| Reference
maps |
 Jennings
composite
A cut-out from a larger map in the 1933 book Greens Farms, by George
Penfield Jennings. It is a composite in which different time periods
coexist. |
The controversial creeks
This page has two maps that show
Gallop's Gap Creek and New Creek. One is
from a 1868 map of Westport. |
1932 properties map
This map, commissioned by the Sherwood
Island Park Association, shows the parcels owned by the
State as well as all of the other properties
that had to be acquired to create Sherwood
Island State Park.
|
1931 Bridgeport Herald
map
From an article titled "Sherwood Island
War to Open with a Bang, it shows shows the situation
before the 1931 Westport town meeting. |
|
Source
notes:
The story told here about the 23-year war was compiled by Marilyn Bakker, based on
the William H. Burr papers donated by his grandson, William
Burr, to the
Fairfield Historical Society in Summer 2003.
The collection number is B-112. |
Based on this story, historian Jamie
Eves wrote a fine article for the May 2004 Bulletin of the
Connecticut League of History Organizations. Click here
for a copy of the article.
Its title is:
"Beyond the Dry Highway and the No
Trespass Sign: Albert Milford Turner,
William H. Burr, Elsie Hill, and the
Creation of Connecticut's First Oceanfront
State Parks, 1914-1942."
Original
publication: Connecticut League of
History Organizations Bulletin,
vol. 57, no. 2 (May 2004), pp. 9-11, (c)
2004 Jamie Eves. |
|
Sherwood Island State Park
occupies 234 acres of woodlands, wetlands
and sandy beach on the Long Island Sound. It
is in the Green's Farms area of Westport
CT.
Because the first parcel of land was purchased in 1914,
Sherwood Island is officially Connecticut's oldest state park --
but it could not take the shape it has today until 1937.
 Green's
Farms today, aerial photo |
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|
Chapter
I. 1600-1800 |
In 1639, the Town of Fairfield was
settled at a place the local Indians called
Unquowa. Shortly thereafter, the
"Bankside Farmers" followed their
cattle to a remote area that the Indians called
Machamux, "The Beautiful
Land."
The farmers owned and
administered in common what was then called
Fox Island. To the west of Fox Island was
Little Island, owned by individual
families.
In the 1700s the
thriving community that grew there was
renamed Green's Farms.
 Colonial Green's
Farms
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|
Chapter
II. The 1800s |
In 1787, the Sherwood family settled on what
used to be called Fox Island. During the 1800s,
they farmed the Sherwood's Island uplands and
operated the gristmill on the Mill Pond.
Many farmers shared the Machamux salt marsh.
In the 1800s,
wealthy families built mansions in the
Green's Farms area, along and around
Beachside Avenue.
In 1835, Green's
Farms became part of the newly incorporated
Town of Westport.
Sherwood family
genealogy
The gristmill on the
Mill Pond
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|
Chapter
III. The war for the park |
In the 1900s, when the State was
trying to acquire land for the park, the
influential landowners in the area fought
against it. Sherwood
Island is called Connecticut's oldest state
park because the first piece of land was
purchased in 1914, but it wasn't until 1937
that the key parcels were acquired and the
public access was assured.
The 23-year war
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What
if the State had lost? |
If
the State had not won the war, what would
Sherwood Island look like today?
First look at the 1932
properties map and then look at the
development plans of the
Sherwood Point
Realty Company and Sherwood
Island Company Inc. These maps were
filed in the Westport Town Hall in the
1920s.
Little Island was part of
a tract acquired in 1924 by Pinehurst Realty
Co. That land, acquired by the State in
1937, includes the West Woods. |
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