The recent announcement that the Roger Sherman Inn and restaurant will operate through February and the builder, Andy Glazer, has said that there are no plans to raze the historic building is good news for the resident of New Canaan. However, this still means that after February we will lose the Roger Sherman Inn.
Destroying the Roger Sherman Inn would rip out the heart of the town. We must support this iconic landmark. My family and I will continue to patronize the inn during the coming months and I would urge my neighbors to do the same. I have spoken to the staff and they are heartbroken. To them, working at the Roger Sherman Inn is more than a job; it is an honor and privilege.
Building more homes on the site of the Inn is a bad idea as there are many homes for sale in New Canaan. There is no housing crisis. What will be destroyed or renovated next in New Canaan – God’s Acre, Elm Street, and The Glass House? And what role is the New Canaan Historical Society playing? We live in a distinctive, quintessential New England town and this must be preserved.
Why not keep the Roger Sherman Inn and market it part of a tourism effort to bring people to New Canaan? The Inn could have a horse drawn carriage meet people at the train station for a weekend of viewing the foliage, a festive Christmas celebration that would bring people to our wonderful shops or architectural tours beginning at the Glass House. Bring in a celebrity chef to the Roger Sherman similar what the Inn at Pound Ridge did with Jean-Georges Vongerichten. There would be a renewed interest in the Inn as one of Connecticut’s top attractions.
The bottom line is we don’t need more houses and more traffic. I would like to assemble a team of residents to meet with the builder and urge him to keep the Roger Sherman Inn. We need our town officials on board to create a marketing plan that would help the Inn get more customers through special promotions that would benefit everyone in New Canaan. The New Canaan Historical Society must make the case that the Inn has to be preserved.
Roger Sherman signed the Declaration of Independence. Now the Inn that bears his name needs to have its own independence and our help in preserving it. Moving it to another part of the property and turning it into a single family home would destroy a great, historic institution. It will be one step closer to turning New Canaan into a baby Stamford. We can’t allow this to happen.
Cathy Kangas, New Canaan
Who in going to pay all the things that you want to add?
Cathy, you make very cogent points. I’m on the Board of the New Canaan Historical Society and will follow up. A meeting was held this past September with Roger Sherman neighbors, but will check in to see what follow up has been done, or is still needed.
Thank you for taking a lead on this important issue. New Canaan’s history, character, and culture is in danger of being changed forever.
Hello Susan,
What is the upshot of the Historical Society becoming involved with the saving of the Roger Sherman. Thanks
I agree we should do everything we can to keep this historic property intact and operating as an inn and restaurant. My understanding is that there was another potential buyer of the property who wanted to keep the inn operating as an inn and restaurant. Perhaps we can hear more about this Michael. Do we know the difference in purchase price between Mr Glazer’s bid and the other bid?
Heartbroken? They bought the Inn for $3.4 MM in 2008 and their contract with Glazer is reported to be “around” $5 MM. That does not sound heartbreaking, except for the neighbors.
Let’s just keep on tearing down New Canaan’s heritage and build without taking into consideration what is being done to our quaint town. Slowly it’s turning into a mini city and if it keeps up we will be competing with Stamford in size. In the twenty one years living here I have seen larger and larger. The bigger it gets the more problems will be presented. Can our local government handle the growth?
Three cheers for Cathy! We are rapidly losing our New England character by razing historic buildings that are the charm of New Canaan. Do we need more new homes when we already have an over abundance of homes on the market? Not at this time. Do we need the only gracious inn/restaurant that is part of New Canaan’s heritage? The answer to that is “yes”. Why is the Roger Sherman not plaqued for preservation? Is there some arcane, convoluted regulation that prevents this? So glad that the Historical Society is looking into the preservation of the Roger Sherman. Perhaps our creative Chamber of Commerce could come up with helpful solutions to use this lovely building. All good suggestions by Cathy. Once the building is gone or becomes homogenized into a new home, a part of New Canaan is gone forever. Forever…
Who is paying for or carrying out any of these plans? It should not fall to the town to maintain the property and business. Unless you are going to buy the inn, run the inn, hire and pay a famous chef, buy a horse carriage, feed and house horses and do all the day to day stuff it takes to keep an inn and restaurant running, this letter is useless. Yes descendants of Sherman lived in the building but there is no record off Sherman himself having anything to do with the inn or with New Canaan. Time marches on.