Southbury

Southbury sits along the Housatonic River in western Connecticut. Bordering Fairfield County and Litchfield County, it is the westernmost town in New Haven County. Home to almost 20,000 residents living in 39 square miles, Southbury comprises rural countryside, charming suburban neighborhoods, and districts rich in the history of America’s heritage. The town seal, Unica Unaque, “the one and only,” reveals Southbury’s status as the only such named community in the US.

Natural beauty and historic preservation

Surrounded by the rolling hills of Central Connecticut’s Pomperaug River Valley, Southbury is rich in natural beauty and wildlife, which the town is committed to preserving through sound planning and careful growth. The 700-acre Audubon Bent of the River Center and Sanctuary and three large state parks—Southford Falls, Kettletown State Park, and the George C. Waldo State Park—offer scenic hiking, biking, and horseback-riding trails and water features, while Lake Zoar and Lake Lillinonah provide opportunities for boating, fishing, and other water sports. Additionally, the town is home to the Southbury Land Trust, a private nonprofit conservation organization founded in 1978 and dedicated to the preservation of farmland, open spaces, and natural resources for the benefit of present and future Southbury residents. The trust currently numbers seven preserves with an accumulated 2,000 acres for townspeople to explore. Southbury is a federally-designated Preserve America community, with five historic districts and nine buildings in town documented by the National Register of Historic Places for their architectural and/or historical significance.

Shops and services

Aside from its natural beauty, Southbury offers a variety of services and conveniences. A presence since at least 1776, the Southbury Public Library now occupies a 32,000 sq. foot space containing a collection of nearly 100,000 books, movies, and other items. The Senior Center offers a number of events and classes, while the farmer’s market brings locally-grown goods to town each Thursday in the warmer weather. Shopping venues include fully modern supermarkets, small shopping plazas with national and independent chain stores, boutiques, galleries, bookstores, hardware stores, specialty markets, and a movie theater. Options for eating out abound, from coffeehouses and diners to fine dining, and houses of worship of many denominations are located both in and around town. Excellent medical care can be found in Southbury and its neighboring towns, while I-84 connects residents to some of the best specialists and hospitals in the country not far away. For personal and professional travel, Southbury is about equidistant from both the Westchester County Airport and Hartford’s Bradley International Airport and connects to I-684 for easy access to Manhattan, 75 miles away.  A drive to Boston takes under 2.5 hours.

Nearby attractions

When you live in Southbury, you also have easy access to a huge number and variety of entertainment venues and other destinations outside of town, both close by and farther afield. These include world-class restaurants, performing arts venues, museums, vineyards, sports arenas, educational institutions, and other attractions. Drive just 10 minutes north and you’re in Woodbury, the Antiques Capital of Connecticut. Also just a few minutes away is Roxbury, a picturesque, historic small town noted as the birthplace of the Green Mountain Boys and as a secluded retreat for artists, writers, and actors. Further to the north is the classic New England town of Litchfield, site of the first law school in the United States. Here, you’ll find White Memorial Conservation Center, a massive nature and wildlife preserve, and Bantam Lake, the largest natural lake in the state.

Less than half an hour west of Southbury on I-84 is the city of Danbury, home to one of New England’s largest shopping centers, the Danbury Mall. For outstanding concerts throughout the summer months, visit Danbury’s Ives Concert Park, an open-air amphitheater surrounded by natural hiking trails and picnic groves on the grounds of the Western Connecticut State University. 

Travel east from Southbury on I-84 for about 20 minutes to Waterbury and experience the restored, historic Palace Theater, a performing arts center hosting outstanding concerts and Broadway shows. Venture a bit further east, into Hartford, the state capital, and take in the latest exhibit at the acclaimed Wadsworth, the oldest continuously-operating public art museum in the US. For more art, explore the Yale University Art Gallery or Center for British Art, just under an hour’s drive south in New Haven (or, for a natural history or neuroscience experience, tour Yale’s Peabody Museum or Cushing Center). For a different kind of beauty, visit the coastline and beaches of the Long Island Sound. Sherwood Island State Park in Westport is less than 40 miles away, while you can reach Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison in under 55 miles.

Travel east from Southbury on I-84 for about 20 minutes to Waterbury and experience the fabulously restored historic Palace Theater, a performing arts center hosting outstanding concerts and Broadway shows. Venture a bit further east, into Hartford, and take in the latest exhibit at the acclaimed Wadsworth, the oldest continuously-operating public art museum in the US. For more art, explore Yale University’s Art Gallery or Center for British Art, both just under an hour’s drive south in New Haven (or, for a natural history or neuroscience experience, tour Yale’s Peabody Museum or Cushing Center). For a different kind of beauty, visit the coastline and beaches of the Long Island Sound. Sherwood Island State Park in Westport is less than 40 miles away, while you can reach Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison in under 55 miles.

In the beginning

The area now known as Southbury was originally home to the Pootatuck Native American people, whose village was nestled along the Pomperaug River River in what is now Southbury’s South Britain historic district. In 1673, fifteen families from Stratford, Ct., seeking religious freedom, traveled up the Housatonic River and settled here in the Pomperaug Valley. They negotiated the purchase of land from the Pootatuck and established what became known as the Pomperaug Plantation, which later became part of the larger town of Woodbury. Pomperaug Plantation was primarily an agricultural community with fertile farmland and plentiful waterways that enabled farmers and local trades people to prosper. Education and community life were important from the start, with schools and churches becoming the foundation institutions of the settlement.

For much of the 18th and 19th centuries, Southbury remained a rural farming community, with its rivers and streams also supporting various mills and small industries. The villages of South Britain and Southford became important manufacturing centers, making a variety of products including hats, buttons, tools, paper, and textiles. The Pomperaug River and Eight Mile Brook provided the water power for these factories, while roads, stagecoach routes, and then the railroad linked Southbury with neighboring communities and regional commercial markets. In 1787, the southern area of Woodbury was incorporated as the independent Town of Southbury. The town’s historic buildings, villages, farms, and roads still reflect this earlier time of farming and small-scale industry.

Modern times

Southbury changed significantly during the 20th century as agriculture and industry gave way to a more diverse residential community. The construction of I-84 in the 1960s made the town more accessible to the larger metropolitan region and contributed to the town’s population growth (especially with the building of Heritage Village). Today, Southbury is a town where historic villages, open fields, wooded hills, rivers, and newer neighborhoods exist side by side. That sense of continuity—of a community growing and changing while preserving its distinctive New England character—is an important part of what makes Southbury, and Heritage Village within it, such special places.

For further information

See a photo tour of Southbury and visit the town’s website.

Watch “Defiance in Connecticut: When Southbury Said No,” the story of Southbury’s resistance to plans in 1937 by a German-American Bund to build a Nazi camp in the town.

Read about Southbury’s unique Russian Village Historic District, built in the 1920s.