A Welcome from the President of the SVIA

Welcome to the website of the Stonington Village Improvement Association. From humble beginnings, the SVIA has grown steadily to become one of the most active all-volunteer organizations in our area. We updated our mission statement in May of 2009 to read as follows:

Enriching the quality of life in the village by encouraging and supporting
activities that enhance our many cultural and recreational gifts for the benefit of all

Stonington Borough lies on a small peninsula roughly a mile long and a quarter-mile wide that juts into Long Island Sound. A well-protected harbor adjoins the western shore. Geographically, we lie just about midway between New York City and Boston.

The Borough was never one of those laid-back, unassuming, lazy towns where nothing exciting ever happens. During the War of 1812, a British invasion was repulsed by a group of courageous citizens. Starting in the early 1800's and for a hundred years thereafter, Stonington was an important transfer port between the railroad and the steamers on the busy Boston-New York route. Hotels and other service businesses flourished along with ship building and whaling. It was a thriving, hectic mini-city. In the early 1900's, many of the town's residents were employed at the Atwood factory, manufacturing and shipping textile machinery worldwide. Stonington was always self-contained, having stores and services of all kinds -- everything was here.

The SVIA was formed in 1899 by a small group of caring residents wishing to maintain the Borough as "a nice place to live and work." Contributions by residents and non-residents alike allow the present day SVIA to maintain that tradition. Activities and projects include: flower boxes along Water Street, duBois Beach at Stonington Point, a weekly summer Farmers Market, maintaining Matthews Park, Band Concerts on the Library lawn, rebuilding the town playground, supporting the Cannon Square Restoration project, and a Christmas tree lighting and singing of carols.

Centrally located in the small Stonington Borough business district is the former residence of poet James Merrill, now owned and maintained by the SVIA. Merrill's apartment, largely intact, is home to our ongoing "Writer-in-Residence Program" sponsored in his memory by the SVIA.

You can see that the Stonington Village Improvement Association is an active organization. But there is always room for more volunteers, and certainly financial contributions. Both are most welcome. The SVIA Board of Directors and I are looking forward to seeing you at one of our many events.

Jim Hicks
President
Stonington Village Improvement Association

To read a short history of our organization, see SVIA History. For more information, see our Officers and Board and SVIA By-Laws pages.