Hill - Fairfield, CT

Just an hour north of New York City, Greenfield Hill’s shady lanes and meandering stone walls create an illusion of rural solitude. This agrarian community, which was established in 1725, has dwindled to a single working farm, as well as a horse stable that offers riding lessons. The remaining barns and pastures now function as artful additions to the landscape. Even the 19th century windmill, that once pumped water for the area’s Jersey Cattle, has a more modern purpose – housing cellular phone antennas.

Lush gardens and primeval trees are as prominent as pristine lawns on Greenfield Hill which lights up each spring with the pink and white blossoms of thousands of dogwood trees. The dogwood has been a Greenfield Hill trademark since Dr. Isaac Bronson, an assistant surgeon in the Revolutionary War, decided to showcase them along the edges of his Bronson Road estate. In the early 1900’s the Greenfield Hill Village Improvement Society began importing and planting approximately 100 dogwoods a year. By the 1930’s, word had spread that the blooming of these trees was a sight worth traveling for and the famed Greenfield Hill Dogwood Festival was born. For more than a century, this same association has worked to maintain the area’s rural character. Representing approximately 900 households, the society was instrumental in obtaining two acre zoning for the Greenfield Hill Congregational Church and surrounding properties which became the standard for this captivating enclave.