Greenwich
About Greenwich
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Greenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 61,101. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies that have left Manhattan. There is $1.2 trillion in hedge funds world wide of that $120 billion (10%) is managed in Greenwich. Greenwich is one of the wealthiest towns per capita in the world. It is also the southernmost town in New England. The town is famous for its wealth, as it is one of the most affluent communities in the United States.
In July 2005, CNN/Money and Money magazine ranked Greenwich 12th on its list of the 100 Best Places to Live in the United States, although the town did not make it onto the list in 2006.
Greenwich Hospital is a community hospital in town with 174 beds. It is a teaching affiliate of Yale University School of Medicine.
The Town of Greenwich has one political body, but consists of several distinct sections with their own mailing addresses and ZIP codes, such as Cos Cob, Riverside, Old Greenwich and Greenwich (sometimes referred to as central or downtown Greenwich). Other neighborhoods or sections of town are Byram, Glenville, Pemberwick, Rock Ridge, Belle Haven, Banksville, Chickahominy, Milbank, Milbrook, and Mianus.
Downtown Greenwich consists primarily of Greenwich Avenue, a one-way street with many restaurants, boutiques, and antique shops, all in extraordinarily expensive retail space (as of 2006: $150 to $200 per square foot). Three policemen direct traffic on the street.
The town has four beaches on the Long Island Sound which are Greenwich Point, Byram Beach, Island Beach (Little Captain’s Island), and Great Captain’s Island.
A single-visit beach pass for non-residents to Greenwich Point (locally termed “Tod’s Point” after the previous private owners), which is on a peninsula and so includes picnic areas, a beach and small marina, is $10 per person and $20 per car. Tickets must be purchased at the town hall or the Eastern Greenwich Civic Center.
There is also a community sailing center and rental area located in the park. Bicycling and rollerblading are popular sports on the trails and paths in the summer.
The town owns the Griffith E. Harris golf course. The 18-link course is named after “Griff” Harris, first selectman from 1952 to 1958. There are also five country clubs in town with golf courses.
Calf Island, a 29-acre island about 3,000 feet from the Byram shore in Greenwich, is open for visitors although as of the summer of 2006 it was getting relatively few of them.
More than half of the island (on the west side) is a bird sanctuary off-limits to members of the public without permission to visit. The island is available for overnight stays for those with permits, otherwise the east side is open from dawn till dusk. Great Captain Island is also off the coast of Greenwich, and is the southernmost point of New England.
Island Beach or “Little Captain Island” once was the venue for the town’s annual “Island Beach Day.” Ventriloquist Paul Winchell and his dummy, Jerry Mahoney, once came for a show, and on another occasion the National Guard let adults and children fire machine guns into the water, according to an article in the Greenwich Time.
Island Beach has changed over the decades. The bathhouse once on the island’s eastern shore is gone, and erosion is slowly eating away at the beaches themselves, a longtime resident told the newspaper.