Westport, CT Neighborhoods: Saugatuck, Green's Farms, Compo, and the Rest of the Town

One Town Government, Several Named Areas

Westport's town government runs through an executive Board of Selectmen headed by a First Selectman, alongside a 36-member Representative Town Meeting (RTM) organized into 9 districts. That's the entire governing structure for the town - there is no separate mayor, council, or charter for Saugatuck, Compo, Green's Farms, or any of the other named areas below. When a local reference talks about "the neighborhoods of Westport," it's describing informal geographic and historic districts recognized by residents and local history, not distinct municipalities with their own governments, tax rates, or zoning authority.

The named areas most commonly referenced are Saugatuck, Green's Farms, Westport Village (the downtown), Coleytown, Compo, Old Hill, Poplar Plains, Staples, Saugatuck Shores, and Saugatuck Island. The sections below cover what's actually documented about the areas with confirmed historic detail - Saugatuck, Green's Farms, and Compo - along with the Village's National Hall Historic District, before addressing the rest of the list and the town's public beaches and conservation land.

Saugatuck: The River Neighborhood With Its Own Train Station

Saugatuck takes its name from the Saugatuck River, which runs through it and, more broadly, bisects the town of Westport. It's one of two Metro-North New Haven Line stations within Westport's borders - the Westport (Saugatuck) station sits in this neighborhood, giving it a direct rail connection that not every named area in town shares.

Two related named areas sit near the river as well: Saugatuck Shores and Saugatuck Island. This page does not have further confirmed detail on the specific boundaries or current character of either beyond their names and their geographic association with the Saugatuck River area, and none is invented here.

Green's Farms: An 18th-Century Renaming and a Revolutionary War Raid

Green's Farms carries a documented naming history: the area was renamed in 1732 to honor a farmer named John Green. It's also a real Revolutionary War site - Green's Farms was raided in July 1779, part of the same wartime period in which British forces operated along this stretch of the Connecticut coast.

Like Saugatuck, Green's Farms has its own stop on the Metro-North New Haven Line, the Green's Farms station - meaning two of Westport's named neighborhoods, not just one central hub, have direct commuter rail access.

Compo: Where the British Landed in 1777

Compo is the site of the most significant confirmed Revolutionary War event tied to any of Westport's named areas: a British landing in April 1777, followed by the Battle of Compo Hill. That history is embedded in the neighborhood's public space today - a Minuteman statue, sculpted by Harry Daniel Webster, was placed there in June 1910 to commemorate it.

Compo is also home to Compo Beach, a town-owned public beach, which makes this neighborhood one of the few named areas in Westport with both a documented Revolutionary War history and a public recreational amenity the town itself operates.

Westport Village and the National Hall Historic District

Westport Village - the downtown - contains the National Hall Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 13, 1984. The district sits on the Saugatuck River's west bank at the junction of the Post Road, Wilton Road, and Reservoir Road, and covers about 3 acres and 11 historic structures built in Greek Revival, Federal, and Italianate styles. Its anchor building is the three-story Italianate National Hall, built in 1873, and the district also includes the Vigilant Fire House.

That combination - a National Register historic district built directly on the river, in the heart of downtown - makes Westport Village the neighborhood with the most concentrated, documented architectural history of any named area in town.

Coleytown, Old Hill, Poplar Plains, and Staples

Coleytown, Old Hill, Poplar Plains, and Staples round out the list of named areas commonly referenced within Westport. This page does not have confirmed historic, geographic-boundary, or landmark detail on these four beyond their names, and none is invented here - anyone researching a specific one of these areas should go directly to the Westport Historical Society or the Town of Westport for documented detail.

Public Beaches, a State Park, and a Conservation Island

Westport's named neighborhoods sit alongside a set of public and protected open spaces that matter to how the town actually lives day to day. Compo Beach and Burying Hill Beach are both town-owned public beaches. Sherwood Island State Park is a separate, larger recreational anchor - 238 acres, described as Connecticut's first state park, with land acquisition beginning in 1914 and the park opening to the public in 1932. It's important to note Sherwood Island is state land, not town land, even though it sits within Westport's borders and functions as a major recreational draw for the area.

Cockenoe Island, off the Westport coast, is an uninhabited, town-owned island that today serves as a habitat for nesting egrets, herons, terns, and cormorants. It was the subject of a resolved conservation fight between 1967 and 1969, after a nuclear power plant was proposed for the island; the town ultimately purchased Cockenoe Island for roughly $200,000, preserving it in its current undeveloped, town-owned state.

The Geography That Ties These Neighborhoods Together

Westport covers a total area of 33.45 square miles - 19.96 square miles of land and 13.49 square miles of water - and the Saugatuck River physically bisects the town, which is part of why several named neighborhoods (Saugatuck, Saugatuck Shores, Saugatuck Island) take their identity directly from it. The town borders Norwalk to the west, Weston to the north, Wilton to the northwest, Fairfield to the east, and Long Island Sound to the south.

Two Metro-North New Haven Line stations serve the town directly: Westport (Saugatuck) and Green's Farms - a rail-access detail that distinguishes those two neighborhoods from the rest of the named areas covered above.

What This Page Doesn't Have

This page covers named neighborhoods, documented historic events, public beaches, and conservation land within Westport - all of it one town government, not separately governed villages. It does not have, and does not invent, a street-by-street boundary map for any of these neighborhoods, current home-price data broken out by neighborhood, or population figures for individual neighborhoods. Only a town-wide population figure exists in the roughly 27,000-to-28,500 range, and even that range varies by source.

Anyone comparing specific neighborhoods for a purchase decision should talk to a local agent for current, address-specific detail, and check directly with the Town of Westport or the Westport Historical Society for anything beyond the documented history summarized here.