As noted in recent posts, I have been working on a project
which looks at the viability of using historic New England village centers as a
framework for supporting 21st rural development. The idea is that the village model can
be updated to support sustainable development in the countryside and to serve
as a counterweight to large-lot, exurban sprawl. I did some field visits recently and thought I would share
some highlights.
Guilford CT is a town of some 22,000 people, about 15 miles
east of New Haven, on I-95 and Shore Line East. It isn’t really a village, but it does have one asset that many
people in Connecticut view as the epitome of a New England village – a magnificent
green.
Now as people who have studied New England village greens will
tell you (especially see the definitive book on the subject: The New England Village (Creating the North
American Landscape) by Joseph Wood, available here) they come in all sorts
of shapes and sizes. The Guilford
green is notable for being big (nearly 12 acres) and rectangular. It is mainly open space (used as an
outdoor concert venue), with only a few monuments – the main one a handsome
Civil War monument dedicated to the men of Guilford who died in the war. The streets bounding the green are home
to churches, the town hall, private homes, and a nice business district of
small shops. The look and function
of the town green have changed over the nearly four centuries it has been in
use (see an interesting history here), but it has continued to be the iconic
center of town and by serving as a sort of archetype of the town green it has
shared its symbolic value with other New Englanders.
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