New Stamford Nature Preserve Named After Gene Wilder

STAMFORD, CT — From now on, a 5.2 acre parcel of land on the corner of Scofieldtown and Chestnut Hill Roads in North Stamford will be known as the Gene Wilder Preserve.

Gene's wife, Karen, gifted the land to the Stamford Land Conservation Trust so that it can be protected and preserved in perpetuity. She lived with Gene in an adjacent home for years. She now spends the winter months out in California.

"I'm incredibly grateful. Gene was a friend of mine going way, way back. We just had a good relationship, and Karen is a wonderful person," SLCT President Harry Day told Patch. "It's a nice thing for the land trust, it's a nice thing for the city of Stamford. The property is on kind of a critical road connection. It's just best for a home not to be built there and for the land to be preserved."

Day described the land as a naturally wooded area. It has a combination of wetlands and forest that are home to a wide range of plant and animal species. It's close to the Chestnut Hill Bird Sanctuary over which the SLCT holds a conservation easement from the city of Stamford.

This is the SLCT's 47th nature preserve.

Wilder, a noted writer, actor, comedian and filmmaker known for his roles in "Blazing Saddles," "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," and "Young Frankenstein," among many others, was a longtime Stamford resident, and married Karen in 1991.

In 2016 at the age of 83, Wilder died from complications associated with Alzheimer's disease.

It's fitting that there is now a preserve named after him in the city he loved so much.

In a 1999 New York Times article, Wilder spoke about Stamford and why he decided to live here.

"I don't want to live anywhere else for the rest of my life," Wilder said. "I like the feeling of you're in the city but you're sort of in the country... It's a small town, yet it has everything."

Day said a sign will soon be erected to mark the Gene Wilder Preserve.