New Fairfield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. In 2020, about 13,579 people lived there. New Fairfield is one of five towns around Candlewood Lake, which is the biggest lake in Connecticut. The town is about 55 miles (89 km) northeast of New York City. This means it's part of the larger New York metropolitan area. It also belongs to the Western Connecticut Planning Region.

A Look Back in Time: New Fairfield's History
Where is New Fairfield?
- Neighborhoods and Communities
- ZIP Code Information
Who Lives in New Fairfield?
Fun Things to Do and See
Learning in New Fairfield
Getting Around Town
Famous People From New Fairfield

A Look Back in Time: New Fairfield's History

In the past, before European settlers arrived, the native people of New Fairfield were part of a group of tribes. These tribes lived along the Housatonic River.

In 1724, settlers from Fairfield, Connecticut, got permission to start a new town. They tried to talk with Chief Squantz of the Schaghticoke tribe. He was part of the Algonquian family. Some stories say he moved away and didn't want to sell the land.

The settlers came back in 1725, but Chief Squantz had passed away. His four sons did not want to sign the land deeds. It took four more years for the settlers, called "The Proprietors," to get other native people to sign. These people might not have had the right to sell the land.

They "bought" a large area of land, about 31,000 acres (12,545 hectares). This land is now New Fairfield and Sherman. They paid about 300 dollars for it. The deed was recorded on May 9, 1729, and is now kept in Hartford, Connecticut.

New Fairfield started as a small farming community. It became an official town in 1740. The town of Sherman later separated from New Fairfield in 1862. This happened because the combined towns were too big, making it hard for people to travel to church.

In 1926, a company called Connecticut Light and Power (CL&P) started building Candlewood Lake. Many people thought it was an amazing engineering project. CL&P flooded the valley to control water from the Housatonic River and Rocky Rivers. This helped them make electricity using water power. Candlewood Lake was named after how Native Americans used pine wood to start fires. New Fairfield shares the lake's shores with other towns like Sherman, New Milford, Brookfield, and Danbury.

New Fairfield used to have the Candlewood Playhouse. This was a theater with 650 seats that put on summer shows. The land where it once stood is now a Stop & Shop supermarket.

Where is New Fairfield?

Stream near Pembroke Road, close to the New York state line

New Fairfield covers about 25.1 square miles (65.0 sq km). About 20.5 square miles (53.0 sq km) is land, and 4.6 square miles (11.9 sq km) is water. This means about 18% of the town is water.

New Fairfield is next to Danbury to the south. It borders Brookfield to the southeast and New Milford to the northeast. To the north is Sherman, and to the west is Patterson, New York.

There are four lakes in New Fairfield:

Candlewood Lake
Squantz Pond
Ball Pond
Margerie Lake Reservoir

Candlewood Lake is very large and covers the eastern side of the town. It goes beyond the town's borders to the north and south. It used to be a place for summer vacations. Now, many people live in homes along its shores all year round.

Neighborhoods and Communities

Windmill in the Knollcrest area

New Fairfield has several main communities:

Ball Pond
Candlewood Hills
Candlewood Isle
Candlewood Knolls
Knollcrest
New Fairfield center

Other smaller areas in town include Bigelow Corners, Bogus Hill, Candlewood Corner, Charcoal Ridge, Hollywyle Park, Inglenook, Joyce Hill, Kellogg Point, Locust Glen, Possum Ridge, Sail Harbor, and Taylor Corners.

Newer communities like Sail Harbor often have larger houses. Many communities, such as Sail Harbor, Candlewood Isle, and Bogus Hill, have big homes right on Candlewood Lake. There are also many new housing areas off roads like Warwick Road, Route 39/37, Pine Hill, Beaver Bog, Dick Finn, and Shortwoods Road.

ZIP Code Information

When ZIP Codes were first used in 1963, the original Danbury code, 06810, also covered New Fairfield. In 1984, Danbury got more ZIP codes. At that time, a new code, 06812, was created just for New Fairfield.

Who Lives in New Fairfield?

Historical population
Census	Pop.	%±
1790	1,573	—
1800	1,665	5.8%
1810	772	−53.6%
1820	788	2.1%
1830	939	19.2%
1840	956	1.8%
1850	927	−3.0%
1860	915	−1.3%
1870	870	−4.9%
1880	791	−9.1%
1890	670	−15.3%
1900	584	−12.8%
1910	551	−5.7%
1920	468	−15.1%
1930	434	−7.3%
1940	608	40.1%
1950	1,236	103.3%
1960	3,355	171.4%
1970	6,991	108.4%
1980	11,260	61.1%
1990	12,911	14.7%
2000	13,953	8.1%
2010	13,881	−0.5%
2020	13,579	−2.2%
U.S. Decennial Census

In 2000, there were 13,953 people living in New Fairfield. There were 4,638 households and 3,905 families. The town had about 681.9 people per square mile (263.3 per sq km). There were 5,148 homes, with about 251.6 homes per square mile (97.1 per sq km).

Most people in the town were White (96.83%). There were also smaller groups of African American (0.39%), Native American (0.04%), and Asian (1.27%) residents. About 2.82% of the population was Hispanic or Latino.

The 2000 census showed that New Fairfield had the most Irish-American residents in Connecticut. About 32% of the people living there said they had Irish family roots.

Out of the households, 44.5% had children under 18 living with them. Most households (75.3%) were married couples living together. About 12.6% of households were single people living alone. The average household had 3.01 people, and the average family had 3.30 people.

The population was spread out by age. About 30.0% were under 18 years old. About 30.3% were between 25 and 44. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were about 99.6 males.

In 2000, the average income for a household in the town was $106,145. For a family, the average income was $132,271. The average income per person in the town was $34,928. A small number of families (1.0%) and people (1.7%) lived below the poverty line.

Fun Things to Do and See

View of Squantz Pond State Park

New Fairfield has many interesting places to visit:

Candlewood Lake is great for boating and swimming.
The Cosier-Murphy House was added to a list of historic places in 1991.
The New Fairfield Historical District shows off the town's history.
Pootatuck State Forest is a beautiful place to explore nature.
Squantz Pond State Park is partly in the town and offers outdoor fun.
The Williams House became a historic place in 2014.

Learning in New Fairfield

New Fairfield High School

New Fairfield has several schools for different age groups:

New Fairfield High School is for students in grades 9–12.
New Fairfield Middle School is connected to the high school and serves grades 6–8.
Meeting House Hill School is an elementary school for grades 3–5.
Consolidated School is a primary school for Kindergarten through grade 2.
There are also two preschools: Bright Beginnings and First Step Preschool.

Getting Around Town

Connecticut Route 37 and Connecticut Route 39 are the two main roads that connect New Fairfield. The closest major highway is Interstate 84, which is in Danbury to the south.

New Fairfield does not have its own train station. The closest train stations are Southeast station on the Harlem Line and Danbury station on the Danbury Branch of the New Haven Line. A bus service called Housatonic Area Regional Transit (HART) runs a shuttle on weekdays. This shuttle goes between Southeast station and two park-and-ride lots in New Fairfield.

Famous People From New Fairfield

Many interesting people have lived in New Fairfield:

Margot Austin (1907–1990), an author and illustrator.
Rich Bisaccia (born 1960), a football coach.
Mary Ann Carson, a state representative for Connecticut.
Jake Ceresna (born 1994), a professional football player.
Frank Figliuzzi (born 1962), a former assistant director at the FBI. He often appears on TV news.
Ken Jurkowski (born 1981), an Olympic rower in 2008 and 2012.
Steven Novella (born 1964), a neurologist and host of a science podcast.
Jennifer Rizzotti (born 1974), a professional basketball player and coach.
Bernie Williams (born 1968), a retired professional baseball player for the New York Yankees.

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New Fairfield, Connecticut Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.

New Fairfield, Connecticut facts for kids

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