New Canaan
A New England village with a modernist soul: stone walls and steeples, glass houses in the woods, and one of the richest cultural calendars in Connecticut.
The Next Station to Heaven
New Canaan has all the charm of a classic New England town: white-steepled churches on God’s Acre, stone walls along winding roads, and a walkable village of independent shops and restaurants in historic buildings along Elm Street and Main Street. Look a little closer and you’ll also find one of the most important collections of modern architecture in America, a century-old artists’ colony in Silvermine, and a calendar of galas, gallery openings and concerts that would be the envy of towns many times its size.
Settled in 1731 as Canaan Parish and incorporated in 1801, New Canaan grew from farms and shoe factories into a country retreat for New Yorkers, and later a commuter town, once the railroad arrived in 1868.
In the 1940s and ’50s, the architects known as the Harvard Five, Philip Johnson, Marcel Breuer, Eliot Noyes, John Johansen and Landis Gores, built modern houses in the woods here and put the town on the world’s architectural map.
Today it is a town of about 20,000 people that still feels like a village. The train to Grand Central Station earned it the nickname residents lovingly use, ‘the Next Station to Heaven’.
The Institutions That Shape New Canaan
Architecture
The Glass House
Philip Johnson’s 1949 home is the centerpiece of a 49-acre campus of fourteen structures, from the Brick House to the Painting Gallery, now a National Trust for Historic Preservation site. Seasonal tours leave from the visitor center at 199 Elm Street; reserve ahead.
Arts, Nature & Community
Grace Farms
Sharon Prince’s 80-acre campus in the northwest corner of town, with its flowing River building, brings together art, nature, justice and community. Read our story
Exhibitions
The Onera Foundation
A historic landmark at 63 Park Street, reborn as a center for exhibitions and culture in the heart of the village. Read our story
Silvermine Arts Center
Sculptor Solon Borglum drew artists to Silvermine more than a century ago, and the Silvermine Guild of Artists was founded in 1922. Today its galleries are free to visit and its School of Art teaches thousands each year.
New Canaan Museum & Historical Society
Fairfield County’s oldest historical society, on a campus at 13 Oenoke Ridge that includes the 1764 Hanford-Silliman House and the John Rogers Studio, a National Historic Landmark.
Waveny Park & the Carriage Barn
Some 300 acres of fields, ponds and trails surround the 1912 Waveny House. The 19th-century stone Carriage Barn is now an arts center and gallery, steps from the Powerhouse Performing Arts Center.
New Canaan Nature Center
Forty acres on Oenoke Ridge with easy trails, a boardwalk through a cattail marsh, gardens, a greenhouse and a live Birds of Prey exhibit, just north of downtown.
New Canaan Library
A light-filled new building beside the 1913 original, with an auditorium and a green that connects the library to downtown. It is as much a town square as a library.
New Canaan Chamber Music
Intimate concerts in the spirit of music made for private rooms, brought to town by pianist Andrew Armstrong. Read our story
Worth Going To
PhilanthropyA Legacy of GivingDede Thompson Bartlett on education, women’s empowerment and historic preservation.
ProfileProfound PurposeMary and Frank Fetchet turned unimaginable grief into their life’s work.
Cover StoryAlex CocoThe New Canaan producer behind Anora, the 2025 Best Picture winner.
Farms & HomesteadsOn the LandElisa Bulgrin’s farm, inspired by her Australian childhood.
Garden & LandscapeSteve Zatz’s Native MeadowA swampy backyard became two and a half acres of meadow.
Food@BrunchWithBabsThe internet’s grandma opens her Silvermine home.
FoodChef Peter KellyHaute cuisine comes to Pine Street at Waveny Tavern by PXK.
Cover StoryJoby Harold & Tory TunnellA Hollywood duo comes home to New Canaan.
Arts & CultureOlga SweetThe portraitist who captures her subjects with striking simplicity.
HomesTo the Nines in New CanaanJordan and Andrew Terner’s fabulous farmhouse.
Real Estate549 OenokeYes, that house: the grand white Southern Colonial on Oenoke Ridge.
HomesHoliday House TourFive beautifully dressed New Canaan homes on the Newcomers tour.