The Enclave of Cannon Crossing

By Ann Nyberg, Network Connecticut, May 20, 2011

Cannondale, Connecticut. It’s a tiny, tiny section of Wilton, Connecticut in Fairfield County. Within that tiny section of Cannondale is an itty bitty place known as Cannon Crossing. Think of it as a town the size of a dollhouse and just as cute. I stumbled onto this treasure of a place after doing a story on theRidgefield Playhouse in nearby Ridgefield, Connecticut. I was thinking to myself, where am I?

Cannondale is a Metro North train stop on the Danbury line.  It’s one sweet little street dotted with a few small boutiques and a great eatery in an old schoolhouse, called appropriately, Schoolhouse Restaurant. This little area even has it’s own gas pumps.

Turns out this junction is quite famous. It was once owned by burlesque entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee’syounger sister, June Havoc.  I found that out by talking to a woman minding Annabel Green, a boutique filled with flowers and finery. We went next door to a shop that has everything English called Penny Ha’Penny where another woman went to a file drawer and gave me a copy of a story written by the enclave’s former owner. Incidentally Penny Ha’Penny has everything British you can imagine including everything that is Prince William and Princess Kate.

Havoc bought Cannon Crossing decades ago. She was in love with the 8-acre parcel of land and brought its dilapidated 19th century buildings back to life. Havoc sold it in 1989, so it went back to the town of Wilton. She died on Palm Sunday at her home in Stamford, CT in 2010., she spent her later life just loving this part of Connecticut.

If you take a trip here now, you will understand what Havoc saw when she called this gem of a place her own.