Guilford's lore includes myths of pirate treasure hidden offshore, Revolutionary War skirmishes, and stories of storms testing resilience. Families recall parades, clambakes, and fairs on the green in the 1950s, the Guilford Fair every late September since 1859, and the long-running family orchards on the inland slopes — Bishop's Orchards just north of the green has run continuously since 1871, five generations and counting, and the peach and apple seasons mark the late-summer rhythm of the town. Residents remembered the quarrying era when Guilford-shipped granite was rising in New York Harbor, and the suburban celebrations of the mid-twentieth century. Myths and memories together highlight Guilford's layered identity: colonial farming hub, maritime community, granite-shipping inland town, and modern shoreline village.
Today Guilford is celebrated for its 1639 Whitfield House, its twelve-acre green, its First-Period colonial homes, its 1802 lighthouse on Faulkner's Island, its September fair, and the orchards on the inland slopes. Its story reflects Indigenous continuity, the Twenty-Five Planters and the 1639 Covenant, two centuries of New England town-green tradition, granite that traveled to New York Harbor for the Statue of Liberty pedestal, and modern shoreline life. Our Guilford designs celebrate this layered identity, pairing the clam shell motif with vintage styling. They invite you to explore the Guilford collection and carry forward a reminder of Connecticut's oldest stone house and the green that has been the center of town since 1639.
Why People Visit Guilford Connecticut
Guilford offers the oldest stone house in New England, one of the largest village greens in the country, four historic-house museums in walking distance of each other, an offshore lighthouse, forty miles of inland hiking, century-and-a-half-old family orchards, and a continuously running September fair. Visitors come for the Whitfield House, the green, the Hyland and Griswold houses, the Stony Creek granite story and its connection to the Statue of Liberty, the apple and peach seasons at the orchards, the fair, and the simple shoreline pleasure of a village that has been holding its center since 1639. It is old, intact, and very Connecticut.
