Recent from talks
Silvermine, Connecticut
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Silvermine, Connecticut
Silvermine is an unincorporated community in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States that extends along the Silvermine River, across three southwestern Connecticut towns: Norwalk, New Canaan and Wilton.
The name "Silvermine" comes from old legends of a silver mine in the area, although no silver has ever been found. Silvermine, the nearest (50 miles) to New York City of the larger art colonies, remains the home of the Silvermine Guild Arts Center. The Silvermine Tavern, an inn occupying several historic buildings, also remains in the neighborhood. Silver Hill Hospital is just beyond the northern end of the neighborhood, in New Canaan near the Wilton border. There are two Silvermine community groups: The Silvermine Community Association and the Norwalk Association of Silvermine Homeowners.
Silvermine, once called Silver Mine, may have been well-settled by the late seventeenth century. In the eighteenth century, the Silvermine River was used for 12 or 13 mills in the neighborhood because it fell steeply enough for the water power to be profitably harnessed. The mills included a leather tanning works, sawmill, and spool works. First built in 1688 on the Silvermine River in Silvermine, Connecticut, the Buttery Sawmill burned down and was rebuilt in 1741.
In 1899, the present Perry Avenue Bridge was constructed. The one-lane stone bridge carries the road over Silvermine River near the Silvermine Tavern grist mill. In the flood of 1955, water flowed over the bridge. The span was put on the National Register of Historic Places in October 2006. That year one of the bridge's curbstones fell into the water, and for the six months before Memorial Day weekend in 2008 the span was closed as repairs were made. The bridge is so narrow that when at times when cars try to pass another, curbstones can be hit. The Norwalk city government spent $350,000 in repairs, which included masonry restoration, new railings, repaving and further narrowing so that drivers would not be tempted to try to pass. A parade with antique cars was held to celebrate the reopening of the bridge.
In 1906, Solon Hannibal Borglum, a sculptor, moved to the New Canaan part of Silvermine and built a hillside studio. He was one of the leading figures in an emerging community of artists in the neighborhood and helped found the "Knockers Club", so named because when they would meet in Borglum's studio and discuss their art, a lot of frank criticism came out, knocking one another's work, they soon were known as The Silvermine Group of Artists.
In 1911, Frank Townsend Hutchens purchased The Old Mill House, The Guthrie-Hutchens Barn, The Blacksmith/Basket Shop, the White Mill (later called the original Village Room), and The Red Mill (Guthrie Knob Mill).
John Kenneth Byard, the husband of the artist Dorothy Randolph Byard, and a major antique dealer and expert on Colonial-era furniture, purchased 83 (to over 100) acres in Norwalk, New Caanan and Wilton. He also was instrumental in selling and financing other properties in Silvermine.
The retail stores along Silvermine Avenue were: Frank Buttery's Country Department Store, the Hyatt-Gregory Store, a barber shop, Guthrie’s meat business (now the Silvermine Market), and Mrs. Loudon’s combined Post Office and grocery.
Hub AI
Silvermine, Connecticut AI simulator
(@Silvermine, Connecticut_simulator)
Silvermine, Connecticut
Silvermine is an unincorporated community in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States that extends along the Silvermine River, across three southwestern Connecticut towns: Norwalk, New Canaan and Wilton.
The name "Silvermine" comes from old legends of a silver mine in the area, although no silver has ever been found. Silvermine, the nearest (50 miles) to New York City of the larger art colonies, remains the home of the Silvermine Guild Arts Center. The Silvermine Tavern, an inn occupying several historic buildings, also remains in the neighborhood. Silver Hill Hospital is just beyond the northern end of the neighborhood, in New Canaan near the Wilton border. There are two Silvermine community groups: The Silvermine Community Association and the Norwalk Association of Silvermine Homeowners.
Silvermine, once called Silver Mine, may have been well-settled by the late seventeenth century. In the eighteenth century, the Silvermine River was used for 12 or 13 mills in the neighborhood because it fell steeply enough for the water power to be profitably harnessed. The mills included a leather tanning works, sawmill, and spool works. First built in 1688 on the Silvermine River in Silvermine, Connecticut, the Buttery Sawmill burned down and was rebuilt in 1741.
In 1899, the present Perry Avenue Bridge was constructed. The one-lane stone bridge carries the road over Silvermine River near the Silvermine Tavern grist mill. In the flood of 1955, water flowed over the bridge. The span was put on the National Register of Historic Places in October 2006. That year one of the bridge's curbstones fell into the water, and for the six months before Memorial Day weekend in 2008 the span was closed as repairs were made. The bridge is so narrow that when at times when cars try to pass another, curbstones can be hit. The Norwalk city government spent $350,000 in repairs, which included masonry restoration, new railings, repaving and further narrowing so that drivers would not be tempted to try to pass. A parade with antique cars was held to celebrate the reopening of the bridge.
In 1906, Solon Hannibal Borglum, a sculptor, moved to the New Canaan part of Silvermine and built a hillside studio. He was one of the leading figures in an emerging community of artists in the neighborhood and helped found the "Knockers Club", so named because when they would meet in Borglum's studio and discuss their art, a lot of frank criticism came out, knocking one another's work, they soon were known as The Silvermine Group of Artists.
In 1911, Frank Townsend Hutchens purchased The Old Mill House, The Guthrie-Hutchens Barn, The Blacksmith/Basket Shop, the White Mill (later called the original Village Room), and The Red Mill (Guthrie Knob Mill).
John Kenneth Byard, the husband of the artist Dorothy Randolph Byard, and a major antique dealer and expert on Colonial-era furniture, purchased 83 (to over 100) acres in Norwalk, New Caanan and Wilton. He also was instrumental in selling and financing other properties in Silvermine.
The retail stores along Silvermine Avenue were: Frank Buttery's Country Department Store, the Hyatt-Gregory Store, a barber shop, Guthrie’s meat business (now the Silvermine Market), and Mrs. Loudon’s combined Post Office and grocery.
Recent media