Foxon: Home to Farms, Fishing and Families

In the 1960s, the neighborhoods of East Haven were so packed with kids that the high school had to offer split sessions. Kids living in the Center and Momauguin went in the morning, and those in Foxon went in the afternoon – until the addition to the old high school on Tyler Street was finished in 1973. 

Those hordes of kids meant that the streets were full of playmates for people like Cathy McGarry and her siblings who grew up on Brookfield Road. It's located south of Foxon Road in a development that is bounded on the west by River Road and on the east by the Farm River. Edgehill Drive, Rock Terrace and Wildwood Drive make up the rest of the subdivision.   

"My family lived at 19 Brookfield Road. My sister Margarita married the boy across the street, Vinnie Venice. They bought the Venice house and raised their family there,” McGarry said. “I bought my house here in 1993 because it was so convenient to Deer Run School, where I teach art," McGarry said. 

Since her home is located on the north side of the street, the Farm River runs through her backyard. From this vantage point, she enjoys watching young families move into the neighborhood as the original residents move out to retirement facilities. 

"It's like there's been a completion of the circle," she said. "When my mother went to a care facility recently, the house was purchased by a young man in his twenties. He is completely refurbishing it and plans to live there. It's wonderful to see young families and baby strollers on the street again." 

Two of those young neighbors are Christopher and Renee Murratti. 

“About nine years ago, we were looking to get out of a New Haven apartment into a house. Everything was priced so high,” Renee Murratti said. “This seemed like a great neighborhood for us. He worked in Middletown and I worked in Madison. Every time we looked at something in this area, it seemed so well-kept and friendly.” 

She remembers that when they found their home on Brookfield Road, it seemed destined. They were the first to see the house and make an offer. When they moved in, they found many things in common with the friendly neighbors, including Cathy McGarry. McGarry now teaches art to Murratti's two young sons at Deer Run School. 

McGarry's parents, Henry and Margaret, were also looking for a place to move to get out of New Haven apartments in 1963. On a Sunday ride, they discovered Exit 8 and Foxon Road. They were impressed by the new developments that were going up there.

"They were attracted by the fact that almost everything they needed was so convenient," McGarry said. "Deer Run School was within walking distance for us. Our Lady of Pompeii Catholic Church was close and so was a little neighborhood market with great meat. That was in what's now John & Maria's Pizzeria -- all right there on Foxon Road." 

They liked Brookfield Road because it had a cul-de-sac which made it safer for the kids. "Every winter, the snow plows would push the snow into a big pile on the cul-de-sac. The pile was big enough for us to sled down," McGarry said. 

"Every house had kids, so you could always find something to do," she said. "We could pretty much run outside all day in the summer. Since the Farm River runs right behind our houses, we could play in the water, fish, go down to the dam -- all sorts of things. The older kids knew they had to keep an eye on the younger ones and there were always moms at home to keep track of us. Evenings, they'd put their lawn chairs out in the driveways to watch us play kick-the-can." 

Almost en masse, as the boys grew up, they went to Eli Whitney, the technical school, to learn a trade. As Vietnam heated up, the draft would take many of these young men to serve their country. 

"I think half the houses on the block had at least one son who went," McGarry said. "Some of the guys who went to Vietnam came back to live on the street, and some now own their parents' homes."

The proximity to Farm River has been a mixed blessing for residents. In years when the river ran high with spring rain, backyards would flood.

"Our street sits over a bunch of underground springs, too. That meant anyone who didn't have a sump pump or two was going to have water in the basement," McGarry said. 

New residents have to buy flood insurance to qualify for a mortgage, but that's not discouraging newcomers who find it an idyllic setting. "My next-door-neighbor, John Minardi, goes out in the backyard and throws a line in to fish,” McGarry said. 

John and Dawn Minardi moved to Brookfield Road 22 years ago. They like the location so much that he’s even willing to commute to his office in Stamford. He takes the Shore Line East railway out of the Branford station. Dawn is a local realtor. 

“My wife tells everyone we bought the house because I could fish in the backyard and that was a big reason. There were some other considerations, but that was a big one,” Minardi said. 

“I like to fish for trout. The state stocks the Farm River with them every spring. In fact, we are in a fish management area here because there are native trout in the waters just behind our houses," Minardi said.

Idyllic as it is, he admits, “I do still have to buy a fishing license.” 

Nicholas Mauro, owner of Mauro Construction Company, bought the land south of Foxon Road in the mid 1950s. He built two subdivisions -- Edgehill Estates, home to Brookfield Road, and the next development over, Glenmoor West. 

Sitting in the middle of the two developments is Willow Hill Farm -- one of the last working farms in East Haven.

Diane Farley owns Willow Hill, which was started in the 1920s by her grandfather, Richard Dill. She raises Morgan horses while a dairy farmer plants silage for his cows on the 14-acre property. 

“Nicholas Mauro wanted to buy the place,” Farley said. “He did buy the property of the other two farms on River Road – the Ademac and DePoto farms. We hade no interest in selling.” 

Mauro built three-bedroom bungalows and Cape Cods for young families looking for a life outside of urban apartments. Over the years, they’ve been added to and changed. What hasn't changed is the feeling the residents of Brookfield Road have for the place. It's home -- and they wouldn’t live anywhere else.

East Haven Patch wants to know what you think makes Foxon special and unique. Tell us in the comments, and show us by adding your photos - old and new - by clicking the "add your photos & videos link" below the existing photographs.