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 Avon’s
high-gloss finish, acquired after more than four decades of steady
growth, has sparked a glow in the eyes of many anxious suitors courting
new business opportunities, and others passionate about finding their
dream home in an expanding array of upscale options.
The town’s convenient location for commuters, an excellent school
system and a relatively reasonable tax rate add to the allure. It is
also the Valley’s highest income town and most expensive address,
with the average home sale price more than $500,000.
But despite the constant pressures for new development, Avon has managed
to maintain
and enhance many of the best features of its heritage.
Settled in 1645, Avon was originally part of Farmington. In 1750 it became a
separate parish, known as Northington, and in 1830 it was incorporated and named
after the Avon River in England. Most of Avon’s early residents were dairy
or tobacco farmers. Later, the Climax Fuse Company, which became part of Ensign
Bickford, drew immigrant factory workers to town and left a legacy of historic
brownstone buildings along Route 44 that have been recycled for an assortment
of uses, including municipal government offices, boutiques and the Farmington
Valley Arts Center.
Enter Avon from the east on Route 44, a steep drop off Talcott Mountain (locally
called Avon Mountain), and the town’s rich history and contemporary charisma
unfold ahead. The Avon Old Farms Inn (c.1757), once a stagecoach stop on the
Albany Turnpike, has polished up all its Colonial features, added a state-of-the-art
conference center, and serves nice New American cuisine. The Avon Old Farms Hotel,
right across the pike, is suave and sophisticated. Its superb Seasons Restaurant
commands a beautiful view of the Talcott Mountain ridge.
Apple Health and Women’s Health share part of the Routes 44 and 10/202
intersection with the hotel. Apple’s Foley-family imprint continues across
the road with its Blue Fox Run golf course and a tastefully developed office
complex that includes Saint Francis Care and other medical facilities. Blue Fox
Run’s Apple Arena is home court for the FoxForce, the Foley’s entrant
in the professional World Team Tennis league. Right next door, at the Pickin’ Patch,
the Woodfords have for centuries cultivated the Valley’s most fertile acreage,
producing a bountiful selection of field-fresh fruits, vegetables and nursery
stock.
The intersection of Routes 44 and 10 is also a good place to launch your canoe
along the serene, six-mile stretch of family-friendly Farmington River flat water
that heads to Simsbury from here. Straight ahead, over the bridge, is the always
busy Max-a-Mia, the Valley’s most consistently excellent restaurant. Across
the street is Carmen Anthony’s Fish House; a well-appointed operation perched
above the designer boutiques at 51 East.
Just up the hill, Old Avon Village is a cluster of specialty shops and eateries
housed in freestanding historic buildings. The old village—Avon’s
original town center—spreads out around the junction of Routes 10 and 44
where planners are working to create a distinctive town center in and around
some of the town’s landmarks. Recently assembled is a group of nifty shops
called The Shops at Avon Green. It includes the relocated Madison Shop, Country
Curtains, a tailor, a spa, Mariel the shoe bar, fancy women’s clothing
shops and Bangle & Clutch. Across the road, The Coffee Trade is a landmark
in its own right, serving the Valley’s best coffee for as long as most
can remember.
Turn south at this intersection (onto Old Farms Road) and a few miles ahead is
the renowned Avon Old Farms School for Boys that features distinctive English-style
buildings.
North at the intersection, heading toward Simsbury, is the new Marriott Residence
Inn and across the road, Hartford Hospital’s Avon Wellness Center offers
the latest trends in healthcare: a combination fitness and multi-specialty medical
services facility.
Next-door, Riverdale Farms is another outstanding real estate development by
the Brighenti family, owners of Avon Old Farms Hotel. Once the site of a large
dairy farm, Riverdale Farms today cultivates a crop of outstanding restaurants
and specialty shops. Dazzling sushi chefs delight large audiences with some of
the region’s best Japanese cuisine at Toshi, which sits aside the landmark
wooden silo. Cugino’s features Italian specialties. Bosc Kitchen and Wine
Bar, with its impeccable French Country decor and a menu to match, is situated
in what was originally a small barn. Tower View Pizza is a wonderful surprise:
great dinners, grinders, pizzas, long hours, and low prices.
Mixed among the many boutiques at Riverdale Farms, Avon Clock and Lighting offers
discriminating buyers a treasure trove of heirloom-quality clocks, distinctive
light fixtures and home furnishings. Avon Plumbing and Heating has a large showroom
with the latest styles and best brands in bath and kitchen fixtures. Shear Artistry
is one of the Valley’s premier salons and day spas.
Go west on Route 44 for Starbuck’s, Victoria’s Secret, The Gap, Pier
I, Blockbuster Video, Marshall’s, Wal-Mart, more chain operations, big
grocers and fast food.
Most of Avon’s population increase has been absorbed into the comfortable
subdivisions of large wooded lots that fan out south of Route 44 in the Farmington
River Valley lowlands between Avon Mountain Ridge on the town’s eastern
border, and the West Avon Mountain highlands along the Canton line. The gracious
Avon Country Club is a centerpiece among the web of residential roads. The river
snakes behind West Avon Mountain and curls along the Farmington line (where you
see remnants of the old canal) before it heads across Route 44 towards Simsbury.
Along the town’s southern boundary sits Fisher Meadows, the town’s
major outdoor recreation area, a 233-acre soccer and baseball Mecca with lots
of wooded trails and the beautiful Spring Lake. On West Avon Road (Route 167),
you’ll pass the First Company Governor’s Horse Guards, established
in 1778 by Revolutionary veterans as a mounted honor guard for the governor,
visiting dignitaries and heads of state. Thursday night drills are a popular
roadside attraction. In the same area Avon High School, which opened with 500
students in 1957, is undergoing its second major expansion, enlarging its capacity
from 900 to 1,300.
Farther west up Country Club Road and across Lovely Street, is the town’s
new frontier. The West Avon Mountain area is the site of many of the Valley’s
most magnificent new homes and proposed pricey subdivisions.
— R.E.P.
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