Ridgefield, CT: En Route to...

Of my various hometowns, perhaps the most unremarkable is the one in which I spent my teenage years, the one in which I have spent the least time, and the one of which I am nonetheless the most fond. The town of Ridgefield, Connecticut is more often than not recognized by neighboring towns’ reputations rather than its own. It is truly, as I said, a markedly unremarkable town; for a teenager, its only significant feature is the lack of any significant features. The most frequented establishment is Dunkin’ Donuts. The town hangout spot is Starbucks. Why the interest in coffee shops? I’m not even sure that there is one, aside from the fact that there are almost no other places for nearly 25,000 townspeople to gather and socialize. The town website offers a link of the top 100 things to do and places to go in Ridgefield: of those, only three items can actually be done and only two places can actually be visited within the town boarders. Of those activities, three involve visiting museums, and of those places, two are museums. And so, the coffee shop rendezvous are oftentimes not only the last but also the only viable option for local teenagers.

Few others in town tend to get together in such a fashion. A considerable portion of the Ridgefield community’s adult members is far too transient to sit for a long chat over a cup of coffee. There are three varieties of people well acquainted with Ridgefield, Connecticut: ones who travel through it daily on their way to work in Greenwich, Darien, New Canaan, or New York City; ones who choose to live there because of its close proximity to Greenwich, Darien, New Canaan, or New York City; and those who did not quite choose to settle there, but do so only because they cannot afford the costs of living in Greenwich, Darien, New Canaan, or New York City. This is largely due to the fact that even while Ridgefield’s median home value of roughly $750,000 is over twice the average value of other Connecticut residences, it pales in comparison to the average housing value of $1,650,000 in neighboring New Canaan, or $1,500,000 in neighboring Darien (City-data.com). In fact, the relatively affordable housing prices prompted developers to break ground for a condominium complex now known as Casagmo, located downtown, which sprawls over Ridgefield’s few sites of historical significance—the land on which the Battle of Ridgefield was fought during the Revolutionary war. Aptly named, the land is indeed one of jutting highlands and sloping lowlands, of glacially-formed ridges, and roads that are not only narrow but that also wind and curve and not infrequently take sharp, ninety degree turns in poorly signed areas.

Aside from its close proximity to a number of financial hubs, a large number of families are drawn to Ridgefield for the sole purpose of benefiting from the school district. Ranked 3^rd best high school in the state, the 1,600+ students at RHS constantly perform well above average on standardized tests, including the more than 92% of students who score 3 or above on the over 800 AP tests that are taken by RHS students annually. With over 65% of the student body participating in school athletics, RHS sports teams have won 11 conference and state championships in the past 2 years alone, and boast a number of All-Conference, All-State, All-New England, and All-American award recipients (Wikipedia).

For lovers of the arts, Ridgefield may also hold some appeal. It is home of the Western Connecticut Youth Orchestra, the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra, and the Ridgefield Playhouse, the latter of which has hosted acts such as Blues Traveler, Arlo Guthrie, the Moscow Boys Choir, Brandie Carlile, among others. Eugene O’Neill once lived and wrote here, as did Howard Fast and Maurice Sendack. Poet Ira Joe Fisher currently lives and writes here, right down the street from my home, sometimes in my family’s kitchen.

An unremarkable town in more than a few respects, doing nothing in Ridgefield is nonetheless plenty satisfying to my own personal taste. The quaint, rarely busy main street with its locally owned bookstores, coffee shops, bakeries and cafés suit me far better than any sprawling shopping center or commercial plaza would. It may not be an overly visually or sensory stimulating town, but it is a quiet one, a place of relative calm and small-town New England charm. If you are looking for sites and sounds to keep you occupied and entertained, you might as well continue driving until you reach Greenwich, Darien, New Canaan, or New York City. But if you are looking for a place to breathe, the air here is clean and crisp and clear.