Greenwich
(chapter excerpt)
The Village of Greenwich is at the heart of our story, not because we love the other towns less but because we love Greenwich more. It is Elizabeth’s hometown, and we are blessed to be among people who have been her friends since childhood. Imagine a place where the houses have scarcely changed since the age of Victoria, where the people are kind, generous, and welcoming, and where a chance conversation on the street seldom lasts less than half an hour. That’s Greenwich.
Hugging the shore of the Battenkill River, Greenwich started out as a mill town. In 1804, Job Whipple dammed the swift-running waters a short way from their final falls into the Hudson. The first mills sawed wood and ground grain. Whipple had come from Cumberland Hill, Rhode Island, obtaining title to the present site of the village in 1781. He bought the land from a Mr. Carbine of Albany, who had already built a dam, a sawmill, and a store. A hard-working, devout Quaker, Whipple was well regarded as a man of integrity and served as justice of the peace, holding court sessions in his home. Back then, the little hamlet was called Whipple City. The name changed to Union Village in 1809, reputedly in a fit of goodwill and harmony on the part of the villagers over the uniting of people from two Towns (Greenwich and Easton). Another theory I have heard is that the renaming was part of the tail end of the general fervor over the establishment of the Federal Union. The name is preserved by Judy Flagg’s Union Village Shop on Main Street.
Main Street, Greenwich
2007; gouache on canvas;
16 x 24 in.
Many of the historic buildings on Main Street have been restored or revitalized. Today there are a delightful variety of
shops and stores to peruse: a natural foods market, a flower
shop, antiques and collectibles, and numerous gift shops. Union Village Ltd. is one store that stocks a unique collection of
Colonial decor and crafts such as cloth floor rugs, stenciled
design patterns, and handmade pottery and furniture. Further along the street, you can find historic memorabilia in
other local shops featuring antiques from the late 1700s.