About Delafield Island
Delafield Island is a quiet, bucolic, coastal community within Darien, CT located on 165 acres bordering Scotts Cove and Long Island Sound beyond. Originally a farm purchased by Dr. Francis Delafield in 1865, the Delafield Island residential community we know today dates back to the 1930’s.
Today, a network of well-maintained roads, meandering through a lush landscape, connects our small community of about 125 homes to each other, and to the outside world beyond. Our desirable location, within walking distance of Darien’s burgeoning downtown, the Darien Train Station and Tokeneke Elementary School has long been a draw for families with young children. Once here however, many residents fall in love with our special section of Darien, remaining long after their kids have grown up and moved on. This mix of new and old residents; a blending of long-held traditions and fresh ideas, is one of the things that makes our community so special.
Delafield Island is an Independent Taxing District under Connecticut General Statutes. While our formal operating name is The Delafield Island Tax District, most people around town commonly refer to us as “The Delafield Island Association”. This often leads to confusion for new home buyers, who mistakenly think we are a Housing Association (or “HOA”). As an Independent Taxing District, we are actually a small municipal government entity, recognized by the State of Connecticut, within the borders of greater Darien. A Board of Directors and officers, elected by homeowners within our borders, is responsible for building and maintaining our 4 miles of roads, and for raising taxes to pay for that singular mission. Taxes are collected once per year (July) and are calculated using a Mill Rate approved by homeowners each year and based on the Grand List of Darien. While we do avail ourselves of all other town services available to any Darien resident, we maintain a certain degree of independence, and we like it that way.
Since its founding, residents of the Delafield Island have enjoyed each other’s company at social events organized throughout the year by what we call the Delafield Island Social Group. This organization is separate from the Delafield Island Taxing District, is run by a group of community-minded residents. Annual dues are currently $60 per household.
The History of Delafield Island
It is a long, but very interesting story, the history of Delafield Island. It begins about 9,000 years ago, when the ice disappeared and the Indians moved into southern New England. Those in the Stamford area were a generally peaceful tribe of Siwanoys of the “South People,” living in small villages of bark covered wigwams spending their time fishing, hunting, and farming. Shells dug from the great stretches of clam and oyster beds along the shore were fashioned into wampum.
The first white men took title to the land in 1640 when the New Haven Colony Magistrates bought from the Siwanoys a tract of wilderness where the Rippowam River met the waters of the Long Island Sound. That same year, The New Haven Magistrates resold the property for 100 bushels of corn to a group of men who had recently moved form the Boston area. The Eastern boundary of this Rippowam purchase was Pine Brook, now known as Goodwives River. Four years later, needing more land for their growing community, Andrew Ward and Richard Law purchased the land between the Pine Brook and Five Mile River from Piamiken, Chief of the Raotons, for “four coats and some tobacco.” This tract included the land that was later to become the Delafield Island Association.
Peace prevailed for 140 years until July 21, 1781, when a band of British and Tories landed on the shore of “Scotch Cove” (Scott’s Cove) and assembled at what was known as Tory’s Hole in the woods just off the coast in Middlesex Parish (now Darien). From this hiding place they made their way to the First Congregational Church on Brookside Road, capturing The Reverend Moses Mather and 50 men of his congregation. The prisoners were tied together and along with horses, cattle and other plunder, marched to the shores of “Scotch Cove,” taken in boats to Long Island and put in prison, where many perished.
It was during this period that the Englishman John Delafield was establishing himself as a shrewd businessman in New York City. First as a merchant and then as an underwriter, John became one of the wealthiest men in New York. He, along with Alexander Hamilton and others founded the Mutual Insurance Company of New York, the first fire insurance company in the city. In 1791 he purchased 140 acres on the east bank of the East River and called it “Sunswick” after a small nearby river. Furnishing it in London, he and his wife, Ann Hallett, established one of the best country seats in the neighborhood of New York. There they raised thirteen children, nine sons and four daughters.
Their seventh child, Edward, born in 1794, became a doctor, studying at Yale, the College of Physicians and Surgeons as well as throughout Europe. As a Doctor and a Professor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children, Dr. Edward Delafield was an influential member of the medical community in New York. He was a founding member of Roosevelt Hospital, of The New York Eye Infirmary, The American Ophthalmology Society and Senior Consulting Physician at St. Luke’s and The Women’s Hospital.
Tragically, he lost his first wife, Elinor Elwyn in 1834, and that their six children, all unmarried, died before their father. But in 1839 Dr. Delafield married Julia Floyd, whose grandfather was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Together, they had five children: two sons and three daughters.
Dr. Edward was the first Delafield to own any property in Connecticut. In 1859, he purchased the first 49 acres. In lots as large as 68 acres and as small as 3 acres, he kept buying and adding to his holdings until he had accumulated 165 acres of high, rolling woodland marked off by beautifully laid stone walls – the work of masons long since passed away – and called it “Delafield Farm.”
Almost immediately, the Edward Delafields began planning their country house. Built in 1860-1, the gothic revival home was called “Felsenhof,” meaning “rocky sight” in German. The original entrance to this estate was between two stone columns on Goodwives River Road. The house, now known as 12 Sunswyck Road, is currently owned by Mr. & Mrs. Joseph P. Scanlon.
Several ancillary buildings of this grand estate are still standing, though now transformed into residences: the “small house” at 13 Sunswyck Road is now owned by Mr. & Mrs. David Brown; the cow barn and chicken coop have been rebuilt at 15 Sunswyck Road and is owned by Richard Rohr, and at 16 Sunswyck Road the “washerwoman’s home” is now the residence of Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Perticone.
Upon his death, Dr. Edward left “Felsenhof” to his son, Dr. Francis Delafield, another doctor who was born in 1841. Francis was the founder of the Pathological Institute of The College of Physicians and Surgeons as well as a prolific author of medical books and texts. His influence was so profound that a hospital, the Francis Delafield Hospital in New York, was named after him.
In 1870, Dr. Francis married Katherine Van Rensselaer and had four children with her. But upon his death in 1915, he left “Felsenhof” to his sister Emma, who had never married, and was in her 70’s at that time. (Her seamstress was Edna Knobel whose brother, Arnold Knobel, started Knobel Brothers Hardware.) During the 5 and a half years she owned “Felsenhof” Emma sold off several pieces of Delafield Woods. The largest portion, the 21 acres of what is now Cedar Gate, she sold to her nephew, Francis Delafield Wright in 1916.
Upon Emma’s death in 1921, the ownership of “Felsenhof” passed to her nephew, Edward Henry Delafield, Dr. Francis Delafield’s son. Edward, born in 1880 and educated at Yale, was a member of the New York Stock Exchange and spent many years as a Stockbroker. In 1904, Edward married Winifred Folsom. As a wedding present, “Aunt Emma” built Edward and Winifred a country house not far from “Felsenhof.” Edward named this house “Sunswyck” after his great grandfather’s country house “Sunswyck” in New York. At 32 Sunswyck Road, it is currently owned by Mr. & Mrs. Clint Brown.
Edward and Winifred had four daughters, all born at “Sunswyck.” In 1921, when Aunt Emma died leaving “Felsenhof” to him, Edward Henry took possession, renamed it “Sunswyck” and moved from the “old” Sunswyck to the new. And upon vacating the “old” Sunswyck, began to rent it out and eventually sold it in 1931.
As a proud and generous father, Edward would often give his daughters houses in his Delafield Woods. When Winifred, the eldest, was married, she and her husband were given a lovely house on Scott’s Cove, 29 Raiders Lane, now owned by Mr. & Mrs. Benoit Jamar. The second daughter, Elizabeth, widowed and with children, moved back into “Felsenhof.” When she married Frank Zunino, they moved into a house that was built by her father on Delafield cove and adjacent to her sister, 35 Raiders Lane. Currently, Mr. & Mrs. Edward (Woody) Van Rensselaer Spurgeon live in that house, the house built by Woody’s grandfather. In 1970, Mrs. Zunino generously donated the salt marsh in Delafield Cove to The Connecticut Chapter of the Nature Conservancy in memory of her father, Edward Delafield. Georgette, the youngest of Edward’s daughters, was married in 1935 and was given her house called “The House of Roses” located at 24 Sunswyck Road and currently owned by Mr. & Mrs. Nikhil Basu.
In 1930, having lost much of his fortune in the “Crash,” Edward left the Stock Exchange and established the first real estate office in Darien, The Delafield and Wheeler Company. It was Edward Henry Delafield that developed Delafield Woods and began shaping it into the Delafield Island Association that we know today.
To insure the success of his development, Mr. Delafield would build a “spec” house, furnishing it with the large supply of furniture he had stored in the attic of “Felsenhof” / “Sunswyck” and put it on the market for sale or rent. A large number of houses were built by him in this manner establishing the beginning of year round use by landowners in Delafield Island. By the late 1950’s, there were approximately 60 homes in the Association. Currently there are approximately 120 homeowners.
As Delafield Island grew, a series of hard surfaced roads were built and in 1934, a community organization called The Delafield Island Estate Association was incorporated “to care for and maintain the roads and beaches, parks, if any there shall be.”
After Edward Delafield’s death in 1956, the executors of his estate conveyed to the Association those roads that were used by all landowners. Land owners on roads with limited rights-of-way were given the option of receiving title to the portion of the road adjoining their property up to the mid-point of the road, or allowing ownership to transfer from the Delafield Estate directly to the Association. In all but a few cases, residents allowed title to pass directly to the Association.
Along with acquiring title to the roads, the Association voted to abandon the process of voluntary assessment to pay for road repairs and instead established an annual real estate tax. This led in 1961 to the formation of a separate and independent organization, The Delafield Island Tax district, in accordance with the General Statutes of the State of Connecticut. All properties in Delafield Island plus the properties on Morley Lane became subject to a real estate tax based upon the Town of Darien Grand List valuation at a mil rate established annually at a meeting of the voters in the tax district.
The separate Delafield Island Association has a history dating back of this period of informal social functions beginning with elegant cocktail parties hosted in water-front homes, pot luck suppers, casual family picnics and parades led by Revolutionary War heroes on the 4th of July at the Three Ponds, caroling at the homes of the elderly, and visits from Santa at Christmas parties, welcoming new neighbors at Ladies’ Coffees and other fun and informative neighborhood functions.
As John Ross Delafield wrote in the prologue to his History of the Delafield family, published in 1945:
“A good ancestry is no more than a strong foundation to build upon. It will hold the greatest achievements any of us can rear. Yet all depends on the life and work of each individual. A foundation alone, no matter how fine, will not avail or endure. We must each build that those who come after us will find that foundation not weakened but greater than before.”
This applies not only to great families, but to great neighborhoods, as well.
Based upon:
“THE DELAFIELDS AND DELAFIELD ISLAND”
by Robert W. Baylis
Submitted to
The Darien Historical Society
May 15, 1981