A small coastal town in southwestern Connecticut, Westport is among the most affluent areas in the United States. With a history that stretches back before the arrival of European settlers and includes some of the state’s earliest prehistoric settlements, the area that became known as Westport after the arrival of the so-called ‘Bankside Farmers’ in 1648 was previously known to the Native Americans as ‘Machamux’, which translates to ‘The Beautiful Land’. Today, the landscape that so moved the natives is preserved at places like Sherwood Island State Park, a stretch of beaches, forests, and wetlands that run along Long Island Sound. Favored by excursionists from both New York City and New Haven, the park is noted for the subdued pastels of its fauna and the bright, glossy red and black sands that have been heaped upon its shores in bands during the march of time. Though bordered by Sherwood Mill pond to the west, the calming, idyllic terrain that makes Sherwood Island State Park distinctive from others found in the American Northeast spreads further inland and out toward developed parts of the shore, allowing homeowners to experience, firsthand, the mellow colors that made the region so loved by both their Native American and colonial predecessors. As for the past, humanity’s imprint on the land is best preserved in Westport’s Old Hill neighborhood, which, rising near the Saugatuck River, is celebrated for its many homes from the Revolutionary and Victorian periods. Nearby Greens Farms, as well, is noted for its long history and picturesque New England-style homes. For anyone who needs to work in New York City yet cherishes the subtle and subdued character of New England culture, Westport, with its quiet shoreline, expansive, historic estates, and rail connection, is perhaps one of the most ideal places to settle.